Pierre Novellie (born 31 January 1991) is a South African-born comedian and writer.

Career

Novellie has written for and performed on '' The Mash Report'', ''Chris Ramsey's Stand Up Central'', and ''The Now Show''. He was also a guest 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 ...

's ''The Rest is History'' hosted by Frank Skinner. Other highlights include appearing on the ''Joke Thieves'' pilot for BBC Two opposite

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 ...

BBC Three BBC Three 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 first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes for a 16 to 34-year-old target aud ...

's ''Edinburgh Comedy Fest Live'' and All4/4OD ''Comedy Blaps'' series ''Taxi Gags'' and ''Outsiders''. Novellie's writing credits also include the ''

Spitting Image ''Spitting Image'' is a British satirical television puppet show, created by Peter Fluck, Roger Law and Martin Lambie-Nairn. First broadcast in 1984, the series was produced by 'Spitting Image Productions' for Central Independent Television ...

'' revival, ''

Mock The Week ''Mock the Week'' is a topical satirical celebrity panel show, created by Dan Patterson and Mark Leveson. It was produced by Angst Productions for BBC Two, and was broadcast from 5 June 2005 to 4 November 2022. Presenter Dara Ó Briain and pan ...

'', ''

Newzoids ''Newzoids'' is a British topical satirical sketch show, which was co-produced by Citrus Television and Factory for ITV and broadcast for two series between 15 April 2015 and 8 October 2016. The programme operated in a similar format to '' Spitt ...

'', '' Adam Buxton's Shed of Christmas'', and '' The Island''. He has supported

Frank Skinner Christopher Graham Collins (born 28 January 1957), known professionally as Frank Skinner, is an English comedian, actor, presenter and writer. At the 2001 British Comedy Awards, he was named Best Comedy Entertainment Personality. His televisio ...

Hal Cruttenden Hal Dominic Bart Cruttenden (born 9 September 1969) is an English stand-up comedian, actor, presenter, and writer. Early life Hal Dominic Bart Cruttenden was born in the Ealing district of London on 9 September 1969. His grandmother, Cynthia Co ...

and Gary Delaney on tour. Novellie appeared alongside fellow comedian and Cambridge graduate

Phil Wang Philip Nathaniel Wang Sin Goi (; Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: ''Vòng Hîn-kùi''; born 22 January 1990) is a British-Malaysian stand-up comedian and comedy writer who is a member of the sketch comedy group Daphne, and co-creator of their BBC Radio 4 ser ...

on an episode of Dave's ''

World's Most Dangerous Roads ''World's Most Dangerous Roads'' is a Television in the United Kingdom, British TV series in which two celebrities are filmed as they journey by Four-wheel drive, 4×4 vehicle along roads considered among the world's most dangerous. The show was ...

'', broadcast in 2023. Novellie was diagnosed with

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 ...

in 2022. In 2024 he released a book titled ''Why Can't I Just Enjoy Things?: A Comedian's Guide to Autism''. Novellie currently co-hosts the podcasts ''Glue Factory'' alongside Milo Edwards, Olga Koch and Riley Quinn, and ''BudPod'' alongside Glenn Moore. He previously hosted a regular podcast called ''My Favourite Podcast''. He appeared on episode 408 of

Richard Herring Richard Keith Herring (born 12 July 1967) is an English stand-up comedian and writer whose early work includes the comedy double act Lee and Herring (alongside Stewart Lee). He is described by ''The British Theatre Guide'' as "one of the leadin ...

's Leicester Square Theatre Podcast.

Awards

Novellie won the Amused Moose Laugh Off in 2013 at the

Edinburgh Fringe Festival 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 2014 he was nominated for industry website Chortle's Best Newcomer award and in 2016 was nominated for Best Club Comic at the Chortle Awards.

Personal life

Born in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

, Novellie grew up on the

Isle of Man The Isle of Man ( , also ), or Mann ( ), is a self-governing British Crown Dependency in the Irish Sea, between Great Britain and Ireland. As head of state, Charles III holds the title Lord of Mann and is represented by a Lieutenant Govern ...

and attended

Corpus Christi College, Cambridge Corpus Christi College (full name: "The College of Corpus Christi and the Blessed Virgin Mary", often shortened to "Corpus") is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. From the late 14th c ...

, studying Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic. At Cambridge he was a member and then vice president of the

Cambridge Footlights The Cambridge Footlights, commonly referred to simply as Footlights, is a student sketch comedy troupe located in Cambridge, England. Footlights was founded in 1883, and is one of Britain's oldest student sketch comedy troupes. The comedy so ...

. He first began to consider he might be on the autistic spectrum after a mild heckle during a standup performance in 2020. An audience member said that "You sound like me", clarifying that "I have Asperger's - I think you have Asperger's." After taking online autism tests he was formally diagnosed in 2022.

References

Living people 1991 births People from Johannesburg Alumni of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge South African emigrants to the United Kingdom British podcasters {{UK-comedian-stub