Henry Normal
Henry Normal - Everything and More
I usually pick a topic for each tour. In this new show I’m concentrating on everything. Jokes, poems and stories digging deep into the subject of every single thing in the universe and beyond. A show honed perfectly for everyone in particular.
Bio:
Henry is a writer, poet, TV & Film producer, founder of the Manchester Poetry Festival (now the Literature festival) and co-founder of the Nottingham Poetry Festival. In June 2017 he was honoured with a special BAFTA for services to Television.
He co-wrote and script edited the multi-award winning Mrs Merton show and the spin off series Mrs Merton and Malcolm. He also co-created and co-wrote the first series of The Royle Family.
With Steve Coogan he co-wrote the BAFTA winning Paul and Pauline Calf Video Diaries, Coogan's Run, Tony Ferrino, Doctor Terrible and all three of Steve's live tours and the film The Parole Officer.
Setting up Baby Cow Productions Ltd in 1990, Henry Executive Produced all and script edited many of the shows of it's 17 and a half year output during his tenure as MD.
Highlights of the Baby Cow output during his time include the Oscar nominated film Philomena, I believe in Miracles, Gavin and Stacey, Moone Boy, Uncle, Marion and Geof, Nighty Night, The Mighty Boosh, Red Dwarf, Hunderby, Camping and Alan Partridge.
Since retiring in April 2016, Henry has written and performed 10 x BBC Radio 4 shows combining comedy, poetry and stories about family. His 11th BBC Radio 4 show ' A Normal Journey' will be recorded this autumn. Born in St Anne's Nottingham in 1956, Henry now lives in Fairlight, Nr Hastings with his wife and screenwriter Angela Pell and their son Johnny.
In April 2018. Two Roads publishers released his book of memoirs 'A Normal Family' which was writthen with his wife Angela Pell, drawing on his family expereience. It immediately became a best seller on Amazon and has already been reprinted. The paperbavk was released on 21st March 2019.
Henry performs poetry at Literature Festivals around the UK and has eleven poetry books available from Flapjack. On 15th August this year Henry’s 12th poetry book entitled 'Collected Poems Volume 3' will be released, Henry’s 13th book 'A Moonless Night ' is also set for release on 28th February 2024.
He was recently given an honorary doctorate of letters by Nottingham Trent University, another by Nottingham
University and has a beer and a bus named after him in Nottingham!
Quotes:
Succinct, heartrending and peppered with gentle punchlines’ Hannah Verdier, The Guardian
Shove up National Treasures. We need to make room for Henry Normal" Simon ';Hagan - Radio Times
"the Alan Bennett of poetry" The Scotsman
"Dovetails bittersweet poetry with a sublimely observant wit" The Guardian
"A mixture of the absurd and downright wacky...a gentle giant of stand-up poetry" The List
"The poetry itself is stuff of proper substance, marrying the suburban beauty of Beatles ballads with the blunt candour of the kitchen sink"The Guardian
"Witty and uncannily accurate with his observations"- The Stage
"Distinctly funny" - Time Out
It’s a rare and lovely thing: half an hour of radio that stops you short, gently demands your attention and then wipes your tears away while you have to have a little sit down - The Guardian
" a real treat to hear a seasoned professional like Henry taking command of this evening comedy spot to deliver a show that's idiosyncratic and effortlessly funny
"Not heard anything that jumps from hilarious to moving in such an intelligent, subtle way as Henry Normal"
John Cooper Clarke shot to prominence in the 1970s as the original ‘people’s poet’.
Brian Bilston has been described as the Banksy of poetry and Twitter’s unofficial Poet Laureate; with over 200,000 followers on social media, Brian has become truly beloved by the online community.
Two poets from different planets crash land onto stages across the U.K and Ireland, making a poetic and comedic show greater than the sum of its parts....(never ask a lady the sum of her parts). Expect poems, puns, laughter and tales from these two brilliant wordsmiths.
Nigel Planer was an original member of the comedy groups at the centre of the ‘Alternative Comedy’ movement in the 1980s and starred in the seminal TV series The Young Ones, and The Comic Strip Presents.
Whether he’s opening for the Libertines or reciting Georgian ballads down your local, Luke Wright is adept at taking poetry places it doesn’t normally go.
Toria Garbutt is a spoken word artist from Knottingley - a former mining town in West Yorkshire
Hailed as “a raw and thrilling new talent”, Freya Beer is a singer-songwriter from West London.