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About Jordan Brookes
Critically acclaimed Merseyside comedian, writer and actor Jordan Brookes is the self-proclaimed ‘riskiest comic in the biz’ who has won an enviable following for consistently delivering the unexpected. Absurdist in style and always original, Jordan Brookes first came to wider attention when he won the Welsh Unsigned Comedy Award in 2012. He subsequently made his solo Edinburgh debut in 2015 with Adventures in Limited Space, receiving a nomination for Chortle’s Comedians’ Choice award the same year.
Jordan Brookes’ third solo hour of high wire stand-up and absurdism, Body of Work, earned him a nomination for Best Show at the Edinburgh Comedy Awards in 2017. The show started out at a Free Festival venue before transferring to the Pleasance Courtyard to become a lauded word-of-mouth success story of the fringe.Jordan Brookes’ following show, Bleed, received a number of 4 and 5 star reviews at the Edinburgh Fringe festival in 2018. It also completed a successful 2 week run at London’s Soho Theatre later that year, with Jordan Brookes going on to win the Comedians’ Comedian award at the 2018 Chortle Awards. On screen, Jordan Brookes has recently appeared on Stand Up at BBC Wales, as an actor in Kiri Pritchard-Mclean’s Sky Comedy Halloween short and is developing a number of original scripted and non-scripted projects.
WATCH JORDAN BROOKES: BODY OF WORK
A tribute to the life and death of Jordan’s 95 year old Grandma Gwendoline, join Jordan for his memorable third solo of high-wire stand up and absurdism. Defying conventions and expectations, spend a wild hour delving into the imagination of this bold and playfully punchy comic.
Reviews and Awards
Jordan Brookes was the 2012 Welsh Unsigned Comedy Award Winner. He was nominated for the Edinburgh Comedy Award in 2017, and was winner of the Comedians’ Comedian award at the 2018 Chortle Awards.
‘Wildly entertaining stand-up that demolishes the conventions of comedy’
The Guardian
‘Superbly crafted… one of the most creative but funny shows I’ve seen this year’
The Mirror
‘Jordan takes all of the stand-up rules in the book and proceeds to snap them in two’
The List
‘Huge talent and presence’
The Times
Jordan Brookes Tickets
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Biography
Originally from Merseyside, Jordan Brookes came to wider public consciousness on the comedy scene after winning the Wales Unsigned Artist Award in 2012. Playing lots of sets in small comedy clubs in Cardiff, his first gig was above a pub in the Welsh capital, which he explains to Wales Online didn’t go entirely to plan. ” I was supposed to do five minutes. Did about 30 by mistake. Half the crowd left during my set, with one woman strategically moving from one chair to another to make her way from the back of the room to the exit.” So what was it that sparked his interest in comedy? He goes on to explain: “I used to write scripts and humorous short stories, but I took more of an active interest when I met fellow act Charlie Webster at college – we started making videos together and eventually egged each other on to try stand-up.”
Jordan Brookes first solo show at the Edinburgh Festival in 2015 was a nonsensical dive into identity, ambition and the lies we tell ourselves to get out of bed in the morning. Marking him out as a performance artist as much as a comedian, the show was a heady mix of stand-up, character sketches and clowning that introduced audiences (and future fans) to his innovative style. His avant garde 2016 follow up, Jordan Brookes: The Making Of was praised by audiences and critics alike, and a year later his 2017 show Body of Work was nominated for the prestigious Edinburgh Comedy Award. Clearly on a roll, his 2018 offering, Bleed, was accompanied by a Comedians’ Comedian award at the 2018 Chortle Awards.
Jordan Brookes is one of those comics whose entire being seems built for comedy, with a gift for physical expression and nack for linguistic gymnastics. Yet when Moody Comedy asked what it is about his character that suited a career in stand up comedy, he retorts – “A lax work ethic and a litany of failures. No one arrives at comedy all suited and slick, clutching a briefcase full of quips. It’s more like you stumble in wearily, confused as to whether you’re even in the right place.”
Inspired by the Dutch absurdist Hans Teeuwen, Jordan Brookes certainly likes to ‘wreak confusion and instability’ over his unsuspecting audiences. But he doesn’t like to label what he does on stage. Speaking to British Comedy Guide he explains: “I always just try to do what I think is funny. I guess my act has never been strictly conventional (in the narrowest definition of the term) but it was perhaps a little tamer and more straightforward when I first started because I lacked the confidence to do exactly what I wanted to do…”
With much of his past work taking a personal, confessional slant, his latest show Present for 2019 promises to offer something more extraordinary than ever. Having been given a £14,000 grant to develop an ‘immersive’ smartphone app, Jordan Brookes will be taking the role of an ‘impish life guru’ helping singles or couples going through tough times by ‘getting deep inside your head’ and even ‘appearing in your bedroom to satisfy your needs’.
So what’s comic Jordan Brookes secret to constant comic reinvention and always staying one step ahead of his audiences? In an interview with Laugh Out London, he explains: “I don’t have any kind of methodology or approach to developing [shows]. I try not to dictate the direction they go in though, which I think helps maintain this element of helplessness on my part, as if I’m performing something that I, along with the audience, are a victim of. We end up being united by a mutual concern over what the hell’s happening.”
Get More Jordan Brookes
Want more of Jordan Brookes? You’re in luck – his full stand-up comedy special is available to watch on NextUp – a digital comedy club where you can stream instantly over 120 comedy specials from some of the exciting names in comedy. Start watching free, no credit card needed.