JASPER CARROTT O.B.E. - a brief biography

Jasper Carrott O.B.E. was born in Birmingham in 1945, and educated at Moseley Grammar School.

His first showbiz appearance was as resident singer at the Boggery Folk Club in Solihull. There he discovered his talent for comedy, and the rest, as they say, is history.

In 1975 Jasper released his first single. Funky Moped / Magic Roundabout was a massive chart hit, selling over half a million copies and giving Jasper his first Silver Disc.

He made his first television series in 1978, An Audience with Jasper Carrott for LWT, after which followed a box-office breaking national tour of over one hundred concerts. The following year he made the television film Carrott Gets Rowdy, in the USA.

In 1979 Jasper was named 'ITV Personality Of The Year' and his live TV show, The Unrecorded Jasper Carrott, was transmitted from the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. Since then, Jasper's national and international tours have been sell-outs and have taken him to many corners of the world.

In 1983 the live series Carrott's Lib won a BAFTA Award.

In 1985 he starred in the stage play The Nerd and, in 1988, the film Jane and the Lost City.

In 1992, Jasper was named BBC TV's 'Personality Of The Year' and in this year teamed up with actor Robert Powell to record The Detectives, a comedy series based on the hilarious antics of two bungling detectives. Such was the success of the initial series that there have been five further series of The Detectives to date with a Christmas Special in 1997.

Jasper has regularly presented a Christmas special for the BBC, either in the form of the hugely successful Carrott's Commercial Breakdown, which won the 'Best Independent Prize' at the prestigious Montreux Festival and a Gold medal at the New York TV & Film Awards, or as a television special such as One Jasper Carrott recorded at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, a live show which attracted over 14 million viewers.

In 1995 Jasper celebrated his 50th birthday and the award 'Midlander Of The Year', while Aston University presented him with an achievement award for services to the Midlands.

During 1996 Jasper again performed in many other countries including the Far East, the Middle East, Australia and South Africa.

1996 and 1997 saw Jasper return to writing new material in preparation for a new series for the BBC and a major UK tour in 1998, his first for many years. The tour embraced over 150 sell out shows in the major theatres of the country, including a sell out fourteen night run in the 2000-seater Birmingham Hippodrome and a two week season at the famous Theatre Royal, Haymarket in London's West End.

1998 culminated with the filming of a brand new six part BBC television series transmitted three times on BBC1 Television during 1999.

The ground-breaking new sitcom All About Me, starring Jasper Carrott O.B.E. and Meera Syal, was aired on the BBC in spring 2002. Described by the BBC as one of the bravest commissions in the channel’s history, All About Me tears up the rule book on how sitcoms should be and is a hilarious portrayal of 21st century family life. The second series is due to be broadcast autumn 2003.

In 2003 Jasper Carrott was awarded an OBE in Her Majesty’s New Years Honours List in recognition of his outstanding work for charity.

On 9th September 2003, Jasper Carrott announced his new live show, week commencing Sunday 4th January 2004, at the NIA, Birmingham. The show consists of the public’s favourite sketches, voted for by the audience, creating a slightly different show every night of the run.

Press release 9 September, 2003

24 CARROTT GOLD -JASPER CARROTT LIVE AT THE NIA ACADEMY!

Jasper Carrott has announced a series of unique shows at The NIA Academy.

The award-winning comedian brings his 24 Carrott Gold shows to The NIA Academy from Sunday 4th January until at least Saturday 10th January 2004.

From a career that stretches over 30 years Jasper will invite the audience to pre-request classic sketches from his massive comedy repertoire. This means that no night will be the same and the audience will have determined the content of each performance.

24 CARROTT GOLD will only be performed in his home town of Birmingham and Jasper sees it as the ultimate celebration of a long career and a big thank you to all the people in the region with whom he has enjoyed such a special relationship over the years.

REVIEWS

Back to the Front, BBC 1 Television

“It often seems that stand-up comedy has become the exclusive domain of young comics obsessed with expletives and bodily functions. Thank heaven, then, for Jasper Carrott, the exasperated voice of middling England, especially of parents sandwiched between two difficult generations (teenage children and their grandparents) who, as Carrott remarks, are “both on drugs”. Carrott’s shrug-rich anecdote about the French exchange student is particularly amusing.”  Evening Standard

“It’s hard to believe Jasper Carrott – funnyman, singer and sit-com star of The Detectives – is celebrating 30 years in show business. He started off in the clubs back in 1969 and returns to his roots as a stand-up in Jasper Carrott – Back to the Front. The balding Brummie walked on stage with just a microphone pinned to his jacket and a guitar waiting in the wings. It was ample. When God made Jasper he gave him all he requires to make people laugh – rolling eyes, a rubber neck and a face to launch a thousand well-scripted quips. He tears out what little hair he has left over everything from teenagers to grandparents. He even manages to take the mickey out of the sick without causing offence. As the man himself put it: “Laughter is the best medicine – unless you’re diabetic, then insulin comes pretty high on the list.” The Mirror

Theatre Royal, Haymarket

“Midway through a tour of the nation, Jasper Carrott has landed in the West End. There is something about seeing a comedian in such a venue that brings home to you what a terrifying occupation stand-up comedy must be. There it is, this vast gilt-framed stage, accustomed to housing all the paraphernalia of an Oscar Wilde play, now sporting only a guitar on a stand and a table with a glass of water. It is enough to give even the audience butterflies.

Jasper Carrott, however, has no problem occupying the space and holding the audience for two hours and more. He breezes on merrily and is immediately greeted by a round of applause, just for being there. After more than twenty years in the business, he is as smooth and polished as Fred Astaire’s toe-caps. There are no rough patches, no embarrassing sketches or limp one-liners. He knows his audience well, knows how to woo them and how far to push them once they have been loosened a little by an interval drink. His comedy is mainstream, depending on observation and recognition. He is very good at what he does, but he’s not one for the political – unless you count a couple of mild digs at Bill Clinton – the surreal, the unusual or the dangerous. No, we are on the case of caravanners and bald men who comb their hair over, wear toupees or grow pit-tails (provoking plenty of sidelong glances in the interval). On this last topic, Carrott is an authority, being afflicted with hair-loss himself: “I’m using a shampoo now called ‘What’s the point?’”. His one-liners are funny and often acute. On the subject of water bills and water meters: “If my house catches fire I’ve got a decision to make.” On the millennium bug: “All the computers revert to 1900 and you can buy a car for 4p.” On hang-gliding: “Chucking yourself off Beachy Head attached to a frame tent.”

Some of his observations are lovely – such as the way men stand for hours peering into the fridge, “we’re looking for the one thing that you haven’t bought” – and he does extended passages on the joys of  being a parent of teenage children that is clearly based on intensive personal research. Among the one-line observations and comments, he works in a couple of longer sessions, one being a fantasy about the perils of trying to get treatment from the emergency services on December 31st 1999, and another being a – very amusing – description of his one perilous attempt at scuba diving.

Towards the end of the evening he makes the audience work harder, with a sudden flurry of sick jokes about dyslexia, leprosy and the like, but for the most part his act is very precisely pitched. He is sharp, skilful and succinct.”  Financial Times

HISTORY Notable events
(or a 'not-so-brief biography')

Born		14th March 1945 - Acocks Green, Birmingham
Educated		Moseley Grammar School
First regular appearance		Boggery Folk Club, Solihull as resident
1975		Jasper released his first single. FUNKY MOPED / MAGIC ROUNDABOUT was a massive chart hit, selling over half a million copies and giving Jasper his first Silver Disc.
1978		Jasper's first television series AN AUDIENCE WITH JASPER CARROTT ( 6 x 30 minutes ) was made for London Weekend Television.  A 118 date tour followed, with box office records broken at many of the major British theatres.
1979		Jasper was named as 'ITV Personality Of The Year'. CARROTT GETS ROWDY, a look at soccer in the USA was filmed in America. THE UNRECORDED JASPER CARROTT was transmitted live from The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, this was the first time that any solo artiste had performed one hour of live to air comedy on television - a unique achievement that has never been equalled. The show became a gold selling album and was followed by national and international sell-out tours that continue through to the present day.
1980		Jasper's first book A ZIT ON THE SIDE was published in 1979 and sales of over half a million copies established it in the Top Ten for many weeks.
1980		A 100 plus date sell-out concert tour of the UK. Jasper's first tour of Australia and New Zealand met with sell out houses and media acclaim.
1981		BEAT THE CARROTT, a television special was filmed from the London Palladium resulting in the gold selling album of the same name. Jasper appeared in the famous SECRET POLICEMAN'S OTHER BALL. Further visits abroad this year included shows in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and at Hong Kong's City Hall.
1982		The BBC invited Jasper to host his own Saturday night television show. CARROTT'S LIB ran for forty-five minutes for seven weeks receiving high ratings and critical acclaim.  His next book SWEET AND SOUR LABRADOR was released to advance orders of 200,000.
1983		The second series of CARROTT'S LIB on BBC TV received the BAFTA award for light entertainment on television.
1984		Jasper spent many months of the year in the USA preparing for and filming an HBO / Channel 4 Special to be released in 1985 and his visit included sell-out concerts in San Francisco and five sell-out nights in Los Angeles.
1985		Jasper was associate producer and co-writer of the highly successful BBC series COOL IT starring PHIL COOL. Jasper starred in the stage play THE NERD.
1986		STAND UP AMERICA, a six-part BBC TV series was presented and directed by Jasper. The show was a focus on American comics and was filmed on location at venues in New York and Los Angeles. The latter part of 1986 saw a new book, CARROTT ROOTS and Jasper's departure for Mauritius for his first film roll playing the part of Heinrich in a new film version of JANE AND THE LOST CITY, released in 1988.
1987		CARROTT CONFIDENTIAL - Jasper hosted his own 8-week live TV show on BBC 1. The show shown at 9:00pm for 35 minutes each Saturday night attracted over TEN MILLION viewers each week.
1988		Such was the acclaim for the initial series that Jasper started the year with a second eight-part series of CARROTT CONFIDENTIAL. A tour of Australia and New Zealand was booked for April and resulted in sell-out appearances everywhere whilst his new film JANE AND THE LOST CITY premiered in May. A new book - SHOP! OR A STAR IS BORN was released and over Christmas it reached No.6 in The Best Seller Lists.
1989		A third series of CARROTT CONFIDENTIAL became the highest rated comedy show by viewers.
1990		A British tour of 90 dates played to sold-out houses including a concert at the internationally famous Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in Stratford-Upon-Avon, recorded for a television special. Jasper departed from the BBC to the independent production company CELADOR. Their first production was CARROTT'S COMMERCIAL BREAKDOWN - an hilarious view of adverts selected from around the world. The show was highly acclaimed, winning the 'Best Independent Prize' at the Montreux Festival and a Gold Medal at the New York TV & Film Awards. Jasper started recording a new six-week television series for Celador. CANNED CARROTT was destined to become one of Jasper's most popular series and introduced for the first time the character "WIGGY" and his teaming up with actor Robert Powell in THE DETECTIVES.
1991		Jasper concentrated solely on the second series of CANNED CARROTT, which was shown in November. The two series of CANNED CARROTT regularly entered the BBC Top Ten consistently reaching audiences of 13.5 million viewers. Prior to this, in September, two compilations of the best of the first series of CANNED CARROTT were shown and made the Top Ten ratings with the second show gaining over 11 million viewers.  CARROTT'S COMMERCIAL BREAKDOWN 2 was shown between Christmas and the New Year and resulted in viewing figures of 14 million.
1992		Jasper teamed up with his old friend Phil Cool, the show CARROTT & COOL playing to sold out houses in a record 143 performances nation-wide. THE DETECTIVES evolved into a full six-part comedy series based on the antics of Jasper and Robert Powell as the two bungling detectives. The BBC1 Christmas Special ONE JASPER CARROTT live at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane attracted over 14 million viewers. Jasper was named as BBC TV’s 'Personality Of The Year'.
1993		January -The first series of THE DETECTIVES appeared on BBC1. Visits to The Middle East and Far East included three sell out concerts at the Hong Kong Convention Centre. COMMERCIAL BREAKDOWN 3 was made for Christmas.
1994		The second series of THE DETECTIVES was shown in January on BBC1. A Christmas special CARROTT-U-LIKE was filmed for the BBC. Jasper also visited Australia and New Zealand.
1995		Jasper took a break from touring to celebrate his 50th birthday and the receiving of the award 'Midlander Of The Year' and an award from Aston University for services to the Midlands. The third series of THE DETECTIVES was shown in February with a fourth series filmed in the autumn for transmission in 1996. COMMERCIAL BREAKDOWN 4 was made for Christmas.
1996		THE DETECTIVES -Series Four. 1996 saw Jasper take to the road again in the UK and present a BBC Radio Two series of thirteen half hours of his classic material from 1973 to the present day, along with a second series of thirteen half hours dedicated to comedy material from the BBC archives.
1997		THE DETECTIVES -Series Five was shown in January with a Christmas Special screened in December 1997.
1998		Throughout 1998 Jasper embarked on what was to be one of the longest and most successful UK tours undertaken by any comedy artist. The tour embraced over 150 sell-out shows in the major theatres of the country including a sell-out fourteen night run in the 2000-seater Birmingham Hippodrome and a two week season at the famous Theatre Royal, Haymarket in London’s West End. With the shows receiving ecstatic reviews, the year culminated with the filming of a brand new six part BBC television series with Jasper once again excelling in the role of pure stand-up comedian, his first television series in this format for nearly ten years.
1999		BACK TO THE FRONT was transmitted on BBC1 Television from February 24th for six weeks.
2002		All About Me was aired in the new year on BBC1.
2003		Jasper Carrott awarded OBE for services to comedy and to charity - second series of All About Me broadcast on BBC 1.
2004		24 Carrott Gold, fourteen consecutive nights at the NIA Academy in Birmingham, sell out shows to over 70,000 people, Jan 4-17th 2004.