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Royston Vasey (born 3 February 1945), better known professionally as Roy Chubby Brown, is an English comedian. His act consists of offensive humour, high
profanity Profanity, also known as swearing, cursing, or cussing, is the usage of notionally word taboo, offensive words for a variety of purposes, including to demonstrate disrespect or negativity, to relieve pain, to express a strong emotion (such a ...
and outspoken disdain for
political correctness "Political correctness" (adjectivally "politically correct"; commonly abbreviated to P.C.) is a term used to describe language, policies, or measures that are intended to avoid offense or disadvantage to members of particular groups in society. ...
.


Early life

Roy Chubby Brown was born Royston Vasey on 3 February 1945 in Grangetown,
Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...
in the
North Riding of Yorkshire The North Riding of Yorkshire was a subdivision of Yorkshire, England, alongside York, the East Riding and West Riding. The riding's highest point was at Mickle Fell at . From the Restoration it was used as a lieutenancy area, having b ...
He left school without any qualifications, leaving home at the age of fourteen, spent time living rough and moving from job to job, at one point joining the Merchant Navy. He became homeless and for some time slept in a fishing boat in
Redcar Redcar is a seaside town on the Yorkshire Coast in the Redcar and Cleveland unitary authority. It is in the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire, England, and is located east of Middlesbrough. The Teesside built-up area's Redcar subdiv ...
. He was arrested and taken to a detention centre and then on to borstal, following which he went to prison. Whilst in prison, Vasey read ''I Owe Russia $1200'' by
Bob Hope Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope (May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003) was an American comedian, actor, entertainer and producer with a career that spanned nearly 80 years and achievements in vaudeville, network radio, television, and USO Tours. He appeared ...
, which made him decide he wanted to be a stand-up comic. When he saw
Ken Dodd Sir Kenneth Arthur Dodd (8 November 1927 – 11 March 2018) was an English stand-up comedy, comedian, actor and singer. He was described as "the last great music hall entertainer" and was primarily known for his live stand-up comedy, stand-up pe ...
perform live, he thought he was so good it inspired him to try comedy himself. Vasey formed a comedy duo with a fellow ex-Pipelines band member. The duo named themselves Alcock and Brown, as they shared surnames with the pilots of the first transatlantic flight, wearing goggles during their performance. The group eventually disbanded, with Vasey continuing as a comedic act by himself; however the goggles stayed, and became a permanent part of his image. In 1971, Vasey's manager at the time (George Forster), asked him whether he would try performing blue comedy, to which he agreed. He then took to the stage and said, "Good evening! My wife's got two cunts and I'm one of them." Vasey has said he was nearly beaten up, but that following that performance: "I knew I had something. I took the building site mentality and banter and took it to the stage. I was the first person ever to say the 'C' word on stage in the UK. To be honest, I never looked back."


Career

Vasey appeared on the UK television talent show '' New Faces'' as Roy Chubby Brown in the 1970s, coming second to a country and western band. He failed the audition for another television talent show, '' Opportunity Knocks'', after saying the word ' arse' during his interview.


Comedy

Brown's image is characterised by a clown-like stage costume consisting of a leather flying helmet and
goggles Goggles, or safety glasses, are forms of protective eyewear that usually enclose or protect the area surrounding the eye in order to prevent particulates, water or chemicals from striking the eyes. They are used in chemistry laboratories and ...
, a white shirt, a red bow tie and moccasin slippers, and a multi-coloured patchwork suit (previously made from beer mats because stag night crowds would shower him in beer). His comedy is considered controversial: frequently making fun of racial and ethnic minorities,
women A woman is an adult female human. Before adulthood, a female child or adolescent is referred to as a girl. Typically, women are of the female sex and inherit a pair of X chromosomes, one from each parent, and women with functional u ...
, and homosexuals, and described as blue comedy, insult comedy,
political satire Political satire is a type of satire that specializes in gaining entertainment from politics. Political satire can also act as a tool for advancing political arguments in conditions where political speech and dissent are banned. Political satir ...
,
sarcasm Sarcasm is the caustic use of words, often in a humorous way, to mock someone or something. Sarcasm may employ ambivalence, although it is not necessarily ironic. Most noticeable in spoken word, sarcasm is mainly distinguished by the inflectio ...
, and
self-deprecation Self-deprecation is the act of reprimanding oneself by belittling, undervaluing, disparaging oneself, or being excessively modest. It can be used as a way to make complaints, express modesty, invoke optimal reactions or add humour. It may also be ...
. He eventually began to perform at larger venues, reaching 500,000 people in the UK per year. His breakthrough came in 1990 when
Universal Pictures Universal City Studios LLC, doing business as Universal Pictures (also known as Universal Studios or simply Universal), is an American filmmaking, film production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered at the 10 Universal Ci ...
signed him to a home video contract and the video release of ''From Inside the Helmet''. He would release concerts annually every Christmas including ''The Helmet Rides Again'' and ''The Helmet's Last Stand'' which sold a combined 750,000 units, generating revenue of £9 million.


Film

In 1993, Brown released '' U.F.O.'', a science fiction film in which he featured along with Roger Lloyd-Pack and Sara Stockbridge. It was reviewed poorly, with ''
Empire An empire is a political unit made up of several territories, military outpost (military), outposts, and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a hegemony, dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the ...
'' magazine calling the film "a stand-up show, allowing the comedian to tell his sexist jokes to a race of aliens who charge him for being a misogynist" and rating it 1/5. In 2012, Brown voiced a talking lamp post in Robin Sheppard's film adaptation of
Richard Milward Richard Milward (born 26 October 1984 in Middlesbrough) is an English novelist. His debut novel ''Apples (novel), Apples'' was published by Faber in 2007. He has also written ''Ten Storey Love Song,'' ''Kimberly's Capital Punishment,'' and '' ...
's novel ''
Apples An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...
''. He also played the Victorian Photographer in the feature film ''Unconditional'' (titled ''Unconditional Love'' in the USA) directed by Bryn Higgins.


Television

Due to the controversial nature of his act, Brown's shows are rarely seen on television, however, a programme called ''Roy Chubby Brown: Britain's Rudest Comedian'' was broadcast on
Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...
in May 2007. Brown appeared in Series 2 of ''
The League of Gentlemen ''The League of Gentlemen'' is a British surreal comedy horror series that premiered on BBC Two in 1999. The programme is set in Royston Vasey, a fictional town in northern England originally based on Alston, Cumbria, and follows the lives ...
'' as Larry Vaughn, mayor of the fictional town of Royston Vasey. The town's name comes from Brown's birth name. Vaughn's name, conversely, comes from the name of the mayor of the town in the American horror film '' Jaws''.


Music

One of his best-known songs is "Living Next Door to Alice (Who the Fuck is Alice?)", a
cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...
of " Living Next Door to Alice", recorded with Smokie. The record spent 27 weeks in the UK Singles Chart, selling 400,000 copies and peaking at number 3 in August 1995. He released a solo single in the winter of 1996 called "A Rocking Good Christmas", written by Ray Hedges; this reached number 51. Brown has also released two albums, ''Take Fat and Party'' (1995) and ''Fat Out of Hell'' (1996); they achieved positions 29 and 67 in the
UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...
respectively.


Personal life

Vasey has seven children from three marriages. He met his current wife Helen in
Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, sub ...
in the late 1990s, and lives with her and their two children in Tetney,
Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...
. Vasey was diagnosed with
throat cancer Head and neck cancer is a general term encompassing multiple cancers that can develop in the head and neck region. These include cancers of the mouth, tongue, gums and lips ( oral cancer), voice box ( laryngeal), throat ( nasopharyngeal, orophar ...
in 2002 and had a
vocal cord In humans, the vocal cords, also known as vocal folds, are folds of throat tissues that are key in creating sounds through vocalization. The length of the vocal cords affects the pitch of voice, similar to a violin string. Open when breathing a ...
removed. In 2006, he released an autobiography titled ''Common as Muck: The Autobiography of Roy 'Chubby' Brown''. In December 2011, he self-published a collection of
memoir A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based on the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autob ...
s from his life and career called ''It's Funny Being Me''. Vasey is a supporter of Middlesbrough Football Club. He is a co-owner of the racehorse Rasaman. In 2003, Vasey was fined £200 in
Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...
for assaulting a heckler by pulling him from his seat, dragging him across the floor and proceeding to attack him with a golf umbrella. Brown later claimed, "I just wanted the man to stop swearing and being abusive in front of women and children who were on the pier." In 2009, Vasey was charged with assaulting a 21-year-old pregnant woman in a supermarket car park, but acquitted after the judge ruled due to the "poor quality of the CCTV footage, we are not convinced beyond reasonable doubt that Mr Vasey is guilty of the offence". Throughout 2014, Vasey was fined for traffic offences on several occasions, including reading ''The Sun'' newspaper whilst driving on the
A19 road The A19 is a major road in England running approximately parallel to and east of the A1 road (Great Britain), A1 road. Although the two roads meet at the northern end of the A19, the two roads originally met at the southern end of the A19 in ...
in
North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in Northern England.The Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority areas of City of York, York and North Yorkshire (district), North Yorkshire are in Yorkshire and t ...
.


Stand up releases

While Brown has been performing for over 30 years, his live shows have been released around Christmas time since 1990. They have been released by Channel 5 Video Distribution (1990), PolyGram Video (1991–1998) and
Universal Pictures Universal City Studios LLC, doing business as Universal Pictures (also known as Universal Studios or simply Universal), is an American filmmaking, film production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered at the 10 Universal Ci ...
(1999–2017), they were released on
VHS VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Ma ...
(1990–2005),
DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...
(2000–present) and
Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...
(2010–2012).


Releases

* ''From Inside the Helmet'' (1990) * ''The Helmet Rides Again'' (1991) * ''The Helmet's Last Stand'' (1992) * ''U.F.O.'' (1993) ilm* ''Roy Chubby Brown: Exposed'' (1993) * ''Jingle Bollocks'' (1994) * ''Clitoris Allsorts'' (1995) * ''Saturday Night Beaver'' (1996) * ''Obscene and Not Heard'' (1997) * ''Chubby Goes Down Under and Other Sticky Regions'' (1998) * ''You Fat Bastard!'' (1999) *''Roy Chubby Brown's Comedy Box'' (2000) ompilation* ''Thunder Bollocks'' (2000) * ''Stocking Filler!'' (2001) * ''Standing Room Only'' (2002) * ''Bad Taste'' (2003) * ''Giggling Lips'' (2004) * ''King Thong'' (2005) (Last release on VHS) * ''Kick-Arse Chubbs'' (2006) * ''The Good, The Bad And The Fat Bastard'' (2007) *''Roy Chubby Brown's Tasty Threesome'' (2008) ompilation* ''Dirty Weekend in Blackpool'' (2008) *''Roy Chubby Brown: Mucky Man Box'' (2009) '' ompilation' * ''Too Fat To Be Gay'' (2009) *''Roy Chubby Brown's Blue Christmas'' (2010) ompilation* ''Pussy & Meatballs'' (2010) * ''Front Page Boobs'' (2012) * ''Who Ate All The Pies?'' (2013) *''Roy Chubby Brown's Big Fat Bastard Box'' (2014) ompilation* ''Don't Get Fit! Get Fat!'' (2014) * ''Hangs Up His Helmet'' (2015) * ''Great British Jerk Off'' (2016) ompilation * ''The Second Coming'' (2017) * ''50 Shades of Brown'' (2019) * ''Harmless Vulgarity And Friendly Smut'' (2022) * ''No Foul Language'' (2023) * ''Last Orders'' (2025)


References


External links


Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Roy Chubby 1945 births Living people Comedians from North Yorkshire English male comedians English stand-up comedians English comedy musicians English racehorse owners and breeders People from Grangetown, North Yorkshire People from Middlesbrough 20th-century English comedians 21st-century English comedians Obscenity controversies British Merchant Navy personnel