John Dowie (humourist)

John Dowie (born 1950 in Birmingham) is a British comedian, musician, and writer. He began performing stand-up comedy in 1969.

Career

Dowie was among the inaugural acts on Tony Wilson's legendary Factory Records label. In 1978 Dowie contributed three comedic songs to the very first Factory music release, "A Factory Sample", along with Joy Division, The Durutti Column, and Cabaret Voltaire. In 1981 a 7" single followed, the Martin Hannett-produced "It's Hard to be an Egg", which Dowie describes as a flop. It is noteworthy as having unusual packaging even by Factory standards: the disc is white vinyl with a "yolk" printed on the label, and is packaged in a clear plastic sleeve with a real white feather. Dowie's final Factory contribution was a VHS video entitled simply "Dowie", a recording of a live performance at the Edinburgh fringe festival with Ralph Steadman cover art.

In 2005, Dowie collaborated with Phill Jupitus and Neil Innes on a musical comedy CD for children.

In 2006, Dowie recorded a remake of British Tourist, with the Dutch computer music group, the POW Ensemble for X-OR Records.

Books

* "Sit-Down Comedy" (contributor to anthology, ed Malcolm Hardee & John Fleming) Ebury Press/Random House, 2003. ISBN-10: 0091889243; ISBN-13: 978-0091889241

External links

* [http://www.johndowie.co.uk/ John Dowie's website]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/guide/talent/d/dowie_john.shtml BBC comedy guide]
* [http://www.doollee.com/PlaywrightsD/DowieJohn.htm Doollee profile]
* [http://www.discogs.com/artist/John+Dowie Discography]