Daniel Kitson
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Daniel Kitson (born 19 June 1977 in Denby Dale, Huddersfield) is an English stand-up comedian. Born to a lecturer father and primary school head teacher mother, he began performing comedy at the age of 16.
He was nominated for the 2001 Perrier Comedy Award at the Edinburgh Festival at the age of 23 for his show Love, Innocence and the Word Cock eventually winning it in 2002 for the show Something.
As well as stand up, he has written and performed "story shows". The first was A Made Up Story at the Edinburgh Festival 2003, followed by Stories For the Wobbly-Hearted at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival in 2005. The latter show opened at the Traverse Theatre for the 2005 Edinburgh Fringe Festival 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 latest story show, C-90, opened at the Traverse for the 2006 Edinburgh Fringe. It was awarded both a Fringe First and The Stage Acting Award for Best Solo Show.
Daniel wrote the liner notes for the A Hiccup In Your Happiness single by Australian band The Lucksmiths. The song was partly inspired by a gig he did at the 2004 Melbourne International Comedy Festival.
"I attended a performance by Daniel Kitson, having seen him the previous year and laughed myself stupid. This show was different: he shuffled onto stage and announced he had just gotten off the phone from his newly-ex-girlfriend, who had broken his heart. The audience twittered nervously, unsure if this was part of the routine. For the next hour or more, while repeatedly assuring us he would get to the funny bits soon enough, he ruminated somewhat bitterly on the nature of love and loss, ending up at one point lying on his back on the stage, his feet in the air, giggling to himself. It was one of the more bizarre performances I have seen: excruciating at times, but also (thinking about it later) incredibly brave. It would have been very easy for him to go through the motions of his routine, hiding his pain behind a few well-worn jokes. A week or two later, I wrote a song about it that began The start is the hardest part / To step on stage and announce a newly broken heart...."
- Marty Donald, The Lucksmiths
Kitson announced in November 2006 that, in addition to a new stand-up show, he will tour with C-90 throughout 2007 in the UK, Australia and New York. There will also be another Open Air Theatre show in the summer.
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[edit] 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. That said, he did appear in an episode of That Peter Kay Thing (The Arena) and Peter Kay's Phoenix Nights as Spencer, a move he now regrets.
[edit] Radio
In early 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's community arts radio station Resonance FM, mainly involves music from his own collection (some played directly from his iPod), and occasional clips of stand up comedy. In between tracks he talks about the music, tells anecdotes, and responds to the SMS text messages and e-mails that are sent in throughout the show.
Kitson finished The Listening Club before going to Australia for the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. He did six similar shows on Melbourne-based community station 3RRR during his time in Australia. These may be rebroadcast in the Listening Club slot on Resonance FM, although this has not been officially confirmed.
Kitson returned to radio briefly in October 2006 with two further instalments of The Listening Club on Resonance FM.
[edit] Critical reception
[edit] 2001
"What distinguishes Kitson from the comedy crowd is his geekiness. He never styles himself an Everyman, and makes an issue of his speech impediment: "It's a stammer, not scat jazz." This outsider autobiography is interesting because it sheds light on an unfamiliar world. The shambling, charming Kitson will be a major draw when his whole act affords as distinctive a perspective."
- - The Guardian, August 7, 2001 [1].
[edit] 2004
"At his best, Kitson's a fundamentalist romantic, dropping joke-bombs in the name of idealism. At his worst - the gay material, the fart gags, the wilful immolation of this gig - he just seems immature."
- - The Guardian, August 9, 2004[2].
"There's a guy nobody knows about yet. He's a young guy from Yorkshire named Daniel Kitson, and he's honestly the funniest comic I've ever seen in my life. Seeing him was the first great stand-up experience I had since Chris Rock's Bring the Pain special. I want to do whatever I can to introduce him to the U.S."
[edit] 2005
"Kitson's new show, lasting nearly two hours if he gets carried away, is a masterpiece of stand-up; his appeal is unquantifiable and unquotable, but lies in a singular alchemy of intelligence, integrity, humanity, honesty and a sense of being at home in his own skin."
- - The Guardian, August 21, 2005[4].
[edit] 2006
"In the past, Kitson's material might have seemed misanthropic. But tonight, he's less fundamentalist than I've seen him; more at ease with himself and his audience. And his arguments are smart enough to substantiate his sentiments. It's not misanthropic - quite the opposite, in fact - to contend that "the subtext of today's media is that we're all cunts deep down, and that's all right". Because we're not, and it's not, and well done to Kitson for saying so."
"Extraordinary… A master storyteller… He has an evident passion for wordplay, a scientist's curiosity for the odd turn of phrase, uttered with a weighted, enthralling inflection... engaging performance."
"C-90 is a beautifully, brilliantly written story about how little acts of kindness can bring hope and happiness in an otherwise grey world... Kitson, making full use of the lovingly detailed set, uses this basic premise to take us around the village where Henry lives, meeting the various wonderfully drawn characters who also live there. It is Under Milk Wood for all those who realise there is nothing more personal than sharing the music they love with a person they hope will love them. As narrator, he delights in his own literary ability. Whereas his quickfire delivery would normally detract, here it allows him to share with his audience his own infectious enthusiasm and genuine affection for the people he has invented. Kitson is a unique theatrical voice who has created something wonderful."
[edit] Trivia
Daniel Kitson has a stammer. He uses block modification on some occasions and does substitute words.
Daniel Kitson made an appearance on the quiz show Blockbusters at the age of 17. He won the grand total of £45.
