Andre Vincent (born 2 May 1964 in

Penge Penge () is a suburb of South East Greater London, London, England, now in the London Borough of Bromley, west of Bromley, north east of Croydon and south east of Charing Cross. Etymology The name ''Penge'' is first attested in charter of ...

, England) is a comedian, writer, actor and comedy historian. A situational comic, Vincent is known for his observations about health matters, including his experiences with

diabetes Diabetes mellitus, commonly known as diabetes, is a group of common endocrine diseases characterized by sustained high blood sugar levels. Diabetes is due to either the pancreas not producing enough of the hormone insulin, or the cells of th ...

, cancer and

kidney In humans, the kidneys are two reddish-brown bean-shaped blood-filtering organ (anatomy), organs that are a multilobar, multipapillary form of mammalian kidneys, usually without signs of external lobulation. They are located on the left and rig ...

surgery.

Career

Vinvent developed an interest in acting when, as a child, he took the part of the

Artful Dodger Jack Dawkins, better known as the Artful Dodger, is a character in Charles Dickens's 1838 novel ''Oliver Twist''. The Dodger is a pickpocket and his nickname refers to his skill and cunning in that occupation. In the novel, he is the leader of th ...

in a locally produced '' Oliver''.Jardine, Cassandra. (6 September 2002
How I kept my sense of tumour
''The Daily Telegraph''. Retrieved 9 February 2008 He worked as an actor from the age of seven, if any show required an "urchin" "messenger" or " Winslow Boy" he was available. At the age of 18 while performing in a show that required Circus skills he learnt to juggle and unicycle. Smitten by these new accomplishments he travelled to Paris and trained as a clown, Vincent started travelling the world appearing at circus and theatre festivals as busker 'Arry Pavarotti. Following his stand-up debut in

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

and

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

, Vincent made appearance in other US states. The pinnacle of this period was opening for

Bob Hope Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope (May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003) was an American comedian, actor, entertainer and producer with a career that spanned nearly 80 years and achievements in vaudeville, network radio, television, and USO Tours. He appeared ...

in Columbus, Ohio in 1992. Thereafter, Vincent returned home to the comedy circuit of the UK. Subsequent appearances have included a Saturday night show on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

, nine sell-out runs at the

Edinburgh Festival Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as the Edinburgh Fringe, the Fringe or the Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest performance arts festival, which in 2024 spanned 25 days, sold more than 2.6 million tickets and featur ...

, numerous radio shows, the presenter of two award-nominated television programmes, regular appearances on daytime panel games and even an appearance as himself in the children's drama ''

Byker Grove ''Byker Grove'' is a British teen drama and coming of age television series which aired between 1989 and 2006 on BBC One. The show was set in Byker, Newcastle upon Tyne and was filmed in nearby Benwell. It was created by writer Adele Rose a ...

''. Vincent began to incorporate more material about himself into his comedy routine after his diagnosis with cancer and the removal of a 7 lb.

tumor A neoplasm () is a type of abnormal and excessive growth of tissue. The process that occurs to form or produce a neoplasm is called neoplasia. The growth of a neoplasm is uncoordinated with that of the normal surrounding tissue, and persists ...

from his kidney in 2002,Black, Steven. (7 September 2002
Cancer can be fun
BBC News. Retrieved 9 February 2008 having in earlier shows received positive audience response from earlier references to his diabetes and a knee injury. He later incorporated the material into an award winning TV show for

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

, ''Hurrah for Cancer''.BBC. (27 July 2007
Waiting for Alice
BBC. Retrieved 9 February 2008 Vincent started working with

Marcus Brigstocke Marcus Alexander Brigstocke (born 8 May 1973) is a British comedian and actor. He has worked in stand-up comedy, television, radio and musical theatre. He has appeared on many BBC television and radio shows. Early life Brigstocke is the son of N ...

in 2005 on the

BBC Four BBC Four is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002

show '' The Late Edition''. The first live topical show on the BBC for many years. The pair took a live version of the show to the

in 2006 and since then have performed "The Early Edition" at many of the leading UK festivals. "The Early Edition" performed its last show at the

on 25 August 2012. After 7 years of Theatres and Festivals Andre & Marcus have called time on one of the most interesting live shows ever created. In 2007 Vincent launched a new show with fellow comic

Phill Jupitus Phillip Christopher Jupitus (, ''Given name#Name at birth, né'' Swan; born 25 June 1962) is a retired English stand-up comedy, stand-up and Improv comedy teacher, improv comedian, actor, performance poetry, performance poet, cartoonist and podc ...

. In "Waiting For Alice", the pair play

Tweedledum and Tweedledee Tweedledum and Tweedledee are characters in an English nursery rhyme and in Lewis Carroll's 1871 book '' Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There''. Their names may have originally come from an epigram written by poet John Byrom. T ...

, sitting around and contemplating their wonderland and what may lie outside. The Winter of 2009 found Vincent re-treading the boards in his first Pantomime in 26 years, in "Robin Hood" at the

Theatre Royal, Norwich The Theatre Royal is a theatre in Norwich, England. It is one of the country's oldest established theatres, founded in 1758. It was rebuilt in 1801 and 1826. It burnt down in 1934 and was bombed during World War II. Peter Wilson ran the theat ...

. He then returned to the same theatre for 2010 to play Billy Trott in "Jack & The Beanstalk and again in 2011, this time playing Muddles Pickles in "Sleeping Beauty"; In 2012 he returns to the Theatre Royal to play Wishee Washee in "Aladdin". The pinnacle of his Pantomime work was the 2015/16 season. Playing Buttons in "Cinderella" at the

Manchester Opera House The Opera House in Quay Street, Manchester, England, is a 1,920-seater commercial touring Theatre (structure), theatre that plays host to touring Musical theatre, musicals, ballet, concerts and a Christmas pantomime. It is a Grade II listed buil ...

with ice skating legends

Torvill and Dean Torvill and Dean ( Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean) are British ice dancers and former British, European, Olympic, and World champions. At the Sarajevo 1984 Winter Olympics the pair won gold and became the highest-scoring figure skat ...

. The 2017/18 Pantomime season found Vincent at the Palace Theatre, Redditch this time in "Snow White" and also a first for him as he played the Dame. The 2018/19 Season had him back in a frock, this time playing Dame Trott in "Jack & the Beanstalk" at the

Bridlington Spa Bridlington Spa is a dance hall, Theater (structure), theatre and Convention center, conference centre in Bridlington, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. Refurbished between 2006 and 2008 and further updated with a new branding in 2016, the ven ...

. Continuing to frock up as Dame, the 2019/20 pantomime season found André as Dolly Doolittle in “Snow White” at Leas Cliff Hall in Folkestone. In 2010 he could be seen in the films '' Believe: The Eddie Izzard Story'' and ''

The People vs. George Lucas ''The People vs. George Lucas'' is a 2010 documentary comedy film directed by Swiss director Alexandre O. Philippe. It explores the issues of filmmaking and fanaticism pertaining to the ''Star Wars'' franchise and its creator, George Lucas. The fi ...

''. In 2011 Vincent created a new show for the

, ''PokerMen'', an interesting chat show with a difference. Vincent would give 3 comics £60 but that would be their stake money in an hour game of poker, consequently one of them would walk away with £240 but within the hour would be trash-talk, shouting, jokes, arguments but was always good fun . Also this year he played

Oliver Hardy Oliver Norvell Hardy (born Norvell Hardy; January 18, 1892 – August 7, 1957) was an American comic actor and one half of Laurel and Hardy, the double act that began in the era of silent films and lasted from 1926 to 1957. He appeared with his ...

in '' Laurel & Hardy'' at

York Theatre Royal York Theatre Royal is a theatre in St Leonard's Place, in York, England, which dates back to 1744. The theatre currently seats 750 people. Whilst the theatre is traditionally a proscenium theatre, it was reconfigured for a season in 2011 to off ...

. In 2012 Vincent appeared in 2 more films: No Prisoners and the highly acclaimed Scottish indie movie '' Electric Man''. In 2015 Vincent began teaching BA Applied Drama undergraduates in stand-up comedy at St Mary's University in SW London. This annually-recurring role has led to several alumni becoming cabaret performers. In 2020, during the UK Coronavirus lockdown, Vincent produced a stand-up teaching module for The Prince's Trust.

Comedy History

In 2015, Time Out magazine asked numerous British comedians to name their top 10 comedians: only a few could name pre-1980 performers. Shocked and annoyed by this lack of recognition for past masters, Vincent created the website 'mislaidcomedyheroes.com', a guide to the old, forgotten or lost heroes of comedy which was launched in 2016. To accompany the website, a YouTube channel of bygone comedy classics - also known as Mislaid Comedy Heroes - was created in 2017 and has led to Vincent appearing on many TV comedy history programmes to share his knowledge with viewers. In May 2015 Vincent had the honour of being initiated into the

Grand Order of Water Rats The Grand Order of Water Rats is a British entertainment industry fraternity and charitable organisation based in London. Founded in 1889 by the music hall comedians Joe Elvin and Jack Lotto, the order is known for its high-profile membership an ...

TV appearances

TV Stand-Up ''Hurrah for Cancer(BBC3) ''Big City'' (ITV Central) ''The Orpheum Comics'' (CBC) ''The Comedy Factory'' (Nederland's TV) ''I Want 2 B TV'' (BBC3) ''A Day In the Garden (Channel 4) ''Sunday Night With The Comics'' (Fox) ''You Must Be Joking'' (ITV Central) ''First Night'' (ITV) ''Edinburgh Nights(ITV) ''Comedy Blue'' (Comedy Central) ''Net.Comedy'' (BBC Choice) TV panel games ''What The Dickens?'' (Sky Arts) ''All Over The Shop (''BBC1) Don't Drink the Water (Sky Travel) ''Celebrity Squares'' (ITV-CBC-ATV) ''That's Showbiz'' (BBC1) ''Bring Me The Head of Light Entertainment'' (Channel 4) ''TopTip Challenge'' (BBC1) ''What's My Line'' (ITV Meridian) TV documentaries ''Comedy Map of Great Britain'' (BBC2) ''The Flash Gordon Story'' (Sci-Fi Channel) ''Comedy Greats: Pete & Dud'' (BBC3) ''Believe: The Eddie Izzard Story'' (BBC1) ''Silent Clowns'' (BBC2) ''The Roots of Monty Python'' (BBC3) ''100 Greatest Musicals'' (Channel 4) ''Parklife-The story of South Park'' (Comedy Central) TV Factual/Topical Comedy ''The Late Edition'' (BBC4) ''The 11 o'clock Show'' (Channel 4) ''The RDA'' (BBC Choice) ''The Show'' (Channel 4) ''The Basement'' (Bravo) TV Acting Appearances ''Lee Evans TV Extravaganza'' ''Byker Grove'' ''Harry Hill Fruit Fancies'' ''Bodger & Badger'' ''The Bill'' ''Comedy Cuts series 1 to 3''

References

External links

*
Page on ChortlePhill Jupitus and Andre Vincent: Waiting for Alice
thestage.co.uk
Podcast interview featuring Andre Vincent
The Times Online.

Review of Robin Hood, Theatre Royal Norwich 2009

review Scotsman Pokermen

review Laurel & Hardy, York Theatre Royal {{DEFAULTSORT:Vincent, Andre 1964 births Living people English male comedians People from Penge Actors from the London Borough of Bromley Male actors from Kent Comedians from the London Borough of Bromley