Matt Roper
Encyclopedia
Matt Roper is a British
comedian
, writer
and musician
who made his stand-up debut in the mid-1990s.
He is an alumnus of the young people's theatre company Oldham Theatre Workshop
, where his contemporaries included the actors Anna Friel
and Suranne Jones
.
He is noted for his work as a writer-performer in sketch comedy
and revue
on the London
fringe; the satirical sketch show Newsrevue
at the Canal Cafe Theatre
, Nice Mischief and A Touch of Roberts and Roper at Jermyn Street Theatre
. Performing stand-up comedy, he became one of the first comics to play the Manchester Comedy Store, appearing regularly at the Buzz Club and in the East Dulwich Cabaret's All New Stand-up Show.
He is currently gaining prominence with his creation of the stage character Wilfredo, a grotesque
satire
of a Mediterranean romantic
singer. The character is notoriously ill-mannered; frequently salivating onstage, drinking and smoking his way throughout songs, while berating his musicians and audience members with insults and expletives.
With Wilfredo and his band, Roper has toured the British summer
festival
circuit, counting the 2009 and 2010 Glastonbury Festival
among his successes. In July 2010 Wilfredo became the surprise hit of the Port Eliot Literary Festival, appearing onstage with Jarvis Cocker
. Increasingly satirizing the cult of celebrity, Wilfredo was also filmed chatting to Biba
founder, the fashion designer Barbara Hulanicki
, giving the impression to onlookers that she was his own personal designer. Roper has presented the character at the Café de Paris
, the Tobacco Factory
in Bristol, Brighton Komedia and at London’s Leicester Square Theatre. He has also performed the character on the Italian
stage to critical and public acclaim. In June 2011 Roper appeared as Wilfredo in the first series of Rufus Hound
's What's So Funny? for BBC Radio 4 Extra in addition to an appearance on Arthur Smith
's Pissed Up Chat Show at the E4 Udderbelly
at the Southbank Centre.
At the 2011 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Roper presented a feature length solo show, Wilfredo: Erecto!. It received positive comment and reviews in the press, described by the Guardian newspaper as "weird, intimate and wonderful" and by Time Out as "an extraordinary creation who cuts a hacking, spluttering, beer dribbling figure upon the stage - a very entertaining hour and consistently funny". The comedy industry website Chortle observed the character as "cantankerous, often lecherous and almost certainly consumptive. To this Roper adds his tics – coughing and burping his way through the set, at one point hacking up phlegm like a horse chewing a toffee."
In May 2011 Roper played the Devil in Terry Newman
's political satire Lucifer: My Part In The New Labour Project (And How I Invented Coalition Government) - a multi-character solo performance - in London and for the Brighton Festival
.
Matt Roper is the son of the late British comedian George Roper
. He is a supporter of the Burma Campaign UK
.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
comedian
Comedian
A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience, primarily by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, or employing prop comedy...
, writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
and musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
who made his stand-up debut in the mid-1990s.
He is an alumnus of the young people's theatre company Oldham Theatre Workshop
Oldham Theatre Workshop
The Oldham Theatre Workshop is a youth theatre group based in the north west of England.-Outline:Founded by David Johnson in 1968, the workshop is renowned for producing some of the best young acting talent in Britain...
, where his contemporaries included the actors Anna Friel
Anna Friel
Anna Louise Friel is an English actress. She rose to fame in the UK as Beth Jordache on the Channel 4 soap Brookside.-Early life:...
and Suranne Jones
Suranne Jones
Suranne Jones is an English actress. She first rose to prominence playing the role of Karen McDonald in ITV1's soap opera Coronation Street over a period of four years...
.
He is noted for his work as a writer-performer in sketch comedy
Sketch comedy
A sketch comedy consists of a series of short comedy scenes or vignettes, called "sketches," commonly between one and ten minutes long. Such sketches are performed by a group of comic actors or comedians, either on stage or through an audio and/or visual medium such as broadcasting...
and revue
Revue
A revue is a type of multi-act popular theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance and sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century American popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own during its golden years from 1916 to 1932...
on the London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
fringe; the satirical sketch show Newsrevue
Newsrevue
NewsRevue is a topical, satirical song and sketch show based at the Canal Cafe Theatre in Maida Vale, London and annually at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. It holds the Guinness World Record for the longest-running live comedy show...
at the Canal Cafe Theatre
Canal Cafe Theatre
The Canal Cafe Theatre is a 60-seat fringe theatre venue in Little Venice, London, specialising in comedy performances.-Location:The theatre is above the Bridge House pub in Little Venice, on the corner of Westbourne Terrace Road and Delamere Terrace, at the meeting point of the Grand Union and...
, Nice Mischief and A Touch of Roberts and Roper at Jermyn Street Theatre
Jermyn Street Theatre
Jermyn Street Theatre is a performance venue situated in Jermyn Street, London.Formerly a restaurant, under the leadership of Howard Jameson, it was transformed into a 70-seat studio theatre right in the heart of London's West End...
. Performing stand-up comedy, he became one of the first comics to play the Manchester Comedy Store, appearing regularly at the Buzz Club and in the East Dulwich Cabaret's All New Stand-up Show.
He is currently gaining prominence with his creation of the stage character Wilfredo, a grotesque
Grotesque
The word grotesque comes from the same Latin root as "Grotto", meaning a small cave or hollow. The original meaning was restricted to an extravagant style of Ancient Roman decorative art rediscovered and then copied in Rome at the end of the 15th century...
satire
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
of a Mediterranean romantic
Romance (music)
The term romance has a centuries-long history. Applied to narrative ballads in Spain, it came to be used by the 18th century for simple lyrical pieces not only for voice, but also for instruments alone. During the 18th and 19th centuries Russian composers developed the French variety of the...
singer. The character is notoriously ill-mannered; frequently salivating onstage, drinking and smoking his way throughout songs, while berating his musicians and audience members with insults and expletives.
With Wilfredo and his band, Roper has toured the British summer
Summer
Summer is the warmest of the four temperate seasons, between spring and autumn. At the summer solstice, the days are longest and the nights are shortest, with day-length decreasing as the season progresses after the solstice...
festival
Festival
A festival or gala is an event, usually and ordinarily staged by a local community, which centers on and celebrates some unique aspect of that community and the Festival....
circuit, counting the 2009 and 2010 Glastonbury Festival
Glastonbury Festival
The Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts, commonly abbreviated to Glastonbury or even Glasto, is a performing arts festival that takes place near Pilton, Somerset, England, best known for its contemporary music, but also for dance, comedy, theatre, circus, cabaret and other arts.The...
among his successes. In July 2010 Wilfredo became the surprise hit of the Port Eliot Literary Festival, appearing onstage with Jarvis Cocker
Jarvis Cocker
Jarvis Branson Cocker is an English musician and frontman for the band Pulp. Through his work with the band, Cocker became a figurehead of the Britpop movement of the mid-1990s. Following Pulp's hiatus Cocker has led a successful solo career...
. Increasingly satirizing the cult of celebrity, Wilfredo was also filmed chatting to Biba
Biba
Biba was an iconic and popular London fashion store of the 1960s and 1970s. It was started and primarily run by the Polish-born Barbara Hulanicki with help of her husband Stephen Fitz-Simon.-Early years:...
founder, the fashion designer Barbara Hulanicki
Barbara Hulanicki
Barbara Hulanicki is a Warsaw-born fashion designer, known for being the founder of the iconic clothes store Biba. Born in Warsaw, to Polish parents, after studying at Brighton School of Art, now the University of Brighton Faculty of Arts, Hulanicki won a London Evening Standard competition for...
, giving the impression to onlookers that she was his own personal designer. Roper has presented the character at the Café de Paris
Café de Paris (London)
Café de Paris is a London nightclub, located in the West End, beside Leicester Square on Coventry Street, Piccadilly.It opened in 1924 and subsequently featured such performers as Dorothy Dandridge, Marlene Dietrich, Harry Gold, Harry Roy, Ken Snakehips Johnson and Maxine Cooper Gomberg...
, the Tobacco Factory
Tobacco Factory
The Tobacco Factory is the last remaining part of the old Wills Tobacco site on Raleigh Road, Southville, Bristol. It was saved from demolition by the architect George Ferguson and through his vision has become a model of urban regeneration...
in Bristol, Brighton Komedia and at London’s Leicester Square Theatre. He has also performed the character on the Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
stage to critical and public acclaim. In June 2011 Roper appeared as Wilfredo in the first series of Rufus Hound
Rufus Hound
Rufus Hound is a British comedian and presenter. He is also the winner of 2010 "Let's Dance for Comic Relief".-Career:...
's What's So Funny? for BBC Radio 4 Extra in addition to an appearance on Arthur Smith
Arthur Smith
Arthur Smith may refer to:*Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith , American guitar player and composer*Arthur Donaldson Smith, American explorer of Africa*Arthur Henderson Smith , American missionary in China, author of books on Chinese culture...
's Pissed Up Chat Show at the E4 Udderbelly
UdderBELLY
The udderBELLY is an upside-down giant purple cow tent owned by the event venue and management company Underbelly, and sponsored by E4.The udderBELLY can be used for a variety of different purposes as it can be adapted to contain a stage and all-seater 322 seat venue, or alternatively can be...
at the Southbank Centre.
At the 2011 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Roper presented a feature length solo show, Wilfredo: Erecto!. It received positive comment and reviews in the press, described by the Guardian newspaper as "weird, intimate and wonderful" and by Time Out as "an extraordinary creation who cuts a hacking, spluttering, beer dribbling figure upon the stage - a very entertaining hour and consistently funny". The comedy industry website Chortle observed the character as "cantankerous, often lecherous and almost certainly consumptive. To this Roper adds his tics – coughing and burping his way through the set, at one point hacking up phlegm like a horse chewing a toffee."
In May 2011 Roper played the Devil in Terry Newman
Terry Newman
Terry Newman is an award-winning British playwright.Newman's works include What Do You Do The Night After You've Saved The Universe?, The Life and Times of a Wonder Woman, Dulcas's Women, Burke and Hare and Being Dennis Potter....
's political satire Lucifer: My Part In The New Labour Project (And How I Invented Coalition Government) - a multi-character solo performance - in London and for the Brighton Festival
Brighton Festival
The Brighton Festival is an annual arts festival which takes place in the city of Brighton and Hove in England each May. It was founded in 1966, and is the largest multi-art form festival in England...
.
Matt Roper is the son of the late British comedian George Roper
George Roper
This is an article about the British comedian. For information on the British sitcom character, see Man About the House.George Roper was an English stand-up comedian, best known for his appearances in the long-running UK television series The Comedians.- Early history :He was born George Francis...
. He is a supporter of the Burma Campaign UK
Burma Campaign UK
Burma Campaign UK founded in 1991 is a London based Non Governmental Organisation that aims to achieve the 'restoration of human rights and democracy in Burma . BCUK campaigns on behalf of the Burmese pro-democracy movement and is the largest campaigning organisation for Burma in Europe...
.
External links
- Youtube.com - Wilfredo in performance at the Komedia for the Brighton Festival Fringe
- Vimeo - Port Eliot Festival: Lucia Helenka films the 2010 festival and asks a host of performers including Stephen Jones, Jarvis Cocker, Anna Sui, Anita Pallenberg, Barbara Hulanicki, Wilfredo and more what makes Port Eliot so special for them.