Laurence Clark demands a place at Disability Rocks
Laurence has cerebral palsy and his outlook on life as a disabled person very much shapes his comedy. His first show, The All-Star Charity Show, won critical acclaim at Edinburgh Fringe in 2003. The show was named Critics’ Choice in The Times and Laurence was described as a “powerful comedy voice” and “stunningly hard-hitting” by critic Kate Copstick in The Scotman’s round-up of the best of the fringe.
Subsequent shows he has taken to Edinburgh Fringe include The Jim Davidson Guide to Equality, where Laurence responded to ‘comic’ Jim Davidson cancelling a show because wheelchair users were in his audience by doing a comedy show which he vowed to cancel if Jim turned up in his audience! In Jim Fixed It for Me he tried to come to terms with having appeared on Jim’ll Fix It as a child and not getting a Jim’ll Fix It badge. His next show, 12% Evil took its title from the many famous villains who were portrayed as disabled in order to make them seem sinister and evil; e.g, Richard III, Long John Silver, Captain Hook, Dr Strangelove, various Bond baddies and of course… Heather Mills-McCartney! Finally his last controversial show, Spastic Fantastic followed Laurence’s attempts to reclaim ‘spastic’ as someone with cerebral palsy through stand-up comedy and hidden camera stunts.
Laurence has topped Shortlist magazine’s Britain’s Ten Funniest New Comedians list, ahead of such comedy luminaries as Daniel Kitson and Alex Horne.
Television appearances have included Are You Having a Laugh? TV and Disability (BBC 2), The Heaven and Earth Show (BBC 1), The London Programme – 12 Cons of Christmas (ITV1) and The Shooting Party (Channel 4). Laurence regrets taking a small walk-on part in BBC 3′s dire sitcom I’m With Stupid, but finds solace in the fact that one of the five words he had to say was “buggery!” He’s most proud of having been a guest reporter on BBC 2′s Newsnight, presenting a film about disability and the Abortion Act. He was also a script advisor and contributor for a Radio 4 documentary on comedy and disability called ‘Should We Be Laughing?’ and makes occasional appearance’s on the BBC Ouch Podcast as well as writing articles for the BBC Ouch website
With television appearances on BBC1, BBC2, BBC3, ITV1 and Channel 4, comedian, presenter and comedy writer Laurence Clark has also topped Shortlist magazine’s Britain’s Ten Funniest New Comedians.
His BBC documentary, based on family life and integrating his stand-up into the piece is called ‘We wont drop the baby’ is being aired on BBC1 at 10.30pm on March 21st. In addition, Laurence has headlined the BBC’s diversity directory launch event and appears as a talking head in the BBC2 documentary Are You Having A Laugh? TV credits include The Shooting Party (C4), I’m With Stupid (BBC3), Newsnight (BBC2) and The London Programme (ITV).
Laurence has written 5 highly acclaimed solo shows, is a regular writer for BBC Ouch! and performs and writes sketches for comedy group Abnormally Funny People. Across 5 shows Laurence has four 5-star reviews and 21 4-star reviews.
“Close to the bone and very funny… makes Chris Morris look lightweight” The Scotsman
“His dry, cutting wit and astute social observations are hilariously accurate… ” ****Three Weeks
“…enough laughter to balance out the more serious messages” ****Metro
“Tremendously cheeky… a genuine pleasure to spend time with… a bloody great hour of comedy” ****National student
“Exposes stupidity and ignorance to devastating effect” ****The List
