Arnold Brown (born 1936, in Glasgow) is a Scottish Jewish

comedian A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting foolish (as in slapstick), or employing prop comedy. A comedian who addresses an audienc ...

, one of the main figures in the

alternative comedy Alternative comedy is a term coined in the 1980s for a style of comedy that makes a conscious break with the mainstream comedic style of an era. The phrase has had different connotations in different contexts: in the UK, it was used to describe ...

scene of the early 1980s. Originally an

accountant An accountant is a practitioner of accounting or accountancy. Accountants who have demonstrated competency through their professional associations' certification exams are certified to use titles such as Chartered Accountant, Chartered Certifi ...

, Brown worked hard at live standup, until he found a knack of presenting

observational comedy Observational comedy is a form of humor based on the commonplace aspects of everyday life. It is one of the main types of humor in stand-up comedy. In an observational comedy act, the comedian makes an observation about something which is common eno ...

in a slow, meandering but entertaining style. He won the Perrier Award at the Edinburgh Festival in 1987. His catchphrase was “And why not?” He quotes the highlight of his career as supporting

Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Nicknamed the " Chairman of the Board" and later called "Ol' Blue Eyes", Sinatra was one of the most popular entertainers of the 1940s, 1950s, and ...

on stage in Glasgow's

Ibrox Park Ibrox Stadium is a football stadium on the south side of the River Clyde in the Ibrox area of Glasgow, Scotland. The home of Rangers Football Club, Ibrox is the third largest football stadium in Scotland, with an all-seated capacity of . ...

. He can be seen on: the original

Julien Temple Julien Temple (born 26 November 1953) is a British film, documentary and music video director. He began his career with short films featuring the Sex Pistols, and has continued with various off-beat projects, including '' The Great Rock 'n' Rol ...

film ''The Comic Strip'' (1981), performing live on stage; the film '' Comfort and Joy'' playing a psychiatrist in a manner reminiscent of his stand-up style; ''

The Comic Strip The Comic Strip are a group of British comedians who came to prominence in the 1980s. They are known for their television series ''The Comic Strip Presents...'', which was labelled as a pioneering example of the alternative comedy scene. The ...

'' television series (1982 on) in various roles; '' The Young Ones'' in various roles; and in '' The Dangerous Brothers'' (1985). He appeared as himself in the 1994 partially-

improvised comedy Improvisational theatre, often called improvisation or improv, is the form of theatre, often comedy, in which most or all of what is performed is unplanned or unscripted: created spontaneously by the performers. In its purest form, the dialogue, ...

film '' There's No Business...'', starring the comedy duos Raw Sex ( Simon Brint and Rowland Rivron) and The Oblivion Boys. He has appeared in '' Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle'' in various roles; and in "Torture" (from '' Saturday Live''), he is the one who has gone through the Chinese

water torture Water torture encompasses a variety of techniques using water to inflict physical or psychological harm on a victim as a form of torture or execution. Forced ingestion In this form of water torture, water is forced down the throat and into the sto ...

beforehand. Arnold Brown appeared in 2012 in two Random Acts films on Channel 4 called "Where is the Fish That Never Swam?" and "The Alleyway of a Thousand Questions", directed by Jes Benstock. His DVD, ''Jokes I Have Known'' was produced and released 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 e ...

in 2012. Arnold Brown was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award at the

Scottish Comedy Awards Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: * Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland * Scottish English * Scottish national identity, the Scottish ...

in April 2014.Archived a
Ghostarchive
and th
Wayback Machine

References

External links

''Arnold Brown Biography''

Arnold Brown
at the

Internet Movie Database IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

1936 births Living people The Comic Strip Scottish Jews Jewish Scottish comedians Place of birth missing (living people) Scottish male comedians {{UK-comedian-stub

See also

References

External links