Susan Calman

Susan Calman

Calman in 2013
Birth name Susan Grace Calman
Born (1974-11-06) November 6, 1974
Glasgow, Scotland
Medium Stand-up
Nationality British

Susan Grace Calman (born 6 November 1974) is a Scottish comedian and panellist on BBC Radio 4 topical shows The News Quiz and I Guess That's Why They Call It The News. She appeared in Channel 4 sketch shows[1] and was one of the relief presenters for Fred MacAulay on his BBC Radio Scotland show MacAulay and Co which ran until March 2015.[2] She has also appeared in Rab C. Nesbitt. Calman is a regular at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and at The Stand Comedy Club. Other television work includes presenting the CBBC programme Extreme School[3] and providing the comic voiceover on the CBBC series Disaster Chefs. She played the "sandwich lady" frequently throughout Series 5 of Dani's House, and presented a quiz show called The Lie on STV. Since 2014 Calman appears on most episodes of Comedy Panel Show The Dog Ate My Homework in The First Three Series. She is currently a team captain on the BBC Northern Ireland comedy panel show 'Bad Language'.[4]

Education and legal career

Calman went to a fee-paying independent school, The High School of Glasgow,[5] and then went on to study law at Glasgow University, winning a Judge Brennan scholarship and a three-month stint in North Carolina working with criminals on death row.[6] She gradually became dissatisfied with working as a specialist in freedom of information and data protection and developed her stand-up comedy during evenings, eventually giving up her job with Dundas & Wilson to develop a career in comedy.[6]

Comedy career

She reached the semi-finals of the BBC New Comedy Awards in 2005 and was a finalist in the Funny Women competition in 2006.[6] The Channel 4’s sketch show Blowout won a Scottish BAFTA in 2007, with Calman amongst the cast. In 2009 she won Best New Scottish Comedian at the Real Radio Variety Awards.[6]

Between 2011-2013, Calman played therapist Nadine in the comedy Fresh Meat. Her debut Radio4 solo series, Susan Calman is Convicted won the 2013 Writers' Guild of Great Britain Awards for 'Best Radio Comedy' and featured in the 2012 sitcom Dead Boss for BBC Three.

In 2013, Calman wrote about receiving online abuse after joking about the Scottish independence referendum on the Radio 4 satirical comedy programme The News Quiz, including accusations of betraying her country, and of being "racist" towards other Scots.[7][8]

In July 2014, Calman appeared in the BBC Scotland one-off stand-up/sketch show Don't Drop the Baton which featured sketches about the 2014 Commonwealth Games, and narrated the BBC Three dating show Sexy Beasts.

Personal life

Calman is the daughter of Sir Kenneth Calman, chancellor of Glasgow University and former chief medical officer for England and Scotland.[6] Her mother is Anne Wilkie. She has a sister and brother.

Calman came out as a lesbian in 1993 at the age of 19 and has spoken of her difficulties growing up gay in Glasgow. "It wasn't easy, not at all. Glasgow is a lovely city, but when I was growing up there was one lesbian bar, and there was a club for men, but there was no internet, there was no way of finding out [about other people]."[9] The Times commented in 2009 that Calman's "status as a diminutive lesbian — she is 4ft 11in — gives a certain grist to her mill but, her Hobbit-like stature aside, what strikes you about her is her chirpy, optimistic level-headedness."[6]

After nine years together, Calman and her partner (a fellow lawyer) had a civil partnership ceremony in 2012.[9]

Stand-up DVD releases

References

  1. ↑ Kettle, James (6 March 2010). "This week's comedy previews". The Guardian. Retrieved 2011-04-18.
  2. ↑ "Susan Calman sits in". BBC Radio Scotland. Retrieved 2011-04-18.
  3. ↑ Tim Clark (2012-12-11). "Susan Calman to present CBBC's Extreme Schools". Such Small Portions. Retrieved 2014-04-17.
  4. ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06yn1sg
  5. ↑ "So would you heckle a lawyer? - The Scotsman". M.scotsman.com. 2006-08-01. Retrieved 2014-04-17.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Bowditch, Gillian (26 July 2009). "Susan Calman: the lawyer who became our pint-sized new comic pin-up". The Times. Retrieved 2011-04-18.
  7. ↑ "Susan Calman finds that Scottish independence is no joke", "The Guardian", 7 May 2013.
  8. ↑ "Susan Calman: Death threats for independence satire", "The Scotsman", 2 May 2013.
  9. 1 2 Saner, Emine (3 March 2012). "Saturday interview: comedian Susan Calman". The Guardian.

External links

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