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

Chippenham Chippenham is a market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village ...

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, whi ...

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 girl's toys such as

Care Bear Care Bears are multi-colored bears, originally painted in 1981 by artist Elena Kucharik to be used on greeting cards from American Greetings. In 1983, the characters were turned into plush teddy bears. The characters headlined their own televisi ...

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 c ...

. 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 women's clothing size in the US catalog sizes system. Size 0 and 00 were invented due to the changing of clothing sizes over time (referred to as vanity sizing or size inflation), which has caused the adoption of lower nu ...

models and airbrushed photos, expressing a preference for magazines such as ''

Readers' Wives ''Fiesta'' magazine was a British adult magazine featuring softcore pornography, published by Galaxy Publications Limited. It was a sister publication of '' Knave'', launched two years later. Launched in 1966 by the British photographer Russel ...

'' and for larger female celebrities such as

Fern Britton Fern Britton (born 17 July 1957) is an English author and television presenter. She co-presented '' Breakfast Time'' in the 1980s, coming to mainstream national attention when hosting cookery game show ''Ready Steady Cook'' between 1994 and 200 ...

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. She is the daughter of comedian Jimmy Tarbuck and his wife Pauline, with an older siste ...

. Hodgson was a member of the Socialist Workers Party and the

Anti Nazi League The Anti-Nazi League (ANL) was an organisation set up in 1977 on the initiative of the Socialist Workers Party (UK), Socialist Workers Party with sponsorship from some trade unions and the endorsement of a list of prominent people to Anti-fasci ...

whilst a student at the

University of Luton The University of Bedfordshire is a public research university with campuses in Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire, England. The University has roots from 1882, however, it gained university status in 1993 as the University of Luton. The Universi ...

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 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 Edinburgh Fe ...

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 natural bottled mineral water obtained at its source in Vergèze, located in the Gard ''département''. Perrier is known for its carbonation and its distinctive green bottle. Perrier was part of the ...

for Best Newcomer 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 ...

. 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, presenter, political satirist, and journalist. He first became known as a guest comic on the BBC Radio 1 comedy show ''The Mary Whitehouse Experience'' in the late 1980s. He is ...

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 is a British comedian and actor. 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, near Coventry. Mace worked as a ...

and Des Sharples.

Personal life

Hodgson is non-binary and uses they/them, he/him, and she/her pronouns.

DVDs

They have so far released three DVDs distributed by

Go Faster Stripe Go Faster Stripe is an independent film production and distribution company that operates out of the Chapter Arts Centre, in Cardiff, Wales. The company specialises in the recording of live shows by stand-up comedians who, while in the public ...

. * ''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 People from Chippenham 21st-century English comedians English comedians Non-binary comedians