Wil Hodgson (born 1978) is a non-binary English comedian. They have lived in

Chippenham Chippenham is a market town in north-west Wiltshire, England. It lies north-east of Bath, Somerset, Bath, west of London and is near the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The town was established on a crossing of the River Avon, ...

their whole life and began performing comedy in 2003. Prior to this, they had worked part-time as a lecturer at

Wiltshire College Wiltshire College & University Centre is a tertiary college of education founded in 2002 by the merger of Chippenham Technical College, Lackham College and Trowbridge College. Consolidation was completed with the merger of Salisbury College, wh ...

and had a stint training to be a wrestler during which they participated in 30-man "Battle Royals". Hodgson is known for their fast and almost monotone delivery which, along with their bizarre persona, has been known to divide audiences. they are also known for their bright pink hair (until recently, a mohican) and their love of 1980s toys such as

Care Bear Care Bears are multi-colored bears, painted in 1981 by artist Elena Kucharik to be used on greeting cards from American Greetings. They were turned into plush teddy bears and featured in ''The Care Bears in the Land Without Feelings'' (1983) and ...

s and

My Little Pony ''My Little Pony'' (''MLP'') is a toy line and media franchise developed by American toy company Hasbro. The first toys were developed by Bonnie Zacherle, Charles Muenchinger, and Steve D'Aguanno, and were produced in 1981. The ponies feature ...

. Hodgson is also known for their material on women's bodies which they claim to be nature's greatest invention. They are vocal in their dislike of

size zero Size zero or size 0 is a dress size, women's clothing size in the US catalog sizes system. Size 0 and 00 were invented due to increasing body sizes and therefore the changing of clothing sizes over time (referred to as vanity sizing or size infla ...

models and airbrushed photos, expressing a preference for magazines such as '' Readers' Wives'' and for larger female celebrities such as

Fern Britton Fern M. Philomena Britton (born 17 July 1957) is an English television presenter and author. After beginning her career as a continuity announcer and a newsreader, she went on to co-present '' Breakfast Time'' in the 1980s and hosted the cookery ...

and

Liza Tarbuck Liza Tarbuck ( ; born 21 November 1964) is an English actress, comedian, and television and radio presenter. Early life Liza Tarbuck was born in Liverpool and grew up near Kingston upon Thames. She is the daughter of comedian Jimmy Tarbuck an ...

. Hodgson was a member of the Socialist Workers Party and the Anti Nazi League whilst a student at the University of Luton but claims to have no specific political allegiance besides their stance against racism, sexism and homophobia. Hodgson's

Edinburgh Festival __NOTOC__ This is a list of Arts festival, arts and cultural festivals regularly taking place in Edinburgh, Scotland. The city has become known for its festivals since the establishment in 1947 of the Edinburgh International Festival and the ...

shows have largely consisted of stand up material about their lifestyle and opinions combined with lengthy monologues about "The Red Team" a possibly fictional primary school sports day team made up of outcasts and misfits and their daily battles with the bullying "Green Team". Hodgson's material tends towards autobiography rather than straight observation. In 2004, they won a

Perrier Award Perrier ( , also , ) is a French brand of bottled water marketed as coming from its source in Vergèze, located in the Gard ''département''. Perrier was part of the Perrier Vittel Group SA, which became Nestlé Waters France after the acqui ...

for Best Newcomer 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 ...

. They supported

Ian Cognito Paul John Barbieri (21 November 1958 11 April 2019), known professionally as Ian Cognito, was an English stand-up comedian. He won the Time Out Award for Stand-up Comedy in 1999. Cognito had an aggressive stage persona and a reputation as Brita ...

on his national tour in 2005 and began their own national tour in January 2007. They supported

Mark Thomas Mark Clifford Thomas (born 11 April 1963) is an English comedian, best known for the political stunts that he performs on his show, ''The Mark Thomas Comedy Product'' on Channel 4. Thomas first became known as a guest comic on the BBC Radio 1 ...

on some dates of his "It's The Stupid Economy Tour". In December 2010, Hodgson filmed a cameo appearance in the independent feature film, ''What Happened After Macbeth'' directed by Jack Doyle which had been intended for release in 2013. The film also features cameos from stand-up comedians

Seymour Mace Seymour Mace (born 1969) is a British comedian and actor. Life and career Mace was born in 1969, and he moved with his family soon afterwards to South Africa as his father worked as a gold miner. The family returned to the UK, to Bedworth, nea ...

and Des Sharples.

Personal life

Hodgson is non-binary and uses they/them pronouns.

DVDs

They have so far released three DVDs distributed by

Go Faster Stripe Go Faster Stripe is an independent filmmaking, film production and Distribution (business), distribution company that operates out of the Chapter Arts Centre, in Cardiff, Wales. The company specialises in the recording of live shows by stand- ...

. * ''Skinheads, Readers' Wives and My Little Ponies'' * ''Hatful of Hodgson'' * ''Live on Bonfire Night''

Edinburgh Festival Fringe

* 2004 ''The Passion of the Hodgson'' (Perrier Best Newcomer Award) * 2005 ''Good Wil Hodgson'' * 2006 ''The Wil Hodgson Holiday Special'' * 2007 ''Straight Outta Chippenham'' * 2008 ''Chippenham on My Shoulder'' * 2009 ''Punk Folk Tales'' * 2010 ''Punkanory''

References

* *

External links

*
Wil Hodgson
on

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Hodgson, Wil 1978 births Living people Socialist Workers Party (UK) members Comedians from Bath, Somerset Entertainers from Chippenham English non-binary entertainers English LGBTQ comedians Non-binary comedians Comedians from Wiltshire 21st-century English comedians 21st-century English LGBTQ people