Ted Chippington
Encyclopedia
Ted Chippington is a British stand-up
comedian. His act is one in which the conventions of his chosen craft are routinely flouted. Assuming a diffident on-stage persona
(in contrast to the self-confident aura of most comics) and delivering his material in a West Midlands
monotone, he eschews observational comedy
in favour of anti-humour and jokes which are mostly variations on the same theme, interspersed with his own versions of well-known songs performed in a similarly listless style. This approach has left many audiences bemused or even hostile (his expertise at dealing with hecklers comes from frequent practice).
His deadpan style has won him a small but devoted number of followers. Probably his most notable fan is Stewart Lee
, who has often cited Chippington as the reason he started doing stand-up comedy himself, and has described Chippington's act as being "a mixture of surrealism and insolent provocation and uncompromising boredom". Another admirer, Richard Herring
, talks of Chippington's "contempt for the very idea of jokes". For his part Chippington - who describes his own act as being influenced by Lenny Bruce
and Owd Grandad Piggott
- says he is an "anti-comedian" and that he only started doing his act "to annoy people". He has even claimed that his main reason for retiring from the stage in the 1990s was that he was becoming too popular.
in 1984 supporting The Fall (his favourite band) was released by local record label Vindaloo on a 7" EP
entitled Non Stop Party Hits of the 50s 60s and 70s. The EP title refers to his penchant for performing his own versions of classic hits, including on this occasion his rendering of Ottawan's "D.I.S.C.O.". The record was played by John Peel
on his BBC Radio One programme - a rare occurrence for a comedian.
In 1986 he released an album, Man in a Suitcase - a collection of live recordings plus some more songs, included his versions of "She Loves You
" and Alvin Stardust
's "I Feel Like Buddy Holly" - which reached the Top 10 indie
album chart. "She Loves You" received wider exposure after Steve Wright repeatedly played it on his Radio 1 show, which in turn led to the track being released as a single by Warner Brothers
. It narrowly failed to make the Top 75 but Chippington claims that the deal with Warners earned him "£1,000 and a nice curry".
Despite its failure to crack the charts, "She Loves You" raised Chippington's profile considerably and led to numerous media appearances, including a turn on the BBC
's lunchtime magazine show Pebble Mill at One
, the latter fulfilling a lifelong ambition.
Chippington also fielded interviews with the New Musical Express, Birmingham's BRMB
(where he managed to thoroughly baffle his interviewer) and, bizarrely, the colour supplement of The Mail on Sunday
. He also performed at the Glastonbury
and Reading
festivals.
Chippington once again came close to mainstream UK singles chart
success with a recording of his theme tune "Rockin' with Rita (Head To Toe)" which he performed with his fellow Vindaloo artists The Nightingales
and We've Got A Fuzzbox And We're Gonna Use It
. A further single followed with his reading of Dion
's "The Wanderer
", in which the boastfulness of the original lyrics was turned on its head: "I'm not the wanderer, I'm not the wanderer...not too keen on roaming around and around and around".
In spite of all this, Chippington's ruthless disregard for the conventions of stand-up made him a perennial outcast from the 1980s comedy scene. At a time when the alternative comedy
boom was at its peak, Chippington - who once claimed his favourite comedian was Bernard Manning
- struggled to break through to a wider audience.
. After this he tried his hand as a cook in various restaurants in Mexico, before returning to the UK, getting married and settling in Torquay
.
stage outfit in favour of a vicar
's dog-collar
. He has also changed much of his material.
In 2007 a CD boxset of Chippington's earlier work, entitled Walking Down The Road, was released on Robert Lloyd
's Big Print label. A tribute to Chippington entitled "Tedstock", featuring Stewart Lee, Richard Herring and numerous other stand-up comedians, was held at London's Bloomsbury Theatre in order to fund this release. This event led to a new flurry of media appearances for Chippington, including articles in national newspapers and television and radio appearances.
Stand-up comedy
Stand-up comedy is a comedic art form. Usually, a comedian performs in front of a live audience, speaking directly to them. Their performances are sometimes filmed for later release via DVD, the internet, and television...
comedian. His act is one in which the conventions of his chosen craft are routinely flouted. Assuming a diffident on-stage persona
Persona
A persona, in the word's everyday usage, is a social role or a character played by an actor. The word is derived from Latin, where it originally referred to a theatrical mask. The Latin word probably derived from the Etruscan word "phersu", with the same meaning, and that from the Greek πρόσωπον...
(in contrast to the self-confident aura of most comics) and delivering his material in a West Midlands
West Midlands (region)
The West Midlands is an official region of England, covering the western half of the area traditionally known as the Midlands. It contains the second most populous British city, Birmingham, and the larger West Midlands conurbation, which includes the city of Wolverhampton and large towns of Dudley,...
monotone, he eschews observational comedy
Observational comedy
Observational comedy is a style of humor based on making remarks about commonplace aspects of everyday life. It is the most common type of humor used in stand up comedy.The humor is based on the premise of "It's funny because it's true."-External links:* *...
in favour of anti-humour and jokes which are mostly variations on the same theme, interspersed with his own versions of well-known songs performed in a similarly listless style. This approach has left many audiences bemused or even hostile (his expertise at dealing with hecklers comes from frequent practice).
His deadpan style has won him a small but devoted number of followers. Probably his most notable fan is Stewart Lee
Stewart Lee
Stewart Lee is an English stand-up comedian, writer and director known for being one half of the 1990s comedy duo Lee and Herring, and for co-writing and directing the critically acclaimed and controversial stage show Jerry Springer - The Opera...
, who has often cited Chippington as the reason he started doing stand-up comedy himself, and has described Chippington's act as being "a mixture of surrealism and insolent provocation and uncompromising boredom". Another admirer, Richard Herring
Richard Herring
Richard Keith Herring is a British comedian and writer, whose early work includes his involvement in the double-act, Lee and Herring...
, talks of Chippington's "contempt for the very idea of jokes". For his part Chippington - who describes his own act as being influenced by Lenny Bruce
Lenny Bruce
Leonard Alfred Schneider , better known by the stage name Lenny Bruce, was a Jewish-American comedian, social critic and satirist...
and Owd Grandad Piggott
Owd Grandad Piggott
Owd Grandad Piggott is a fictional character created by author Alan Povey based on a real life person. The Owd Grandad Piggott stories are best known in Povey's home town of Stoke-on-Trent where they have often been heard on BBC Radio Stoke, read by the author...
- says he is an "anti-comedian" and that he only started doing his act "to annoy people". He has even claimed that his main reason for retiring from the stage in the 1990s was that he was becoming too popular.
Early years
Chippington started performing in 1981 under the name "Eddie Chippington" before changing to Ted "due to maturity and baldness". He first came to national prominence when a gig he had performed in BirminghamBirmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
in 1984 supporting The Fall (his favourite band) was released by local record label Vindaloo on a 7" EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
entitled Non Stop Party Hits of the 50s 60s and 70s. The EP title refers to his penchant for performing his own versions of classic hits, including on this occasion his rendering of Ottawan's "D.I.S.C.O.". The record was played by John Peel
John Peel
John Robert Parker Ravenscroft, OBE , known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey, radio presenter, record producer and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly from 1967 until his death in 2004...
on his BBC Radio One programme - a rare occurrence for a comedian.
In 1986 he released an album, Man in a Suitcase - a collection of live recordings plus some more songs, included his versions of "She Loves You
She Loves You
"She Loves You" is a song written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney based on an idea by McCartney, originally recorded by The Beatles for release as a single in 1963. The single set and surpassed several records in the United Kingdom charts, and set a record in the United States by being one of the...
" and Alvin Stardust
Alvin Stardust
Alvin Stardust is an English pop singer and stage actor.-Career:...
's "I Feel Like Buddy Holly" - which reached the Top 10 indie
Indie (music)
In music, independent music, often shortened to indie music or "indie" is a term used to describe independence from major commercial record labels or their subsidiaries, and an autonomous, Do-It-Yourself approach to recording and publishing....
album chart. "She Loves You" received wider exposure after Steve Wright repeatedly played it on his Radio 1 show, which in turn led to the track being released as a single by Warner Brothers
Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records Inc. is an American record label. It was the foundation label of the present-day Warner Music Group, and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of that corporation. It maintains a close relationship with its former parent, Warner Bros. Pictures, although the two companies...
. It narrowly failed to make the Top 75 but Chippington claims that the deal with Warners earned him "£1,000 and a nice curry".
Despite its failure to crack the charts, "She Loves You" raised Chippington's profile considerably and led to numerous media appearances, including a turn on the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
's lunchtime magazine show Pebble Mill at One
Pebble Mill at One
Pebble Mill at One was a popular British lunchtime chat show broadcast live originally on BBC2 before transferring to BBC1. It was produced from the Pebble Mill facilities of BBC Birmingham, and uniquely was hosted from the centre's main reception area rather than a traditional studio...
, the latter fulfilling a lifelong ambition.
Chippington also fielded interviews with the New Musical Express, Birmingham's BRMB
Brmb
brmb is a local radio station based in Birmingham, UK, owned and operated by Orion Media. The station broadcasts on 96.4 FM, DAB Digital Radio in the West Midlands and online...
(where he managed to thoroughly baffle his interviewer) and, bizarrely, the colour supplement of The Mail on Sunday
The Mail on Sunday
The Mail on Sunday is a British conservative newspaper, currently published in a tabloid format. First published in 1982 by Lord Rothermere, it became Britain's biggest-selling Sunday newspaper following the closing of The News of the World in July 2011...
. He also performed at the Glastonbury
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...
and Reading
Reading and Leeds Festivals
The Reading and Leeds Festivals are a pair of annual music festivals that take place in Reading and Leeds in England. The events take place simultaneously on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend, sharing the same bill. The Reading Festival is held at Little John's Farm...
festivals.
Chippington once again came close to mainstream UK singles chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
success with a recording of his theme tune "Rockin' with Rita (Head To Toe)" which he performed with his fellow Vindaloo artists The Nightingales
The Nightingales
The Nightingales are a British punk/alternative band formed in 1979 in Birmingham, England. Original members were Robert Lloyd , Joe Crow on guitar, Eamonn Duffy on bass and Paul Apperley on drums, all formerly of The Prefects...
and We've Got A Fuzzbox And We're Gonna Use It
We've Got a Fuzzbox and We're Gonna Use It
We've Got A Fuzzbox and We're Gonna Use It were an English alternative rock group. Formed in Birmingham in 1985, the all-female quartet originally consisted of Vix, Maggie Dunne, Jo Dunne and Tina O'Neill. The band's name was shortened to Fuzzbox for the U.S. release of their first album...
. A further single followed with his reading of Dion
Dion DiMucci
Dion Francis DiMucci , better known as Dion, is an American singer-songwriter whose work has incorporated elements of doo-wop, pop oldies music, rock and R&B styles....
's "The Wanderer
The Wanderer (Dion song)
"The Wanderer" is a song written by Ernie Maresca and originally recorded by Dion. The song, with a 12-bar blues-base verse and an eight-bar bridge, tells the story of a travelling man and his many loves...
", in which the boastfulness of the original lyrics was turned on its head: "I'm not the wanderer, I'm not the wanderer...not too keen on roaming around and around and around".
In spite of all this, Chippington's ruthless disregard for the conventions of stand-up made him a perennial outcast from the 1980s comedy scene. At a time when the alternative comedy
Alternative comedy
Alternative comedy is a term that originated in the 1980s for a style of comedy that makes a conscious break with the mainstream comedic style of an era, and typically avoids relying on a standardised structure of a sequence of jokes with punch lines. Patton Oswalt defines it as "comedy where the...
boom was at its peak, Chippington - who once claimed his favourite comedian was Bernard Manning
Bernard Manning
Bernard John Manning was an English comedian and nightclub owner. He was born and raised in Manchester in northwest England....
- struggled to break through to a wider audience.
Retirement
In 1990, feeling overwhelmed by the media attention, Chippington retired from show business to pursue a career in truck-driving in the US. This ended ignominiously when his lorry shed its load on the Pacific Coast HighwayCalifornia State Route 1
State Route 1 , more often called Highway 1, is a state highway that runs along much of the Pacific coast of the U.S. state of California. It is famous for running along some of the most beautiful coastlines in the world, leading to its designation as an All-American Road.Highway 1 does not run...
. After this he tried his hand as a cook in various restaurants in Mexico, before returning to the UK, getting married and settling in Torquay
Torquay
Torquay is a town in the unitary authority area of Torbay and ceremonial county of Devon, England. It lies south of Exeter along the A380 on the north of Torbay, north-east of Plymouth and adjoins the neighbouring town of Paignton on the west of the bay. Torquay’s population of 63,998 during the...
.
Return to performing
In 2006 he started performing again. He now styles himself "The Reverend Ted Chippington" and has ditched his old Teddy BoyTeddy Boy
The British Teddy Boy subculture is typified by young men wearing clothes that were partly inspired by the styles worn by dandies in the Edwardian period, styles which Savile Row tailors had attempted to re-introduce in Britain after World War II...
stage outfit in favour of a vicar
Vicar
In the broadest sense, a vicar is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior . In this sense, the title is comparable to lieutenant...
's dog-collar
Clerical collar
A clerical collar is an item of Christian clerical clothing. It is a detachable collar that buttons onto a clergy shirt or rabbat , being fastened by two metal studs, one attached at the front and one at the back to hold the collar to the shirt. The collar closes at the back of the neck, presenting...
. He has also changed much of his material.
In 2007 a CD boxset of Chippington's earlier work, entitled Walking Down The Road, was released on Robert Lloyd
Robert Lloyd (Nightingales)
Robert Lloyd is the lead singer with The Nightingales and formerly with The Prefects. When The Nightingales split in 1986, Lloyd embarked on a solo career, initially signing to In-Tape before signing to Virgin Records in 1989 and releasing the album Me and My Mouth...
's Big Print label. A tribute to Chippington entitled "Tedstock", featuring Stewart Lee, Richard Herring and numerous other stand-up comedians, was held at London's Bloomsbury Theatre in order to fund this release. This event led to a new flurry of media appearances for Chippington, including articles in national newspapers and television and radio appearances.
Albums
- Man in a Suitcase (1986) Vindaloo (UK indieUK Indie ChartThe UK Independent Chart or Indie Chart is a chart of the best-selling independent record releases in the UK.- History :In the wake of punk, small record labels began to spring up, as an outlet for artists that were unwilling to sign contracts with major record companies, or were not considered...
#5) - The Real Truth About Trucking (1988) Sincere
- Walking Down The Road (box set) (2007) Big Print
Singles
- Non-Stop Party Hits of the 50's, 60's & 70's EP (1985) Vindaloo
- "She Loves You" (1986) Vindaloo (UK #77)
- "Rockin' With Rita (Head to Toe)" (1986) Vindaloo (as part of The Vindaloo Summer Special) (UK #56)
- "(I'm Not) The Wanderer" (1987) Vindaloo (UK Indie #28)