Henry Normal
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Henry Normal is a British comedian, television producer, presenter and writer.
He is currently the presenter of BBC Three's "Whine Gums", a programme featuring British poets, such as Lemn Sissay, Rogan Whitenails and John Cooper Clarke.
Born in Chesterfield in North Derbyshire, he now lives in Brighton.
In his early career, Normal toured with Pulp, as well as running comedy workshops for budding stand-ups. Comedians who went on to achieve success after attending Normal's workshops include Dave Gorman and Roger Monkhouse. With Mark Atwood he helped form the Live Poets Society in Manchester whose motto was 'poetry so good you can actually understand it'. They performed in pubs and clubs throughout the north of England.One of the poets Donal Thompson went on to win the BBC Alfred Bradley Bursary in 1992.
In 1991, he starred in ITV's late night series, Packet of Three, which blended stand-up comedy with a peculiarly solipsistic sitcom about the staff working at a theatre for variety, called The Crumpsall Palladium. As the beleaguered, depressed theatre owner, Henry was assisted by compere and stage manager Frank Skinner and kiosk attendant Jenny Eclair. The sequel to this series, re-named Packing Them In, no longer involved Henry Normal. Some claim that Normal jumped ship, others that he was pushed because of his tendancy to plagarise and to make way for the favoured Skinner, now at the helm. Kevin Eldon, a writer on the first series, was scripted in to play the third member of the central cast, appearing as a grotesque weed of a character called Kevin Boyle.
In 1993, two years after being usurped on Packet of Three, Henry Normal said in a radio interview that Frank Skinner was / is one of his is all-time favourite comedians, along with Jack Benny. In the same interview, Normal admitted to being a cold sore sufferer, and that his biggest fear is of dying of a terminal illness.
In 1999, Henry Normal and Steve Coogan established their TV comedy production company, Baby Cow Productions. TV programmes since produced by this award-winning company include:
- Human Remains (2000), starring Rob Brydon
- The Sketch Show (2001-2002), starring Lee Mack, Tim Vine, Jim Tavare
- I Am Not an Animal (2004)
- Sensitive Skin (2005), starring Joanna Lumley and Denis Lawson
He has written for TV and film. He co-wrote The Royle Family with Caroline Aherne and Craig Cash, and was co-screenwriter for the 2001 film, The Parole Officer, starring Steve Coogan.
Henry Normal’s poetry collections include "The Dream Ticket", "Is Love Science Fiction?" and "Map of Heaven".
In his live performances Henry has been know to steal other people's poems performing them as his own. He excuses this by claiming to have a bad memory.
