Helen Keen is an English alternative comedian and writer born in

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

, now living in London. She suffered with SM (

Selective Mutism Selective mutism (SM) is an anxiety disorder in which a person who is otherwise capable of speech becomes unable to speak when exposed to specific situations, specific places, or to specific people, one or multiple of which serving as triggers. ...

) as a child but overcame this before becoming a comedian.

Career

Keen was raised in

Hull Hull may refer to: Structures * Chassis, of an armored fighting vehicle * Fuselage, of an aircraft * Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds * Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a ship * Submarine hull Mathematics * Affine hull, in affi ...

East Riding of Yorkshire The East Riding of Yorkshire, or simply East Riding or East Yorkshire, is a ceremonial county and unitary authority area in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and west, South Yorkshire to t ...

. In 2005, along with writing partner Miriam Underhill, she won the first

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

New Comedy Writing Initiative award. Judges included station executives, as well as

Annie Griffin Annie Griffin (born 1960) is an American writer and director. Born in New York City, Griffin relocated to the United Kingdom in 1981. She started out as an experimental theatre writer and director in the 1980s, with her first notable work being B ...

Victoria Pile Victoria Pile, also known as Vicky Pile, is a British comedy writer, director and producer, most noted as the creator of two Channel 4 comedy programmes, the sketch show ''Smack the Pony'' and the sitcom ''Green Wing''. She began her career writi ...

and Arthur Mathews. She also reached the 2005 UK

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 in 2002 as a reaction to misogynistic comments from a comedy promoter. Funny Women helps women find their voice, ...

final. In 2006, she was a finalist for the hotly contested

Hackney Empire New Act of the Year The NATYS: New Acts of The Year Showcase, previously known as The Hackney Empire New Act of the Year, is an annual industry showcase that promotes new waves of emerging Comedy and Variety acts. It ran at the Hackney Empire Theatre from 1988 until ...

title. In 2007, she performed in the second annual tribute to Malcolm Hardee. Her broadcast writing has included regular credits on

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

's late-night experimental comedy show ''The Milk Run'' and

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' ...

's long-running ''

The Now Show ''The Now Show'' is a British radio comedy broadcast on BBC Radio 4, which satirises the week's news. The show is a mixture of stand-up, sketches and songs hosted by Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis. The show used to feature regular appearances by J ...

'' as well as the ''Dog Almighty'' edition of

's '' Comedy Lab'' series and the 2007 series of Channel 4's ''

The Friday Night Project ''The Sunday Night Project'' is a British comedy-variety show by Princess Productions that first aired on Channel 4 in February 2005 under the title ''The Friday Night Project''. Originally broadcast on Friday nights, the show moved to Sunday n ...

''.

Live shows

Keen's subject matter tends towards the unusual and esoteric. Her solo shows are also unusual in that they have all toured both arts festivals (including music festivals) and science festivals. At the Buxton Festival Fringe in July 2008, her first full-length solo show ''It Is Rocket Science!'' (a stand-up comedy lecture about the history of the space rocket) was nominated as Best Show and she won the Best Individual Performer award. She then performed the show throughout the Edinburgh Fringe in August 2008. The show then toured science festivals across the UK and Ireland. For many festivals this was the first time that they had booked a comedy performer. Her second full-length show ''Helen Keen: The Primitive Methodist Guide to Arctic Survival'' (the true story of an ancestor trapped overwinter on an arctic whaling ship) ran throughout the Edinburgh Fringe in August 2009 before embarking upon a similar tour of science festivals. Also in this show and in interviews Keen, a postman's daughter, discussed her working-class family background and her early experience of

selective mutism Selective mutism (SM) is an anxiety disorder in which a person who is otherwise capable of speech becomes unable to speak when exposed to specific situations, specific places, or to specific people, one or multiple of which serving as triggers. ...

. In 2011 Keen was a guest on several performances of ''

The Infinite Monkey Cage ''The Infinite Monkey Cage'' is a BBC Radio 4 comedy and popular science series. Hosted by physicist Brian Cox and comedian Robin Ince, ''The Independent'' described it as a "witty and irreverent look at the world according to science". The sho ...

'' "Uncaged Monkeys" live tour alongside Brian Cox, Simon Singh,

Robin Ince Robin Ince (born 20 February 1969) is an English comedian, actor and writer, known for presenting the BBC radio show ''The Infinite Monkey Cage'' with physicist Brian Cox (physicist), Brian Cox, and his stand-up comedy career. Education After ...

and Ben Goldacre. Keen also curates and comperes ''Spacetacular!'', a space-themed comedy quiz night along with ''

Londonist Gothamist LLC is the operator, or in some cases franchisor, of eight city-centric websites that focused on news, events, food, culture, and other local coverage. It was founded in 2003 by Jake Dobkin and Jen Chung. In March 2017, Joe Ricketts, ...

'' editor Matt Brown. In 2012 ''Spactacular!'' received a

UK Space Agency The United Kingdom Space Agency (UKSA) is an executive agency of the Government of the United Kingdom, responsible for the United Kingdom's civil space programme. It was established on 1 April 2010 to replace the British National Space Centre ...

Space For All award. Keen hosted the first Comedy Night at the

CERN The European Organization for Nuclear Research, known as CERN (; ; ), is an intergovernmental organization that operates the largest particle physics laboratory in the world. Established in 1954, it is based in a northwestern suburb of Gene ...

lab in August 2013, the show proved to be CERN's most successful webcast since the discovery of the Higgs boson there, and was followed from 105 countries by nearly 10,000 browsers. In 2013 Keen was a guest on ''

''.

Radio

In December 2010 Keen recorded her first BBC Radio 4 series, '' It Is Rocket Science''. She created, wrote and performed in the 4-part series based on her 2008 Edinburgh show ''It Is Rocket Science!'' Alongside Keen, the show starred Susy Kane and

Peter Serafinowicz Peter Szymon Serafinowicz ( ; born 10 July 1972) is an English actor, comedian, director and screenwriter, best known for his roles as the title character in the 2016 live-action series of ''The Tick'', Pete in ''Shaun of the Dead'' (2004) and ...

and was produced by Gareth Edwards. The first episode was broadcast on 9 March 2011. A second series was broadcast in 2012 and a third series aired on BBC Radio 4 in May 2014. ''Big Problems with Helen Keen'', which applied the same format to a broader range of scientific issues, was broadcast on Radio 4 in 2015.

Awards

Keen won the Channel 4 New Comedy Writing Award 2005. She won the Buxton Festival Fringe Best Comedy Performance 2008. From 2010 to 2012 she was Comedian in Residence at the Newcastle

Centre for Life The Centre for Life is a science village in Newcastle upon Tyne where scientists, clinicians, educationalists and business people work to promote the advancement of the life sciences. The centre is a registered charity, governed by a board of ...

science village, the first time the position had been awarded. In 2013 her BBC Radio 4 series '' It Is Rocket Science'' won the WISE Media Award. This was presented by

Princess Anne Anne, Princess Royal (Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise; born 15 August 1950), is a member of the British royal family. She is the second child and only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and the only sister of K ...

in a ceremony at the

Science Museum, London The Science Museum is a major museum on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, London. It was founded in 1857 and is one of the city's major tourist attractions, attracting 3.3 million visitors annually in 2019. Like other publicly funded ...

. The show was also nominated for the 2014 Writers' Guild of Great Britain Award for Best Radio Comedy. It was shortlisted for the 2015 Association of British Science Writers Royal Society Radio Prize. In 2015 Keen was made a

Wired UK ''Wired UK'' is a bimonthly magazine that reports on the effects of science and technology. It covers a broad range of topics including design, architecture, culture, the economy, politics and philosophy. Owned by Condé Nast Publications, it is ...

Innovation Fellow.

References

External links

Helen Keen's website

Her page on chortle.co.uk

Helen Keen
on Myspace {{DEFAULTSORT:Keen, Helen Living people People from Kingston upon Hull English women comedians Year of birth missing (living people)