- Matt Roper
-
Matt Roper photographed by Andy Hollingworth, London 2010
Matt Roper is a British comedian, writer and musician who made his stand-up debut in the mid-1990s.
He is an alumnus of the young people's theatre company Oldham Theatre Workshop[1], where his contemporaries included the actors Anna Friel and Suranne Jones.
He is noted for his work as a writer-performer in sketch comedy and revue on the London fringe; the satirical sketch show Newsrevue at the Canal Cafe Theatre, Nice Mischief and A Touch of Roberts and Roper[2] at Jermyn Street Theatre. Performing stand-up comedy, he became one of the first comics to play the Manchester Comedy Store, appearing regularly at the Buzz Club and in the East Dulwich Cabaret's All New Stand-up Show[1].
He is currently gaining prominence with his creation of the stage character Wilfredo, a grotesque satire of a Mediterranean romantic singer. The character is notoriously ill-mannered; frequently salivating onstage, drinking and smoking his way throughout songs, while berating his musicians and audience members with insults and expletives[3][1].
With Wilfredo and his band, Roper has toured the British summer festival circuit, counting the 2009 and 2010 Glastonbury Festival[4][5][6] among his successes. In July 2010 Wilfredo became the surprise hit of the Port Eliot Literary Festival, appearing onstage with Jarvis Cocker[7]. Increasingly satirizing the cult of celebrity, Wilfredo was also filmed chatting to Biba founder, the fashion designer Barbara Hulanicki, giving the impression to onlookers that she was his own personal designer[7]. Roper has presented the character at the Café de Paris, the Tobacco Factory in Bristol, Brighton Komedia and at London’s Leicester Square Theatre. He has also performed the character on the Italian stage to critical and public acclaim[8][9]. In June 2011 Roper appeared as Wilfredo in the first series of Rufus Hound's What's So Funny? for BBC Radio 4 Extra[10] in addition to an appearance on Arthur Smith's Pissed Up Chat Show at the E4 Udderbelly at the Southbank Centre.
At the 2011 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Roper presented a feature length solo show, Wilfredo: Erecto!. It received positive comment and reviews in the press, described by the Guardian newspaper as "weird, intimate and wonderful"[11] and by Time Out as "an extraordinary creation who cuts a hacking, spluttering, beer dribbling figure upon the stage - a very entertaining hour and consistently funny"[12]. The comedy industry website Chortle observed the character as "cantankerous, often lecherous and almost certainly consumptive. To this Roper adds his tics – coughing and burping his way through the set, at one point hacking up phlegm like a horse chewing a toffee."[13]
In May 2011 Roper played the Devil in Terry Newman's political satire Lucifer: My Part In The New Labour Project (And How I Invented Coalition Government) - a multi-character solo performance - in London and for the Brighton Festival[14].
Matt Roper is the son of the late British comedian George Roper[15]. He is a supporter of the Burma Campaign UK[16].
References
- ^ a b c [1] Comedycv.co.uk Entry for Matt Roper - Retrieved 15 Feb 2011
- ^ UK Theatre Web
- ^ Camden New Journal - retrieved 21-07-10
- ^ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glastonbury_Festival_2010
- ^ Off The Wagon - Balkan beats and gypsy music
- ^ NME.com Glastonbury Line-up 2010
- ^ a b Matt Roper and Jackie Juno a double bill at the Totnes Festival, PRSD, retrieved 15-09-10
- ^ Corriere del Mezzogiorno Wilfredo, il Rock visto da Granada
- ^ ConnectMagazine.it Wilfredo, Un Uomo e La Sua Musica. A Nardò il fenomeno lounge dell’Inghilterra
- ^ BBC - BBC Radio 4 Extra Programmes What's So Funny? Episode 12, Series 1. Broadcast Fri 24 Jun 2011 - Retrieved 27-6-2011
- ^ The Guardian Guardian.co.uk - Edinburgh Festival 2011, Isy Suttie: My Edinburgh 02-09-11
- ^ Soundcloud Ben Walters reviews Wilfredo: Erecto for Time Out, retrieved 02-09-11
- ^ Chortle Chortle.co.uk Edinburgh Fringe 2011 - Wilfredo: Erecto! review, retrieved 02-09-11
- ^ Brighton Fringe Interview: Matt Roper, TNC, retrieved 26-05-11
- ^ Manchester Evening News Stars bid farewell to comic pal
- ^ Burma Campaign UK Celebrate Aung San Suu Kyi’s 65th birthday - Retrieved 06-08-2010
External links
- Youtube.com - Wilfredo in performance at the Komedia for the Brighton Festival Fringe
- Vimeo - Port Eliot Festival: Lucia Helenka films the 2010 festival and asks a host of performers including Stephen Jones, Jarvis Cocker, Anna Sui, Anita Pallenberg, Barbara Hulanicki, Wilfredo and more what makes Port Eliot so special for them.
Categories:- 1977 births
- Living people
- British satirists
- English comedians
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
