Who’s the comic with an ear for dialogue and a bod for sin? Damn right it’s triple Perrier Award nominee, Dave Award for Funniest Joke of the Fringe 2009 winner, and veteran Fringe sell-out DAN ANTOPOLSKI who is to embark on a tour of his brand new stand-up show Turn of the Century from 25th September. What can we expect from this tireless fringe innovator, elegant paragraph-crafter and award-winning one-liner merchant? Why not expect the unexpected and neglect to prepare for the expected which will then surprise you from behind, unless you have read this - or like DAN ANTOPOLSKI, have mastered time travel!!!
Turn of the Century definitely contains many high-quality stealable one-liners, sage remarks about life and bad-parenthood and a rap about the benefits of laser ownership. Also as promised, actual time travel (forwards@1sec/sec)!
DAN ANTOPOLSKI won the BBC New Comedy Award in 1998, was nominated for the Perrier Best Newcomer Award in 2000 and for the Perrier Award in 2001. He also shared a Perrier Award nomination with LEE MACK and CATHERINE TATE for sketch show Lee Mack’s New Bits. He played Jeffers in two series of BBC TWO’s Hyperdrive and Jesus in Hollywood blockbuster The Da Vinci Code. His many radio and TV credits also include six series of BBC Radio 2’s Out To Lunch and three series of ITV2’s Comedy Cuts. He also co-starred with KARL THEOBALD in sitcom Exterminating Angels on BBC Radio 4 and in Moonmonkeys on BBC THREE.
In 2004 DAN took up making miniature versions of himself. He has made two so far which are perfect replicas including their lack of willies. By 2008 he judged that they could fend for themselves, so he returned to Edinburgh with the acclaimed Dan Antopolski’s Penetrating Gaze, containing the Sandwich Rap that became a Youtube hit video. DAN’s 2009 show Silent but Deadly received numerous rave reviews and won Funniest Joke of the Fringe with his joke ‘Hedgehogs. Why can’t they just share the hedge?’ In the spring of 2010 DAN embarked on his first national tour with Silent But Deadly before returning to Edinburgh to premiere his new critically-acclaimed show, Turn of the Century.
ends
Praise for Turn of the Century
“I couldn't help but be impressed … I felt like I was watching someone who'd fully matured as a performer.”
Paul MacInnes, The Guardian
For more information, images and review tickets, please contact: Ben Nolan, Debra Clavey, Bea Gwynn or Dan Lloyd. Tel: 020 7598 7222 or email: benn@avalonuk.com / debrac@avalonuk.com / beag@avalonuk.com / danl@avalonuk.com
WHAT THE PRESS SAID ABOUT…
…TURN OF THE CENTURY IN EDINBURGH
“It’s difficult for a comedian to both maintain a wide appeal and avoid falling into a safe and cliché-riddled set. Antopolski copes admirably with the mission, mixing gags (and there’s one to compete with last year’s ‘hedgehog’ phenomenon) with personal anecdotes, songs, raps and trips into the delightfully surreal. A strong recommendation for a confidently entertaining hour.”
Siân Bevan, The List
“Both silly and strangely sophisticated, Antopolski’s humour - and worldview - is totally unique and makes for a thoroughly enjoyable, if eccentric show.”
Beth Kahn, Broadway Baby
“You’re not getting rid of me”, Fringe veteran Dan Antopolski kids near the beginning of his latest stand-up show, and the following hour confirms this as a thoroughly good thing. Articulate, self-assured and just the right side of cocky, Antopolski mixes traditionalist zingers, “Her eyes were incomparable - at least to each other”, with an ironic self-awareness that renders any charges of misogyny or smugness redundant.”
Ross Kinghorn, TV Bomb
…SILENT BUT DEADLY
“Spectacular displays of verbal pyrotechnics… confident, splendidly silly and sometimes dazzling.”
Stephanie Merritt, The Observer
“A battery of fine gags honed to shiny perfection.”
Brian Donaldson, The List
“His writing is as inventive as ever…Antopolski is not merely deadpan, but almost otherworldly on stage. It's the perfect platform for his sometimes surreal, often deliberately literal approach to life.”
James Kettle, The Guardian
“Spectacular displays of verbal pyrotechnics…A confident, splendidly silly and sometimes dazzling show.”
Stephanie Merritt, The Observer
“Expect to laugh out loud at this deservedly well-decorated comedian. He is slick and charming, and his themed raps are not to be missed.”
Amiel Clarke, Edinburgh Festivals Magazine
“A battery of fine gags honed to shiny perfection.”
Brian Donaldson, The List
“Superb entertainment... This indisputably gifted comic is ideal viewing for anybody with a sense of humour who can laugh until it hurts.”
Miles Morgan, Three Weeks
“A rock-solid hour with punchlines galore.”
Paul Fleckney, London is Funny
“Stunningly funny.”
Jay Richardson, Chortle
“He is one of the funniest and hardest-working comedians out there. His material is edgy without going too far, his routines are complex and assured, he’s likeable … and has some of the best gags I’ve heard.”
Matt Brereton, The Scotsman
…DAN ANTOPOLSKI’S PENETRATING GAZE
“Dan Antopolski returns with more of his brainy brilliance…Satisfyingly unorthodox, intelligent and ridiculously playful. Thank heaven - with special thanks also to hell - for Dan Antopolski.”
Claire Sawers, The List
“His sandwich rap and another intentionally racist one, brilliantly qualified to the point of acceptability, are solid gold, while his closing rhymes, explicitly dissing his babies, are destined to become one of this Festival's unequivocal highlights.”
Jay Richardson, The Scotsman
“Antopolski has funny bones. One of his pauses contains more loaded humour than most carefully written routines. His tales and raps are twisted and clever.”
Stephen Armstrong, The Sunday Times
“He certainly hits his quota of inventively silly lines in this hour, especially the first half of it, with a generous handful of lines you’ll be itching to try out on your friends. And the rap about sandwiches is inspired, if bizarre. It’s infantile, but it’s funny. Welcome back, Dan.”
Steve Bennett, Chortle
“He can still completely disarm with seemingly bizarre observations, and when the set pieces hit, they really do pack a punch.”
Nadine McBay, Metro
“From the moment Dan Antopolski charges on stage wearing a cape, don't expect to be allowed to pause for thought at any point over the course of the next hour. The show comprises not only jokes, but bizarre one-man dialogues and three raps, the one about sandwiches being the perfect candidate for bringing rhyming comedy back into fashion. Even if you're not a great fan of Dan's surreal brand of humour, his mastery of the English language is worth a Fringe show in itself.”
James Murray, Three Weeks
“Dan’s back and in cracking form. His material is fresh, funny and delivered at a hectic pace. Unpredictability and the trademark gaze keep the audience engrossed. He flits from topic to topic without wasting time on contrived links… With his return he will give pleasure to those who enjoyed his shows in previous years, and also attract a new generation to his brand of comedy.”
one4review
…FURTHER PRAISE FOR DAN ANTOPOLSKI
“Some of the best material at the festival, a winning mixture of groanworthy music-hall puns with intellectual subjects, with the odd sick joke for garnish. His forte is the delayed drop punchline, the sort of gag that takes you a beat or two to get, but feel happy that you were bright enough to figure it out.”
Steve Bennett, Chortle
“The audience hangs off his every nuance - verbal and physical - while, like an intellectual Harry Hill, he piles up the asides and non sequiturs fast and furious in between. A magnificently febrile mind.”
Nick Awde, The Stage
“Risky, surreal genius one expects from Antopolski at his best… a wildly original talent worth checking out.”
Struan MacKenzie, Edinburgh Evening News
“An intriguing hour of intellect-tickling comedy… Switching between disarmingly improvisational riffing on the personal details of audience members (his mental sharpness camouflaged by a blurting, swaying stage presence) and unashamedly educated tramline set pieces, Antopolski occasionally invites comparisons with the equally highbrow but slightly more pessimistic David Baddiel.”
Graeme Virtue, Sunday Herald
“You're unlikely to see a slicker, more self-assured performer at Edinburgh this year than Dan Antopolski… For sheer fertility of imagination, there are still few who can match him.”
Daily Telegraph
“A confident, engaging delivery and good old-fashioned ability to think on his feet …trades in anecdotes that develop into wonderfully convoluted and surreal flights of fancy with echoes of Paul Merton's early television series, building up to sentences that you are guaranteed never to hear again for the rest of your life: 'If Ann Widdecombe and I are still talking current affairs it's a bit early in the evening for my erection to be appropriate - thanks, Orinoco.“
Stephanie Merritt, The Observer
“Literary and infantile gags abound…his avant garde approach to stand-up is one you won’t easily forget.”
Camilla Pia, The Scotsman
TOUR DATES
September
Friday 24th Maidenhead Norden Farm Centre for the Arts 01628 788997
Sunday 26th Bath Comedy Cavern 01225 404445
October
Friday 1st Porthcawl Grand Pavilion 01656 815 995
Sunday 3rd Lancashire Ace Centre 01282 661080
Friday 9th Lincoln Comedy Festival 01522 873 894
Sunday 10th Sheffield Comedy Festival, The Lescar 07734 940737
Monday 11th Manchester Comedy Store 0844 826 0001
Thursday 14th Birmingham Glee 0871 472 0400
Friday 15th Harrogate Studio 01423 502 116
Wednesday 20th Oxford Glee 0871 472 0400
Friday 22nd Rhyl New Pavilion Theatre 01745 330 000
Saturday 23rd Fife Carnegie Hall 01383 60 23 02
Monday 25th Oxford Free Beer Show 07782 195 543
Tuesday 26th Hull Truck Theatre 01482 323 638
Wednesday 27th Peterborough Radius 01733 565 097
Thursday 28th Nottingham Just The Tonic 0115 9100 009
Saturday 30th Bracknell Drama Club Studios 07743 552 594
Sunday 31st Exeter Havana 01392 498 181
November
Wednesday 3rd Belfast Waterfront Hall 028 9033 4455
Friday 12th London Jacksons Lane 020 8341 4421
Wednesday 17th Edinburgh University 0131 650 2656
Thursday 18th Chorley Little Theatre 01257 264 362
Thursday 25th Derby Assembly Rooms 01332 255 800
Saturday 27th Warrington Pyramid 01925 442 345
December
Thursday 2nd Wolverhampton Headline Club 0870 320 7000
Sunday 5th Liverpool Comedy Central at Baby Blue 0151 702 5834
Saturday 11th Berwick upon Tweed Maltings Theatre 01289 330 999
Sunday 12th Salford Lowry Studio 0843 208 6000
February
Friday 4th Doncaster Dome 01302 370 777
Saturday 5th Lancaster Grand 01524 64695
TOUR DATES CONTINUED
March
Wednesday 23rd Edinburgh The Stand 0131 558 7272
Thursday 24th Glasgow Comedy Festival, The Stand 0870 600 6055
Friday 25th Inverness Ironworks 0871 789 4173
AVALON PROMOTIONS
Avalon Promotions Limited is one of the leading promoters of live comedy in the UK. Productions include: NEWMAN & BADDIEL in the first comedy show ever to be staged at Wembley Arena; FRANK SKINNER’s record-breaking performance to an audience of 6,000 at the Battersea Power Station; Jerry Springer - The Opera at the National Theatre, at the Cambridge Theatre in London’s West End, on national tour and at New York’s Carnegie Hall; HARRY HILL at the Palace and Dominion Theatres in London; and Dave Gorman’s Googlewhack Adventure at the Sydney Opera House, at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, on national tour and at the Village Theatre, New York (nominated for Drama Desk Award 2004).
The last 12 months has seen Avalon Promotions: present multi-award winning comics JENNY ECLAIR, RICHARD HERRING, RUSSELL HOWARD and FRANK SKINNER on sell-out runs; produce AL MURRAY, THE PUB LANDLORD live at the O2 and RUSSELL HOWARD at Wembley Stadium; introduce some of the fastest-rising stars in comedy such as KRISTEN SCHAAL & KURT BRAUNOHLER and ISY SUTTIE; produce stage shows, such as Frank Skinner’s Credit Crunch Cabaret and Grumpy Old Women Live, which has toured the UK three times and performed a highly successful runs in Australia and London’s West End; and present 20 acts at the Edinburgh Festival, where it has promoted a total of five Perrier Award winners and 18 Perrier Award/Edinburgh Comedy Award nominees in just 21 years.
