James Veitch () is an English comedian, mostly known for his comedy performances using slideshows and video effects that show interactions with authors of scam emails (known as

scam baiting Scam baiting (or scambaiting) is a form of internet vigilantism primarily used towards advance-fee fraud, IRS impersonation scams, technical support scams, pension scams, and consumer financial fraud. Scambaiters pose as potential victims to was ...

). In September 2020, Veitch was the subject of multiple allegations ranging from emotional abuse to rape.

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

subsequently removed his comedy special from its streaming platform, and Veitch was dropped by his agent.

Early life

Veitch attended

Sarah Lawrence College Sarah Lawrence College (SLC) is a Private university, private liberal arts college in Yonkers, New York, United States. Founded as a Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in 1926, Sarah Lawrence College has been coeducational ...

Career

Veitch worked as a film editor on the 2006 film ''Papa Joe'' and as a digital intermediate conform artist on the 2008 movie '' Middle of Nowhere''. In 2009, Veitch adapted

John Keats John Keats (31 October 1795 – 23 February 1821) was an English poet of the second generation of Romantic poets, along with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. His poems had been in publication for less than four years when he died of tub ...

's writings into a play for

Keats House Keats House is a writer's house museum in what was once the home of the Romantic poet John Keats. It is in Keats Grove, Hampstead, in inner north London. Maps before about 1915 show the road with one of its earlier names, John Street; the ...

. Veitch's first solo

comedy show Stand-up comedy is a performance directed to a live audience, where the performer stands on a stage and delivers humorous and satirical monologues sometimes incorporating physical acts. These performances are typically composed of rehearse ...

, ''The Fundamental Interconnectedness of Everyone with an Internet Connection'', was launched at Brighton Fringe in May 2014 as part of the arts industry showcase WINDOW. The show ran in August 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 ...

. It concerned scam emails, Veitch's humorous responses to them, and the nature of the Internet. The show was described by the ''

Sunday Herald The ''Sunday Herald'' was a Scottish Sunday newspaper, published between 7 February 1999 and 2 September 2018. Originally a broadsheet, it was published in compact format from 20 November 2005. The paper was known for having combined a centre- ...

'' as "Topically brilliant comedy. Tears-down-the-face funny". His next Edinburgh Fringe show was ''Genius Bar'' in 2015, about his time in this role at Apple. Alice Jones of ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' praised the "neat premise" used to explore the end of Veitch's relationship and the show's conclusion, but said that "the constituent parts still feel a little disjointed". Veitch authored ''Dot Con: The Art of Scamming a Scammer'' in 2015. A ''

Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus. The magazine's publisher, Kirkus Media, is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fiction, no ...

'' article said that Veitch's "absurdist approach and enthusiasm for his work make for unpredictably funny reading". He made two appearances on the talk show '' Conan''. Veitch recorded three TED talks in 2015 and 2016. One chronicles Veitch's encounter with a supermarket chain's marketing emails, and the other two are about scam emails. Veitch also presented the

Mashable Mashable is a Online newspaper, news website, digital media platform and entertainment company founded by Pete Cashmore in 2005. History Mashable was founded by Pete Cashmore while living in Aberdeen, Scotland, in July 2004. Early iterations o ...

video series "Scamalot" on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

. A Pleasance Courtyard performance in 2015 received praise from ''

''s Alice Jones, who stated that "Veitch has found a nerdy niche with his comic lectures about modern technology". In 2018, he starred in the

Melbourne International Comedy Festival The Melbourne International Comedy Festival (MICF) is the largest stand-alone comedy festival and the largest international comedy festival in the world. First held in 1987, it takes place annually in Melbourne over four weeks, typically starti ...

(Allstars Supershow). Veitch was a guest presenter on the live trivia gameshow '' HQ Trivia''. In 2019, Veitch was the host of that year's

Britannia Awards The British Academy Britannia Awards are presented by BAFTA Los Angeles, a branch of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), as "a bridge between the Hollywood and British production and entertainment business communities." Est ...

. He hosted a humorous investigative journalism series on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

called ''James Veitch's Contractual Obligation''. In August 2020, his comedy special, ''James Veitch: Straight to VHS'', was released on

HBO Max Max (known in other countries as, and soon to be reverted globally to HBO Max) is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. It is a proprietary unit of Warner Bros. Discovery Streaming on behalf of Home Box Of ...

Sexual misconduct allegations

On 1 September 2020 several women who attended Sarah Lawrence College with Veitch made rape allegations against him, with others accusing him of inappropriate behaviour. Veitch declined to comment on the allegations which were reported by ''

Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly larg ...

'', "but a source close to him says he denies all allegations". HBO subsequently removed his comedy special from its streaming platform. Veitch was dropped by his agent and edited out of a

Quibi Quibi ( ) was an American short-form streaming platform that generated content for viewing on mobile devices. It was founded in Los Angeles in August 2018 as NewTV by Jeffrey Katzenberg and was led by Meg Whitman as CEO. The service raised $ ...

show he was set to host. Though the BBC initially decided to retain ''Contractual Obligation'' on BBC Sounds, it was removed in early September.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Veitch, James 21st-century British comedians Alumni of the University of Aberdeen British male comedians British theatre directors Comedians from London Living people Place of birth missing (living people) Sarah Lawrence College alumni Sexual harassment in the United Kingdom Violence against women in England Year of birth missing (living people)