Deborah Frances-White

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Deborah Frances-White
MediumStand-up, improvisation, Podcast
NationalityBritish, Australian
Alma mater Harris Manchester College, Oxford
Years active2007–present
Genres Observational humour, Self-help, storytelling
Subject(s) Feminism, religion
SpouseTom Salinsky
Notable works and roles The Guilty Feminist
Website www.deborahfrances-white.com

Deborah Frances-White is a London-based comedian, author and screenwriter. [1] She has both British and Australian citizenship. [2] She hosts the podcasts Global Pillage and The Guilty Feminist . [3] She wrote the 2019 comedy film Say My Name .

Contents

Early life

Frances-White was born in Australia and adopted at ten days old. [4] She grew up in Brisbane, Queensland. Her family converted to Jehovah’s Witnesses when she was a teenager; Frances-White has since left the community and describes herself as an atheist. [5] During her gap year, she moved to London and later studied English at Harris Manchester College, Oxford University. [6]

Career

Frances-White is one of three directors at the improv theatre company The Spontaneity Shop, which she co-founded with Tom Salinsky in 1996. [7] After developing a number of improvisation formats at The Spontaneity Shop (including the improvised romantic comedy DreamDate which had a pilot made for ITV [8] ), Frances-White turned to stand-up comedy. Her first significant solo show was How to Get Almost Anyone to Want to Sleep With You which she performed at The Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2007 [9] and at The Melbourne International Comedy Festival in 2008 [10] where she also hosted The Melbourne International Comedy Festival Roadshow. [11]

Frances-White's recent shows have been more personal. Cult Following (2012) dealt with her experiences as a teenage Jehovah's Witness, [12] Half a Can of Worms (2013) was about tracking down her biological family [13] and Friend of a Friend of Dorothy (2015) was about feminism, sexism and homophobia. [14]

Frances-White has continued to develop new improvisation formats. Voices in Your Head is a show which allows comedians, improvisers and actors to create comedy characters while the audience watches. Guests have included Phill Jupitus, Sara Pascoe, Russell Tovey, Mike McShane and Hannibal Buress. [15] In 2015 she created The Beau Zeaux a long-form improvised comedy featuring a rotating cast including Marcus Brigstocke, Thom Tuck, Rachel Parris, Brendan Murphy, Ed Coleman, Milly Thomas and Pippa Evans. [16] Guests have included Russell Tovey [17] and Dan Starkey.

Her BBC Radio 4 series Deborah Frances-White Rolls the Dice was first broadcast in spring 2015 [18] and featured stories about her adoption, green card marriage, and the quest to find her biological family. The episodes were titled "Half a Can of Worms", "Cult Following", "Visa Issues" and "Who's Your Daddy"? In January 2016, the show won Frances-White the Writers' Guild of Great Britain award for "Best Radio Comedy". [19] A second series was first broadcast in autumn 2016. [20]

On television, Frances-White has appeared as a guest on Mock the Week , Politics Live and Tonight With Vladimir Putin . [21]

With Sofie Hagen, she created the podcast The Guilty Feminist . She is also the creator and host of the podcast Global Pillage, a comedy panel show. In 2019, The Guilty Feminist and Amnesty International joined forces for the Secret Policeman’s Tour , consisting of three shows with comedy, music and discussion, all in support of human rights. [22] In 2023, The Guilty Feminist also launched Media Storm, a news podcast hosted by journalists Mathilda Mallinson and Helena Wadia. [23]

Corporate work

Frances-White regularly appears at corporate events speaking about confidence, charisma, diversity and sexism. [24] Her TEDx talk on Charisma vs Stage-Fright [25] was cited by James Caan as the secret of his presenting skills. [26]

Writing

With her writing partner Philippa Waller, Frances-White contributed two episodes of Young Dracula in 2014. [21] She has co-written two books: The Improv Handbook with Tom Salinsky [27] and Off the Mic with Marsha Shandur, [28] both published by Bloomsbury. She writes for Standard Issue Magazine. [29] In 2018, Virago published The Guilty Feminist, a spin-off from her podcast. [30] Her debut feature film, the comedy thriller Say My Name , [31] premiered on 19 March 2019.

Religion

Frances-White became a Jehovah's Witness while still a teenager. Her years in the religion and how she left it were the focus of her 2012 Edinburgh Fringe stand-up comedy show and two of the episodes of her BBC Radio 4 show Deborah Frances-White Rolls the Dice. [18] [32]

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References

  1. ↑ Rudd, Matt (26 August 2018). "Exclusive interview: Deborah Frances-White, the creator of the Guilty Feminist podcast, on how to crush the patriarchy". The Times . Retrieved 16 July 2019.
  2. ↑ "Deborah Frances-White Rolls The Dice Episode Guide". British Comedy Guide . Retrieved 14 October 2015.
  3. ↑ "The Guilty Feminist" . Retrieved 10 November 2019.
  4. ↑ "Deborah Frances-White.com". Archived from the original on 13 August 2015. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
  5. ↑ Grady, Kitty (1 November 2018). "The Guilty Feminist: 'Laughing at somebody robs them of power'". Financial Times. Retrieved 15 July 2019.
  6. ↑ "On my radar: Deborah Frances-White's cultural highlights". The Guardian. 9 September 2018. Retrieved 15 July 2019.
  7. ↑ "History - The Spontaneity Shop". The Spontaneity Shop. Retrieved 15 July 2019.
  8. ↑ Deans, Jason (27 October 2004), "ITV pilots improvised dating show", The Guardian, London
  9. ↑ Bennett, Steve (27 April 2008). "Deborah Frances-White: How to Get Almost Anyone to Want to Sleep with You". Chortle. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
  10. ↑ Kent, Melissa (23 March 2008), "Venus and Mars, bah! Dating a man is easy", The Age, Melbourne
  11. ↑ "Deborah Frances-White". Bloomsbury. Archived from the original on 23 November 2015. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
  12. ↑ Richardson, Jay (21 August 2012), "Comedy review: Deborah Frances-White: Cult Following, Assembly Roxy", The Scotsman, Edinburgh
  13. ↑ Bijleveld, Celine (20 September 2013), "I tracked down my biological family online: 'It was like a treasure hunt'", The Guardian, London
  14. ↑ "Friend of a Friend of Dorothy". The Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society. 29 August 2015. Retrieved 14 October 2015.[ permanent dead link ]
  15. ↑ "Voices in Your Head". Soho Theatre. 4 February 2015. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
  16. ↑ "The Beau Zeaux". So Television. Archived from the original on 28 August 2015. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
  17. ↑ "The Beau Zeaux". Etcetera Theatre. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
  18. 1 2 "Deborah Frances-White Rolls the Dice (Series 1)". BBC. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
  19. ↑ "Writers Guild Award Winners". Writers Guild of Great Britain. 18 January 2016. Retrieved 29 January 2016.
  20. ↑ "Deborah Frances-White Rolls the Dice: "Papa Was a Rolling Stone" Series 2". BBC Radio 4. 7 October 2016.
  21. 1 2 "Deborah Frances-White: Filmography". IMDb. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
  22. ↑ "News: Amnesty & Guilty Feminist Team Up for Secret Policeman Shows". BeyondTheJoke.co.uk. 24 April 2019. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
  23. ↑ "Media Storm". shows.acast.com. Retrieved 6 December 2023.
  24. ↑ "Deborah Frances-White Live in the West End!". 21 January 2015. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
  25. ↑ "TedxTalks". Charisma versus Stage Fright. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
  26. ↑ Caan, James (8 October 2015). "Wonder where I got my presenting skills from?". Twitter. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
  27. ↑ The Improv Handbook. ASIN   0826428584.
  28. ↑ Off the Mic: The World's Best Stand-Up Comedians Get Serious About Comedy. ASIN   1472526384.
  29. ↑ "Standard Issue Magazine". Standard Issue. Archived from the original on 13 December 2015. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
  30. ↑ Frances-White, Deborah (2018), The guilty feminist : from our noble goals to our worst hypocrisies, Virago, ISBN   978-0-349-01014-4
  31. ↑ "Say My Name" . Retrieved 4 July 2020– via www.imdb.com.
  32. ↑ "Deborah Frances-White Rolls the Dice (Series 2)". BBC. Retrieved 15 October 2016.
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