Daniel Kitson
Encyclopedia
Daniel Kitson is an English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 stand-up comedian.

Career

Born to a lecturer father and primary school head teacher mother, Kitson began performing comedy at the age of 16. He was a pupil at Scissett Middle School
Scissett Middle School
Scissett Middle School is a 10–13 middle-deemed-secondary school situated in Scissett, near Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. It has a wide catchment area which includes the villages of Scissett, Clayton West, Birdsedge, Denby Dale, Skelmanthorpe, Flockton and Upper Cumberworth.It is a...

 and Shelley College
Shelley College
Shelley College is an upper school and sixth form college on the border between the villages of Shelley and Skelmanthorpe, West Yorkshire in England....

 in Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...

, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. Kitson subsequently studied drama at Roehampton Institute, now known as Roehampton University
Roehampton University
The University of Roehampton is a campus university in the United Kingdom, situated on three major sites in Roehampton, south-west London.-History:...

.

He was nominated for the 2001 Perrier Comedy Award at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe  for his show Love, Innocence and the Word Cock before winning it in 2002 for the show Something.

As well as stand up, Kitson has written and performed "story shows". The first was A Made Up Story at the 2003 Edinburgh Festival Fringe
2003 Edinburgh Festival Fringe
The 2003 Edinburgh Festival Fringe was the 56th Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The Fringe ran from 3–25 August 2003 and presented 1541 shows over 207 venues...

, followed by Stories For the Wobbly-Hearted at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival
Melbourne International Comedy Festival
The Melbourne International Comedy Festival is the third-largest international comedy festival in the world and the largest cultural event in Australia. Established in 1987, it takes place annually in Melbourne over four weeks in April typically opening on or around April Fool's Day...

 in 2005. The latter show opened at the Traverse Theatre
Traverse Theatre
The Traverse Theatre is a theatre in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was founded in 1963.The Traverse Theatre commissions and develops new plays or adaptations from contemporary playwrights. It also presents a large number of productions from visiting companies from across the UK. These include new plays,...

 for the 2005 Edinburgh Festival Fringe and won a Scotsman Fringe First Award. In 2006, Kitson took Stories For The Wobbly Hearted to the Brits Off Broadway Festival in New York. In June 2006 the story show made up one half of his Regents Park Open Air Theatre appearance, where Kitson's stories were accompanied by songs from Gavin Osborn. His story show, C-90, opened at the Traverse for the 2006 Edinburgh Festival Fringe
2006 Edinburgh Festival Fringe
-Events:2006 was the first Fringe following the introduction of the new legislation banning smoking indoors. During a photocall at the Assembly Rooms for a play in which he was playing Winston Churchill, the actor Mel Smith lit a cigar, flouting the ban...

. It was awarded both a Fringe First and The Stage
The Stage
The Stage is a weekly British newspaper founded in 1880, available nationally and published on Thursdays. Covering all areas of the entertainment industry but focused primarily on theatre, it contains news, reviews, opinion, features and other items of interest, mainly to those who work within the...

 Acting Award
Stage Awards for Acting Excellence
The Stage Awards for Acting Excellence are a set of Scottish theatre awards which were established in 1995 to recognise outstanding theatre performances by individuals and companies on the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Organised by theatrical newspaper The Stage, the initial award categories of Best...

 for Best Solo Show.

In 2007, Kitson toured It's The Fireworks Talking and the story show C-90 in the UK, Australia, New York and Paris. There was a second Open Air Theatre show in June 2007. Kitson also complemented his Australian tour of C-90 with a loosely structured stand up show titled At 10PM, Daniel Kitson Will Be Drinking Tea and Blowing Minds, a reference to a line from the movie Dazed and Confused
Dazed and Confused
"Dazed and Confused" is a song by Jake Holmes, which was covered by The Yardbirds, and later reworked by Led Zeppelin who hold a separate copyright on the song.-Jake Holmes:...

.

It's The Fireworks Talking won Kitson the Barry Award - named after veteran
Veteran
A veteran is a person who has had long service or experience in a particular occupation or field; " A veteran of ..."...

 Australian comedian
Comedian
A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience, primarily by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, or employing prop comedy...

 Barry Humphries
Barry Humphries
John Barry Humphries, AO, CBE is an Australian comedian, satirist, dadaist, artist, author and character actor, best known for his on-stage and television alter egos Dame Edna Everage, a Melbourne housewife and "gigastar", and Sir Les Patterson, Australia's foul-mouthed cultural attaché to the...

 - at the 2007 Melbourne International Comedy Festival
Melbourne International Comedy Festival
The Melbourne International Comedy Festival is the third-largest international comedy festival in the world and the largest cultural event in Australia. Established in 1987, it takes place annually in Melbourne over four weeks in April typically opening on or around April Fool's Day...

. C90 was awarded an Argus Angel Award at the 2007 Brighton Festival
Brighton Festival
The Brighton Festival is an annual arts festival which takes place in the city of Brighton and Hove in England each May. It was founded in 1966, and is the largest multi-art form festival in England...

.

In the first half of 2008 Kitson toured his show The Impotent Fury of the Privileged. He played work-in progress gigs in January and early February before presenting the show at 28 dates during May & June.
In July 2008 he began previews of his Edinburgh Festival show, 66A Church Road: A Lament, Made Of Memories And Kept In Suitcases.

In 2009 Kitson performed two new shows: 'We Are Gathered Here' & 'The Interminable Suicide of Gregory Church', the latter of which was toured in late 2010 and the first half of 2011. Prior to this in early 2010, Kitson also did a short UK tour of '66a Church Road - A Lament Made of Memories and Kept in Suitcases' that he initially performed in Edinburgh in 2008 (and then took to Australia.)

Television

Kitson has a reputation within the comedy industry for shunning television work due to the perceived lack of control over the final product in comparison to stand up. He did appear in an episode of That Peter Kay Thing
That Peter Kay Thing
That Peter Kay Thing was a series of six spoof documentaries shown on Channel 4 in January 2000. Set in and around Bolton, these followed the lives of different characters and starred Peter Kay as the subject of each documentary. All of the episodes displayed Kay's penchant for nostalgic humour and...

, The Arena, and as the recurring character Spencer in Peter Kay's Phoenix Nights
Peter Kay's Phoenix Nights
Peter Kay's Phoenix Nights was a BAFTA-nominated English sitcom about The Phoenix Club, a working men's club in the northern English town of Farnworth, Greater Manchester. The show was written by Neil Fitzmaurice, Peter Kay and Dave Spikey, produced by Goodnight Vienna Productions and Ovation...

, a move that Peter Kay
Peter Kay
Peter John Kay is an English comedian, writer, actor, director and producer. His work includes That Peter Kay Thing , Phoenix Nights , Max and Paddy's Road to Nowhere , Britain's Got the Pop Factor... and other independent productions which have included two sell out tours.-Early career:Peter Kay...

 said "of all the great things he's done, this is what he's least proud of, the bastard." on the show's DVD commentary. He then said, "the bastard" each time Kitson appeared. The rift is such that when Phoenix Nights out-takes were screened in April 2006, Kitson's face was pixellated out in some scenes. Kitson himself has been quite outspoken in his dislike of Kay and his experiences on Phoenix Nights. According to Chortle
Chortle Awards
The Chortle awards were set up in 2002 by the comedy website Chortle to honour the best of established stand-up comics currently working in the UK....

, it is a show Kitson considers "lazy and racist". He has vowed to eschew future television projects of this nature, and any future work with Kay.

In 2007 clips of Daniel Kitson's standup were shown on the one-off Channel 4 show 100 Greatest Stand-Ups where he came 27th. In an updated version of the poll in 2010, he was voted 23rd. Chris Addison commented that 'Kitson is the finest comedian of his generation'. Stewart Lee also commented, after seeing a stand-up set by Kitson, that he saw stand-up 'about as good as it could get'.

Whilst in his teens, he appeared as a contestant on the ITV quiz show Blockbusters.

Kitson voices an "alley rat" in the pilot episode of the Kristen Schaal
Kristen Schaal
Kristen Schaal is an American actress, writer and comedienne, best known for her role as Mel in the HBO series Flight of the Conchords, as Louise in Bob's Burgers and as a contributor on The Daily Show.-Early life:...

 and Kurt Braunohler
Kurt Braunohler
Kurt Braunohler is a comedian in New York City.-Biography:Kurt Braunohler was born in Neptune, New Jersey. He attended Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD. Kurt's favorite animal is the parakeet.-Live Comedy:...

 comedy "Penelope: Princess of Pets" which was aired in 2010 by Channel 4.

Radio

In 2006, Kitson began presenting his own weekly music-based radio show called The Listening Club. The show, broadcast live 1am to 4am on Monday nights / Tuesday mornings from London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

's community arts radio station Resonance FM
Resonance FM
Resonance 104.4 FM is a London based non-profit community radio station run by the London Musicians' Collective .The station is staffed by four permanent staff members, including programme controller Ed Baxter and over 300 volunteer technical and production staff.Until September 2007, ResonanceFM...

, mainly involves music from his own collection (some played directly from his iPod
IPod
iPod is a line of portable media players created and marketed by Apple Inc. The product line-up currently consists of the hard drive-based iPod Classic, the touchscreen iPod Touch, the compact iPod Nano, and the ultra-compact iPod Shuffle...

), and occasional clips of stand up comedy. In between tracks he talks about the music, tells anecdotes, and responds to the SMS
SMS
SMS is a form of text messaging communication on phones and mobile phones. The terms SMS or sms may also refer to:- Computer hardware :...

 text messages and e-mails that are sent in throughout the show. There were six shows in the original January / February 2006 run, with further installments in October 2006 and February 2007.

Kitson had originally begun doing radio shows in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 during the 2005 Melbourne International Comedy Festival
Melbourne International Comedy Festival
The Melbourne International Comedy Festival is the third-largest international comedy festival in the world and the largest cultural event in Australia. Established in 1987, it takes place annually in Melbourne over four weeks in April typically opening on or around April Fool's Day...

, on Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

-based community station 3RRR
3RRR
3RRR is a popular Australian community radio station, based in Melbourne. It is the largest per capita subscribed radio station in the world....

. These continued, twice weekly, in 2006 and 2007. The Australian programmes are usually co-hosted with a comedian friend. Co-hosts have included Courteney Hocking, David O'Doherty
David O'Doherty
David Nicholas O'Doherty is a Perrier Award winning Irish stand-up comedian, author, musician, actor and playwright. His stand-up has won two awards at the Edinburgh Fringe, Best Newcomer first of all and the if.comedy award in 2008 for his show Let's Comedy. He has been nominated twice more for...

, Andrew McClelland and Steve Hall of We Are Klang
We Are Klang
We Are Klang is a three-piece sit-com group consisting of comedians Greg Davies, Steve Hall and Marek Larwood. Klang are noted for their anarchic and frequently rude comedy....

.

He has appeared on the BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...

 show Loose Ends
Loose Ends (radio)
Loose Ends is a British radio programme originally broadcast on Saturday mornings, and then transmitted early Saturday evenings from 1998 by BBC Radio 4. It was hosted by Ned Sherrin until he became ill in late 2006 with a reported throat infection, and later throat cancer...

.

Kitson also appears in Episode 2 of the Flight of the Conchords
Flight of the Conchords
Flight of the Conchords are a New Zealand-based comedy duo composed of Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement. The duo's comedy and music became the basis of a BBC radio series and then an American television series, which premiered in 2007 on HBO, also called Flight of the Conchords.They were named...

radio series.

Live shows

Show name Notes
2001 Edinburgh Festival Fringe
2001 Edinburgh Festival Fringe
The 2001 Edinburgh Festival Fringe was the 54th Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The Fringe ran from 5–27 August 2001 and presented 1462 shows over 176 venues.-Scotsman Fringe First Awards:Week One:*Gagarin Way*Runt*Like Thunder*Bedbound...

Love, Innocence and the Word Cock Stand-up
2002 Edinburgh Festival Fringe Something Stand-up. Won Perrier Comedy Award
Tartan Ribbon Comedy Benefit Benefit in aid of Waverley Care
The Stonewall Gala Benefit in aid of Stonewall
Stonewall (UK)
Stonewall is a lesbian, gay and bisexual rights charity in the United Kingdom named after the Stonewall Inn of Stonewall riots fame. Now the largest gay equality organization not only in the UK but in Europe, it was formed in 1989 by political activists and others lobbying against section 28 of the...

2003 UK Tour Overrated and on Tour Stand-up
2003 Melbourne International Comedy Festival
Melbourne International Comedy Festival
The Melbourne International Comedy Festival is the third-largest international comedy festival in the world and the largest cultural event in Australia. Established in 1987, it takes place annually in Melbourne over four weeks in April typically opening on or around April Fool's Day...

Something Stand-up
2003 Edinburgh Festival Fringe
2003 Edinburgh Festival Fringe
The 2003 Edinburgh Festival Fringe was the 56th Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The Fringe ran from 3–25 August 2003 and presented 1541 shows over 207 venues...

A Made Up Story Story show
Stand Up for Freedom Benefit in aid of Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...

2004 UK Tour Lover, Thinker, Artist and Prophet Stand-up
2004 Edinburgh Festival Fringe Daniel Kitson 11pm at The Stand Stand-up
2005 Edinburgh Festival Fringe Daniel Kitson 11:30pm at The Stand Stand-up
Stories For The Wobbly-Hearted Story show, won Scotsman Fringe First Award
2006 UK and Australian tours Weltanschauung Stand-up
2006 Regents Park Open Air Theatre Weltanschauung and Stories for the Wobbly Hearted Stand-up and story shows with Gavin Osborn
2006 Brits Off Broadway Festival Stories For The Wobbly-Hearted Story show
2006 Edinburgh Festival Fringe
2006 Edinburgh Festival Fringe
-Events:2006 was the first Fringe following the introduction of the new legislation banning smoking indoors. During a photocall at the Assembly Rooms for a play in which he was playing Winston Churchill, the actor Mel Smith lit a cigar, flouting the ban...

 and UK tour
C-90 Story show, won Scotsman Fringe First Award and The Stage
The Stage
The Stage is a weekly British newspaper founded in 1880, available nationally and published on Thursdays. Covering all areas of the entertainment industry but focused primarily on theatre, it contains news, reviews, opinion, features and other items of interest, mainly to those who work within the...

 Acting Award
Stage Awards for Acting Excellence
The Stage Awards for Acting Excellence are a set of Scottish theatre awards which were established in 1995 to recognise outstanding theatre performances by individuals and companies on the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Organised by theatrical newspaper The Stage, the initial award categories of Best...

 for Best Solo Show
The Honourable Men of Art With Andy Zaltzman
Andy Zaltzman
Andrew "Andy" Zaltzman is a British comedian and author who largely focuses on political material. He has worked extensively with John Oliver; their work together includes Political Animal, The Department and The Bugle.-Early life:...

, Alun Cochrane
Alun Cochrane
Alun "The Cockerel" Cochrane is a Scottish stand-up comedian. He was born in Glasgow and raised in Mirfield, West Yorkshire.-Stand-up comedy:...

, Demetri Martin
Demetri Martin
Demetri Martin is an American comedian, actor, artist, musician, writer and humorist. Martin is best known for his work as a stand-up comedian, contributor on The Daily Show and for his Comedy Central show Important Things with Demetri Martin.- Early life :Demetri Martin was born to a Greek...

 and David O'Doherty
David O'Doherty
David Nicholas O'Doherty is a Perrier Award winning Irish stand-up comedian, author, musician, actor and playwright. His stand-up has won two awards at the Edinburgh Fringe, Best Newcomer first of all and the if.comedy award in 2008 for his show Let's Comedy. He has been nominated twice more for...

2007 Melbourne International Comedy Festival
Melbourne International Comedy Festival
The Melbourne International Comedy Festival is the third-largest international comedy festival in the world and the largest cultural event in Australia. Established in 1987, it takes place annually in Melbourne over four weeks in April typically opening on or around April Fool's Day...

It's the Fireworks Talking Stand-up, won MICF Barry Award
2007 Regents Park Open Air Theatre It’s the Fireworks Talking and The Ballad of Rodger and Grace Stand-up and story shows with Gavin Osborn
2007 Edinburgh Festival Fringe It's the Fireworks Talking Stand-up
2008 Melbourne International Comedy Festival
Melbourne International Comedy Festival
The Melbourne International Comedy Festival is the third-largest international comedy festival in the world and the largest cultural event in Australia. Established in 1987, it takes place annually in Melbourne over four weeks in April typically opening on or around April Fool's Day...

, Australian and UK tours
The Impotent Fury of the Privileged Stand-up
2008 Regents Park Open Air Theatre The Impotent Fury of the Privileged and The Revenge of Heckmondwyke Stand-up and story shows with Gavin Osborn
2008 Edinburgh Festival Fringe 66a Church Road: A Lament, Made Of Memories And Kept In Suitcases, By Daniel Kitson Story show, won Scotsman Fringe First Award
The Honourable Men of Art With Andy Zaltzman
Andy Zaltzman
Andrew "Andy" Zaltzman is a British comedian and author who largely focuses on political material. He has worked extensively with John Oliver; their work together includes Political Animal, The Department and The Bugle.-Early life:...

, Alun Cochrane
Alun Cochrane
Alun "The Cockerel" Cochrane is a Scottish stand-up comedian. He was born in Glasgow and raised in Mirfield, West Yorkshire.-Stand-up comedy:...

 and David O'Doherty
David O'Doherty
David Nicholas O'Doherty is a Perrier Award winning Irish stand-up comedian, author, musician, actor and playwright. His stand-up has won two awards at the Edinburgh Fringe, Best Newcomer first of all and the if.comedy award in 2008 for his show Let's Comedy. He has been nominated twice more for...

2008 Melbourne International Arts Festival
Melbourne International Arts Festival
Melbourne Festival is a celebration of dance, theatre, music, visual arts, multimedia, outdoor and free events held for 17 days each October in a number of venues across Melbourne, Australia.-History:...

 and Australian tour
The Ballad of Rodger and Grace Story show with Gavin Osborn
2009 Regents Park Open Air Theatre Stories for the Starlit Sky Three interlinked story shows with Gavin Osborn
2009 Edinburgh Festival Fringe The Interminable Suicide Of Gregory Church Story show, won Scotsman Fringe First Award
2009 Edinburgh Festival Fringe and UK tour We Are Gathered Here Stand-up
2009 Sydney Opera House 66a Church Road: A Lament, Made of Memories and Kept in Suitcases Showing 24–13 December
2010 Edinburgh Festival Fringe It's Always Right Now Until It's Later Story show
2010 Latitude Festival
Latitude Festival
The Latitude Festival is an annual music festival that takes place in Henham Park, Southwold, Suffolk, England. It was first held in July 2006....

unknown title Story show

External links

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