James Veitch () is an English comedian. He has mostly been known for his interactions with the authors of

scam emails Email fraud (or email scam) is intentional deception for either personal gain or to damage another individual by means of email. Almost as soon as email became widely used, it began to be used as a means to fraud, defraud people. Email fraud can ...

(known as

scam baiting Scam baiting (or scambaiting) is a form of internet vigilantism primarily used towards advance-fee fraud, IRS impersonation scam, technical support scams, pension scams, and consumer financial fraud. Scambaiters pose as potential victims to was ...

) using slideshows and video effects. In September 2020, Veitch was the subject of more than a dozen allegations of rape and

sexual assault Sexual assault is an act in which one intentionally sexually touches another person without that person's consent, or coerces or physically forces a person to engage in a sexual act against their will. It is a form of sexual violence, which ...

Career

Veitch worked as a film editor on the 2006 film ''Papa Joe'' and as a digital intermediate conform artist on the 2008 movie '' Middle of Nowhere''. In 2009, Veitch adapted

John Keats John Keats (31 October 1795 – 23 February 1821) was an English poet of the second generation of Romantic poets, with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. His poems had been in publication for less than four years when he died of tuberculo ...

's writings into a play for

Keats House Keats House is a writer's house museum in what was once the home of the Romantic poet John Keats. It is in Keats Grove, Hampstead, toward the edge of inner north London. Maps before about 1915 show the road with one of its earlier names, John S ...

. Veitch's first solo

comedy show Stand-up comedy is a comedic performance to a live audience in which the performer addresses the audience directly from the stage. The performer is known as a comedian, a comic or a stand-up. Stand-up comedy consists of one-liners, stories, ...

, ''The Fundamental Interconnectedness of Everyone with an Internet Connection'', was launched at

Brighton Fringe Brighton Fringe is an open-access arts festival held annually in Brighton, England. It is the largest annual arts festival in England and one of the largest fringe festivals in the world. The programme of 2018 included 1008 events at over 166 ve ...

in May 2014 as part of the arts industry showcase WINDOW. The show ran in August at the

Edinburgh Festival 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 ...

. It concerned

, Veitch's humorous responses to them, and the nature of the Internet. The show was described by the ''

Sunday Herald The ''Sunday Herald'' was a Scottish Sunday newspaper, published between 7 February 1999 and 2 September 2018. Originally a broadsheet, it was published in compact format from 20 November 2005. The paper was known for having combined a centre- ...

'' as "Topically brilliant comedy. Tears-down-the-face funny", and by ''

The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until August 2004. Its par ...

'' as containing "Near-constant belly laughs". His next Edinburgh Fringe show was ''Genius Bar'' in 2015. Veitch authored ''Dot Con: The Art of Scamming a Scammer'' in 2015. A ''

Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' (or ''Kirkus Media'') is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus (1893–1980). The magazine is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fic ...

'' article praised that Veitch's "absurdist approach and enthusiasm for his work make for unpredictably funny reading". He has made two appearances on the talk show '' Conan''. Veitch recorded three

TED TED may refer to: Economics and finance * TED spread between U.S. Treasuries and Eurodollar Education * ''Türk Eğitim Derneği'', the Turkish Education Association ** TED Ankara College Foundation Schools, Turkey ** Transvaal Education Depa ...

talks in 2015 and 2016. One chronicles Veitch's encounter with a supermarket chain's marketing emails, and the other two are about scam emails. Veitch also presented the

Mashable Mashable is a digital media platform, news website and entertainment company founded by Pete Cashmore in 2005. History Mashable was founded by Pete Cashmore while living in Aberdeen, Scotland, in July 2005. Early iterations of the site were a ...

video series "Scamalot" on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

. A Pleasance Courtyard performance in 2015 received praise from ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'''s Alice Jones, who stated that "Veitch has found a nerdy niche with his comic lectures about modern technology". In 2018, he starred in the

Melbourne International Comedy Festival The Melbourne International Comedy Festival (MICF) is the largest stand-alone comedy festival and the second-largest international comedy festival in the world. Established in 1987, it takes place annually in Melbourne over four weeks, typicall ...

(Allstars Supershow). Veitch was a guest presenter on the live trivia gameshow ''

HQ Trivia HQ was a mobile trivia game developed by Intermedia Labs for iOS, Android, iPadOS, and tvOS. First released in 2017, the HQ app allowed users to play in daily live trivia games, through which they could win or split prize money. HQ was devel ...

''. In 2019, Veitch was the host of that year's

Britannia Awards The British Academy Britannia Awards are presented by BAFTA Los Angeles, a branch of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), as "a bridge between the Hollywood and British production and entertainment business communities." Est ...

. He hosts a humorous investigative journalism series on

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' ...

called ''James Veitch's Contractual Obligation''. In August 2020, his comedy special, ''James Veitch: Straight to VHS'', was released on

HBO Max HBO Max is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in the United States on May 27, 2020, the service is built around the libraries of HBO, Warner Bros., Cartoon Netw ...

. On 1 September 2020, more than a dozen women who attended

Sarah Lawrence College Sarah Lawrence College is a Private university, private liberal arts college in Yonkers, New York. The college models its approach to education after the Supervision system, Oxford/Cambridge system of one-on-one student-faculty tutorials. Sara ...

with Veitch came forward with allegations against him ranging from emotional abuse to rape. Veitch declined to comment on the allegations when contacted by ''

Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly larg ...

'', "but a source close to him says he denies all allegations". HBO subsequently removed his comedy special from its streaming platform. Veitch was dropped by his agent and edited out of a

Quibi Quibi ( ) was a short-lived American short-form streaming platform that generated content for viewing on mobile devices. It was founded in Los Angeles in August 2018 as NewTV by Jeffrey Katzenberg and was led by Meg Whitman, its CEO. The servic ...

show he was set to host. Though the BBC initially decided to retain ''Contractual Obligation'' on BBC Sounds, it was removed in early September.

Bibliography

* James Veitch: ''Dot Con: The Art of Scamming a Scammer.'' 2015.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Veitch, James 21st-century British comedians Alumni of the University of Aberdeen British male comedians British theatre directors Comedians from London Living people Place of birth missing (living people) Sarah Lawrence College alumni Year of birth missing (living people)