Caroline Beaton (born 17 March 1969) is a British stand-up comedian, podcaster, writer and former TV executive.

Early life

Beaton grew up in

Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...

, the daughter of two teachers and was the only girl in an all boys school. She studied English and Drama at Goldsmiths and is a Master Practitioner in

neuro-linguistic programming Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) is a Pseudoscience, pseudoscientific approach to communication, personal development, and psychotherapy that first appeared in Richard Bandler and John Grinder's book ''The Structure of Magic I'' (1975). NLP ...

Career

Beaton worked as a TV executive at

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

and Carlton TV responsible for shows including ''

South Park ''South Park'' is an American animated sitcom created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, and developed by Brian Graden for Comedy Central. The series revolves around four boysStan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, and Kenny McCormickand the ...

'' and ''

SpongeBob SquarePants ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' is an American animated television series, animated comedy television series created by marine science educator and animator Stephen Hillenburg for Nickelodeon. It first aired as a sneak peek after the 1999 Kids' C ...

'' and as a senior vice president at Viacom. While working at

Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American Cable television in the United States, cable television channel, channel owned by Paramount Global through its Paramount Media Networks, network division's Paramount Media Networks#MTV Entertainment Group, MTV Ente ...

in 2015 she began performing as a stand-up comedian. According to her website: Beaton has appeared as a guest on BBC Two's '' The Apprentice: You're Fired'', a panellist on BBC Two's '' QI'', Richard Osman’s House of Games, BBC NI's '' The Blame Game'' and Live at the Apollo Christmas Special. She has been heard on BBC Radio 4's ''

The Museum of Curiosity ''The Museum of Curiosity'' is a comedy talk show on BBC Radio 4 that was first broadcast on 20 February 2008. It is hosted by John Lloyd (producer), John Lloyd (Professor of Ignorance at the University of Buckingham, and later at Solent Unive ...

'', ''The Unbelievable Truth'', Radio 4's '' The Now Show'' and on BBC Radio 6,

Times Radio Times Radio is a British digital radio station owned by News UK, part of the Murdoch family, Murdoch media empire. It is jointly operated by News Broadcasting (which News UK acquired in 2016, when it was known as ''Wireless Group''), ''The Tim ...

, Radio 5 Live and

BBC Radio London BBC Radio London is the BBC Local Radio, BBC's local radio station serving Greater London. It broadcasts on FM broadcasting, FM, Digital Audio Broadcasting, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios at Broadcasting House in Langham Plac ...

. 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 ...

in 2016, she gained 4-star reviews, together with comedian Catherine Bohart. For her solo show at the 2017 festival, ''Super Cally Fragile Lipstick'', she gained further 4-star reviews and won the Piccadilly Comedy Club "New Comedian Of The Year" 2017/18. Her 2019 Edinburgh Fringe solo show ''Invisible'', inspired by the statement by Yann Moix that women over 50 years of age were invisible to him, was listed as unmissable by the Daily Express and received four-star reviews from ''

The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact (newspaper), compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until ...

'' and ''

Funny Women Funny Women is an online and in-person workshop community dedicated to the support of female comedians. It was founded by Lynne Parker (Funny Women), Lynne Parker in 2002 as a reaction to misogynistic comments from a comedy promoter. Funny Women h ...

''. Beaton was on Episode 19 of the 2019 series of Richard Herring's Edinburgh Fringe Podcast. She featured on the ''

Daily Mirror The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily Tabloid journalism, tabloid newspaper. Founded in 1903, it is part of Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), which is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the tit ...

''s and the ''

Evening Standard The ''London Standard'', formerly the ''Evening Standard'' (1904–2024) and originally ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), is a long-established regional newspaper published weekly and distributed free newspaper, free of charge in London, Engl ...

's'' best jokes lists. In Spring 2021, Beaton launched ''Namaste Motherf**kers'', a podcast that mixes the genres of comedy, self-help and business. In Spring 2023, Beaton appeared on Countdown in Dictionary Corner. Beaton has also written for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' and the ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...

''.

Personal life

Beaton has a son, who has

autism Autism, also known as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by differences or difficulties in social communication and interaction, a preference for predictability and routine, sensory processing d ...

, and a daughter. She used to sky dive and is fluent in Dutch.

References

External links

*
Performing Artists - Cally Beaton
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Beaton, Cally 1969 births English stand-up comedians English women comedians British television executives 21st-century British writers Living people British women podcasters British podcasters Writers from Dorset