Sophie Duker (born 1989/1990) is a British

stand-up comedian 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 rehear ...

and writer.

Early life

Duker was born in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

to first-generation immigrants from

West Africa West Africa, also known as Western Africa, is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations geoscheme for Africa#Western Africa, United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Gha ...

. Her mother is from

Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...

and her father is from

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

. She attended

North London Collegiate School North London Collegiate School (NLCS) is a private day school for girls in England. Founded in Camden Town, it is now located in Edgware, in the London Borough of Harrow. Associate schools are located in South Korea, Jeju Island, Dubai, Vietnam ...

until 2008 before studying French and English at

Wadham College, Oxford Wadham College ( ) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It is located in the centre of Oxford, at the intersection of Broad Street, Oxford, Broad Street and Parks Road ...

. She joined the Oxford Imps in her first year at university.

Career

An alumna of the Pleasance Comedy Reserve, Duker was shortlisted for the

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 ...

award in 2015. She founded and hosted the "Manic Pixie Dream Girls" show as part of

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

's Free Festival in 2016 and 2017. She has written for the ''

Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (''The Huffington Post'' until 2017, itself often abbreviated as ''HPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and covers ...

'' and she was an assistant producer for '' Frankie Boyle's New World Order'' and a researcher for ''

8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown ''8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown'' is a British comedy panel show on Channel 4. The show follows the game of '' Countdown'', but presented in a comedy panel show format seen on ''8 Out of 10 Cats'', with the show being a crossover of the two. ...

''. In 2019, she appeared on ''

8 Out of 10 Cats ''8 Out of 10 Cats'' (stylised as ''8 out of 10 CATS'') is a British comedy panel show that aired from 3 June 2005 to 17 January 2021. It was first broadcast on Channel 4 from 2005 to 2015, then More4 from 2016 to 2017, and finally E4 from ...

'', '' Frankie Boyle's New World Order'', '' Dave Gorman: Terms and Conditions Apply'', and ''

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 ...

'', and in 2020 in ''

''. In 2017, Duker appeared in a Turtle Canyon short titled "The Dates", which explores

bisexual Bisexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior toward both males and females. It may also be defined as the attraction to more than one gender, to people of both the same and different gender, or the attraction t ...

dating culture. In 2018, Duker set up the comedy night "Wacky Racists", which currently has a monthly residency at 2Northdown in

King's Cross, London King's Cross is a district in the London Boroughs of Camden and Islington, on either side of Euston Road in north London, England, north of Charing Cross, bordered by Barnsbury to the north, Clerkenwell to the southeast, Angel to the east, ...

, and performs spin-off shows at festivals and events across the UK. In December 2019,

Soho Theatre Soho Theatre is a theatre and registered charity in the Soho district of the City of Westminster, and Soho Theatre Walthamstow in north-east London. It produces and presents new works of theatre, together with comedy and cabaret, across three pe ...

hosted a seasonal Christmas "Wacky Racists" special. Duker co-starred in the pilot for a hidden camera sketch 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 ...

called ''Riot Girls'' as well as on the

Comedy Central UK Comedy Central is a British pay television channel that carries comedy programming, both original and broadcast syndication, syndicated. This channel is specific to audiences within the United Kingdom and Ireland. The channel is aligned with ...

comedy show ''What I Wish I’d Said'' in 2018. Her first stand-up show, "Diet Woke", premiered in 2018. She took her 2019 show, "Venus", to the Brighton Fringe and the

Edinburgh 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 ...

, performing at the Edinburgh Pleasance from 31 July to 25 August 2019. In 2019, Duker appeared on the hip-hop comedy panel show ''Don't Hate the Playaz''. In September 2020, during one of Duker's appearances on '' Frankie Boyle's New World Order'', the host

Frankie Boyle Francis Martin Patrick Boyle (born 16 August 1972) is a Scottish comedian and writer. Boyle first gained widespread recognition as a regular panellist on the comedy show '' Mock the Week'' from 2005 until 2009. He then created and starred in t ...

proposed the motion "

Black Lives Matter Black Lives Matter (BLM) is a Decentralization, decentralized political and social movement that aims to highlight racism, discrimination and Racial inequality in the United States, racial inequality experienced by black people, and to pro ...

Glosses Over The Complexities Of A World Where We All Need To Come Together And Kill Whitey". A clip of Duker making a joke which repeated the phrase "kill whitey"—a phrase pre-approved by the BBC, according to Duker—was widely spread online. Duker joked about the phrase in the context of discussing her views on whiteness and capitalism in response to a 1970s clip of

James Baldwin James Arthur Baldwin (né Jones; August 2, 1924 – December 1, 1987) was an American writer and civil rights activist who garnered acclaim for his essays, novels, plays, and poems. His 1953 novel '' Go Tell It on the Mountain'' has been ranked ...

talking about

black power Black power is a list of political slogans, political slogan and a name which is given to various associated ideologies which aim to achieve self-determination for black people. It is primarily, but not exclusively, used in the United States b ...

. Duker described that "far-right blogs to mainstream tabloids" began covering the story six days after the episode aired, with the ''

Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily Middle-market newspaper, middle-market Tabloid journalism, tabloid conservative newspaper founded in 1896 and published in London. , it has the List of newspapers in the United Kingdom by circulation, h ...

''s Sarah Vine criticising the comments as "hateful dogma", after which 1,300 complaints were made to the

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 ...

. The BBC responded that the content was "within audience expectations for a post-watershed, topical, satirical programme from a comedian whose style and tone are well-established", later dismissing the complaints. A Greater Manchester police hate crime investigation was opened after a report in early January and closed a week later with no action. Duker was subjected to racialist harassment on social media over the comments. In 2021, she was hired by Rumpus Media to co-present a new female-led topical panel show on

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 ...

called ''Yesterday, Today and The Day Before'' alongside fellow comedians Suzi Ruffell and

Maisie Adam Maisie Elizabeth Adam (born 24 January 1994) is an English stand-up comedy, stand-up comedian. Early life Maisie Adam was born on 24 January 1994. She grew up in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, with her parents Phillip and Jill Adam, and her younge ...

. However, Duker quit after the first episode in protest over cuts to her monologue about conflict between Israel and Palestine, with comedian Kemah Bob and the show's assistant producer also quitting the show alongside her. Duker's first gig after lockdown was a fundraiser for Reclaim These Streets in July 2021. In 2022, she won the thirteenth season of the comedy panel game show '' Taskmaster'', and the quiz show '' Celebrity Mastermind''. She won her episode of the latter with the specialist subject of

Alan Bennett Alan Bennett (born 9 May 1934) is an English actor, author, playwright and screenwriter. He has received numerous awards and honours including four BAFTA Awards, four Laurence Olivier Awards, and two Tony Awards. In 2005 he received the Socie ...

's play ''

The History Boys ''The History Boys'' is a play by British playwright Alan Bennett. The play premiered at the Royal National Theatre in London's West End on 18 May 2004. Its Broadway debut was on 23 April 2006 at the Broadhurst Theatre where 185 performances w ...

''. She returned to the Edinburgh Festival line-up in 2022 with a show titled "Hag".

Personal life

Duker is

queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are non-heterosexual or non- cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against LGBTQ people in the late 19th century. From the late 1980s, queer activists began to ...

Filmography

References

External links