Edward Aczel is a British stand-up comedian known for his "

anti-comedy Anti-humor is a type of indirect and alternative humor that involves the joke-teller's delivering something that is intentionally not funny, or lacking in intrinsic meaning. The practice relies on the expectation on the part of the audience of so ...

" style of clumsy delivery presenting as uninterested and lacking belief in both his material and performing skills. His 2008 Edinburgh Fringe Festival show, "Do I Really Have to Communicate with You?", was described by Zadie Smith in

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

as "one of the strangest, and finest, hours of live comedy I’d ever seen". James Kettle in

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

called him "perhaps Britain's greatest living anti-comedian". Winner of the 2008 Malcolm Hardee Award, he was the runner-up in the 2005

BBC New Comedy Awards The BBC New Comedy Award first took place in 1995, and it is considered to be one of the top UK comedy newcomer awards. It was axed in 2006, being replaced by a nationwide talent hunt that places its emphasis on sketch writing and filmed perform ...

and in Jimmy Carr's Comedy Idol (which was filmed for the extras on

Jimmy Carr James Anthony Patrick Carr (born 15 September 1972) is a British-Irish comedian, presenter, writer, and actor. He is known for his deadpan delivery of controversial one-liners and distinctive laugh, for which he has been both praised and criti ...

's 2005 live DVD). His 2010 Edinburgh show featured in the BBC Comedy Collection. In 2020, he appeared in an episode of the soap opera

EastEnders ''EastEnders'' is a Television in the United Kingdom, British soap opera created by Julia Smith (producer), Julia Smith and Tony Holland which has been broadcast on BBC One since February 1985. Set in the fictional borough of Walford in the Ea ...

References

External links

Edward Aczel on Chortle

Edward Aczel on The British Comedy Guide

Living people English male comedians 20th-century births 21st-century English comedians Year of birth missing (living people) {{UK-comedian-stub