Deborah Frances-White is a London-based comedian, author and screenwriter. She has both British and Australian citizenship. She hosts the podcasts ''Global Pillage'' and '' The Guilty Feminist''. She wrote the 2019 comedy film

Say My Name "Say My Name" is a song by American group Destiny's Child from their second studio album, ''The Writing's on the Wall'' (1999). It was written by Beyoncé Knowles, LeToya Luckett, LaTavia Roberson, Kelly Rowland, LaShawn Daniels, Fred Jerkins I ...

Early life

Frances-White was born in Australia and adopted at ten days old. She grew up in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

. Her family converted to

Jehovah’s Witnesses Jehovah's Witnesses is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination with nontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity. The group reports a worldwide membership of approximately 8.7 million adherents involved in ev ...

when she was a teenager; Frances-White has since left the community and describes herself as an

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

. During her gap year, she moved to London and later studied English at

Harris Manchester College Harris Manchester College is one of the Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It was founded in Warrington in 1757 as a college for Unitarianism, Unitarian students and move ...

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

Career

Frances-White is one of three directors at the improv theatre company

The Spontaneity Shop The Spontaneity Shop is an improvisational comedy company formed in London in 1996. They base their work around the teachings of Keith Johnstone and have developed several original improvisation forms. History The Spontaneity Shop, then known a ...

, which she co-founded with Tom Salinsky in 1996. After developing a number of improvisation formats at The Spontaneity Shop (including the improvised romantic comedy ''DreamDate'' which had a pilot made for ITV), Frances-White turned to stand-up comedy. Her first significant solo show was ''How to Get Almost Anyone to Want to Sleep With You'' which she performed at The Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2007 and at The Melbourne International Comedy Festival in 2008 where she also hosted The Melbourne International Comedy Festival Roadshow. Frances-White's recent shows have been more personal. ''Cult Following'' (2012) dealt with her experiences as a teenage Jehovah's Witness, ''Half a Can of Worms'' (2013) was about tracking down her biological family and ''Friend of a Friend of Dorothy'' (2015) was about feminism, sexism and homophobia. Frances-White has continued to develop new improvisation formats. ''Voices in Your Head'' is a show which allows comedians, improvisers and actors to create comedy characters while the audience watches. Guests have included

Phill Jupitus Phillip Christopher Jupitus (, ''né'' Swan; born 25 June 1962) is an English stand-up and improv comedian, actor, performance poet, cartoonist and podcaster. Jupitus was a team captain on all but one BBC Two-broadcast episode of music quiz ''N ...

Sara Pascoe Sara Patricia Pascoe (born 22 May 1981) is an English actress, comedian and writer. She has appeared on television programmes including ''8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown'' for Channel 4, '' QI'' for BBC and '' Taskmaster'' for the digital chan ...

Russell Tovey Russell George Tovey (born 14 November 1981) is an English actor. He is best known for playing the role of werewolf George Sands in the BBC's supernatural comedy-drama '' Being Human'', Rudge in both the stage and film versions of ''The Histo ...

Mike McShane Michael McShane is an American actor, singer, and improvisational comedian. He appeared on the original British television show '' Whose Line Is It Anyway?'' (1988–97) and went on to appear in films such as '' Tucker: The Man and His Dream ( ...

and Hannibal Buress. In 2015 she created ''The Beau Zeaux'' a long-form improvised comedy featuring a rotating cast including

Marcus Brigstocke Marcus Alexander Brigstocke (born 8 May 1973) is a British comedian, actor and satirist. 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 ...

Thom Tuck Thomas Tuck (born 28 March 1982) is a British actor and comedian known for being one third of comedy troupe The Penny Dreadfuls and as a stand-up comedian. He was nominated for the Best Newcomer award at the 2011 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Earl ...

Rachel Parris Rachel Sarah Parris (born 27 May 1984) is an English comedian, musician, actress and presenter. She hosts the satirical news show '' Late Night Mash'' (formerly ''The Mash Report''). Early life Parris attended Loughborough High School. She hold ...

, Brendan Murphy, Ed Coleman, Milly Thomas and

Pippa Evans Pippa Evans (born June 1982) is a British comedian, known for her work in character and improvisational comedy. Early life and education Evans attended Notting Hill and Ealing High School, an independent school for girls, where she was head gi ...

. Guests have included

and Dan Starkey. Her BBC Radio 4 series ''Deborah Frances-White Rolls the Dice'' was first broadcast in spring 2015 and featured stories about her adoption,

green card marriage A sham marriage or fake marriage is a marriage of convenience entered into without intending to create a real marital relationship. This is usually for the purpose of gaining an advantage from the marriage. Definitions of sham marriage vary by ...

, and the quest to find her biological family. The episodes were titled "Half a Can of Worms", "Cult Following", "Visa Issues" and "Who's Your Daddy"? In January 2016, the show won Frances-White the

Writers' Guild of Great Britain The Writers' Guild of Great Britain (WGGB), established in 1959, is a trade union for professional writers. It is affiliated with both the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and the International Affiliation of Writers Guilds (IAWG). History The un ...

award for "Best Radio Comedy". A second series was first broadcast in autumn 2016. On television, Frances-White has appeared as a guest on ''

Mock the Week ''Mock the Week'' is a British 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. The programme was present ...

'', '' Have I Got News for You'', ''

Politics Live ''Politics Live'' is a BBC News political programme which launched on 3 September 2018. It is presented by Jo Coburn and features at least four guests debating the political stories of the day, as well as reports and other content. It is broadca ...

'' and '' Tonight With Vladimir Putin''. With

Sofie Hagen Sofie Hagen is a London-based Danish comedian, author, podcaster, fashion designer, and fat acceptance campaigner. She has toured with comedy shows, released a book and hosted and co-hosted a number of podcasts. Biography Sofie Hagen was bor ...

, she created the podcast '' The Guilty Feminist''. She is also the creator and host of the podcast ''Global Pillage'', a comedy panel show. In 2019, ''The Guilty Feminist'' and

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...

joined forces for the '' Secret Policeman’s Tour'', consisting of three shows with comedy, music and discussion, all in support of human rights.

Corporate work

Frances-White regularly appears at corporate events speaking about confidence, charisma, diversity and sexism. Her

TEDx TED Conferences, LLC (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is an American-Canadian non-profit media organization that posts international talks online for free distribution under the slogan "ideas worth spreading". TED was founded by Richard Sau ...

talk on Charisma vs Stage-Fright was cited by

James Caan James Edmund Caan ( ; March 26, 1940 – July 6, 2022) was an American actor. He came to prominence playing Sonny Corleone in ''The Godfather'' (1972) – a performance which earned him Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations for Best Suppo ...

as the secret of his presenting skills.

Writing

With her writing partner Philippa Waller, Frances-White contributed two episodes of ''

Young Dracula ''Young Dracula'' is a British children's horror drama comedy television series which aired on CBBC, loosely based on '' Young Dracula'', a 2002 children's book by Michael Lawrence. It is also based on the epistolary novel ''Dracula'', writt ...

'' in 2014. She has co-written two books: ''The Improv Handbook'' with Tom Salinsky and ''Off the Mic'' with Marsha Shandur, both published by

Bloomsbury Bloomsbury is a district in the West End of London. It is considered a fashionable residential area, and is the location of numerous cultural, intellectual, and educational institutions. Bloomsbury is home of the British Museum, the largest mus ...

. She writes for ''Standard Issue Magazine''. In 2018,

Virago A virago is a woman who demonstrates abundant masculine virtues. The word comes from the Latin word ''virāgō'' ( genitive virāginis) meaning vigorous' from ''vir'' meaning "man" or "man-like" (cf. virile and virtue) to which the suffix ''-ā ...

published ''The Guilty Feminist'', a spin-off from her podcast. Her debut feature film, the comedy thriller ''

'', premiered on 19 March 2019.

Religion

Frances-White became a

Jehovah's Witness Jehovah's Witnesses is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination with nontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity. The group reports a worldwide membership of approximately 8.7 million adherents involved in ...

while still a teenager. Her years in the religion and how she left it were the focus of her 2012

Edinburgh Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...

stand-up comedy show and two of the episodes of her

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

show ''Deborah Frances-White Rolls the Dice''.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Frances-White, Deborah English women comedians Living people English stand-up comedians English comedy writers Converts to Jehovah's Witnesses Former Jehovah's Witnesses Critics of Jehovah's Witnesses British women podcasters British podcasters Australian women podcasters Australian podcasters Australian women screenwriters Writers from Brisbane Australian atheists English atheists Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century English comedians English adoptees 21st-century Australian screenwriters Alumni of Harris Manchester College, Oxford