Roy 'Chubby' Brown
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Roy 'Chubby' Brown (real name: Royston Vasey, born February 3, 1945 Grangetown, Middlesbrough) is an English comedian known for the adult nature of his comedy, his foul mouthed approach and his outrageous costumes. He typically wears a pilot's hood and flight goggles, a multicoloured patchwork jacket and trousers, white shirt, red bow tie and brown slip on shoes in his stage performances. The controversial nature of his act means that he rarely appears on major television channels.
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[edit] Early life and career
Brown was born in Grangetown, North Yorkshire, and left home at the age of fourteen. He lived rough and held many jobs, at one time joining the merchant navy. He later moved into working men's clubs in the 1950s: first as a drummer and later as a comedy act. He appeared on Opportunity Knocks in the 1970s and came fourth in the show, losing to an unknown spoon player.
[edit] Success as a blue comedian
Thinking that he shouldn't be outshone by a 'spoon-basher', he decided to take his act more adult and go 'blue', becoming in the process one of the most foul-mouthed comics on the comedy circuit. His ribald act causes offence to many, yet he still maintains a strong fan base. His material is not deemed suitable for over-the-air television.
In the early 90s he was run off stage in Middlesbrough in the first few minutes of a show. At the height of a child abuse scandal in the town, he opened his show by saying "I'm surprised there are so many of you here - I thought you'd all be at home playing with your kids". Also he was banned from performing on stage in Darlington by the borough council as he said on one of his videos.
He also caused controversy in a Catholic social club in his hometown of Middlesbrough, beginning the act by pointing at a crucifix on the wall with Jesus and saying "I see you caught the bastard who nicked the video."
A popular urban myth follows Brown. The story goes that he is allegedly banned from performing in Bradford after he questioned why he had not been "invited to the barbecue" a short time after the Bradford City fire which claimed several lives. Brown has denied this. Another version alleges that Brown sang a rendition of the Billy Joel song 'We didn't start the fire', with the lines: 'We didn't start the fire, when the fans were turning and the stands were burning.'
One of the rituals of his shows is that they always start with the crowd shouting out "You Fat Bastard!" repeatedly, to which he dances. He then approaches the microphone and says "Fuck off!"
[edit] VHS and DVD
Every year, his act is released on VHS and DVD:
- From Inside The Helmet (1990)
- The Helmet Rides Again (1991)
- The Helmet's Last Stand (1992)
- Exposed (1993)
- U.F.O. (1993)
- Jingle Bollocks (1994)
- Clitoris Allsorts (1995)
- Saturday Night Beaver (1996)
- Obscene And Not Heard (1997)
- Chubby Goes Down Under And Other Sticky Places (1998)
- You Fat Bastard! (1999)
- Thunder Bollocks (2000)
- Stocking Filler (2001)
- Standing Room Only (2002)
- Bad Taste (2003)
- Giggling Lips (2004)
- King Thong (2005) (Not released on VHS)
- Kick Arse Chubbs (2006) (Not released on VHS)
[edit] Movie
Brown released a movie called U.F.O in 1993 starring himself and Roger Lloyd Pack and is about himself being abducted by aliens whilst staying in a hotel in Blackpool during his live shows. The movie wasn't popular with the critics but very popular with his fans who've seen him perform live or on VHS and DVD.
[edit] Music
One of his best known songs is a cover version of 'Living Next Door to Alice (Who the Fuck is Alice)' recorded with Smokie. The recording originated because Smokie often played the vanilla version in Ireland and whenever they sang the main line "I've been living next door to Alice" the audience would shout "Who the fuck is Alice?" Smokie then decided to do a spoof of their own song and thought that Roy was the ideal man for the job.
Unfortunately shortly after the song was recorded the lead singer of Smokie, Alan Barton, was killed in a car crash. The rest of the band and Brown agreed to donate their royalties from the song to Barton's first wife.
Brown holds the record as the first man to get a record in the top ten with the word 'fuck' in it, and also the first to be played on BBC's 'Top of the Pops'. He released another single in the winter of 1996 called 'A Rocking Good Christmas' written by Ray Hedges.
[edit] Autobiography
He released his first and only autobiograhy, Common as Muck: The Autobiography of Roy 'Chubby' Brown in 2006.
[edit] Anthem - You Fat Bastard
Part of the football chant below (particularly the third line - "You fat bastard") has been adopted by Brown as his anthem and is enthusiastically chanted by the audiences before his stage performances.
- Who ate all the pies?
- Who ate all the pies?
- You fat bastard,
- You fat bastard,
- You ate all the pies!
For more information on this particular anthem see Who Ate All the Pies?.
[edit] Trivia
- His real name (Royston Vasey) was used for the fictional village in the television show The League of Gentlemen. He also made several cameo appearances as the foulmouthed mayor of the village.
- Roy currently lives in Tetney, North East Lincolnshire.
- Roy "Chubby" Brown - new book is called Common as Muck: The Autobiography of Roy 'Chubby' Brown.
