Roy Chubby Brown
A proudly offensive survivor of the Northern working men's clubs.
13 specials · 1990–2017
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Roy Chubby Brown walks on stage in a flying helmet, goggles, and a patchwork suit, usually greeted by a room full of people chanting “You fat bastard”. He approaches the microphone wide-eyed and immediately starts shouting. He relies on a strict setup and punchline rhythm, delivering every line with raw exasperation. If a joke falls flat, he glares at the front row through his glasses, acting as if the crowd just offended him.
Specials
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The patchwork-suited working club veteran takes a supposed final bow.
Universal Pictures · 75 min
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Britain's bluest comedian delivers an hour of untelevised vulgarity.
Universal Pictures · 69 min
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Chubby Goes Down Under And Other Sticky Regions
Britain's bluest comic takes his aggressively coarse stand-up to Australia.
Video Collection International · 82 min
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Unreleased live material compiled from the British comic's personal archives.
PolyGram Video · 53 min
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Aggressively blue stand-up from the British comic's 1990s VHS peak.
PolyGram Video · 57 min
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Unapologetic seaside filth from the peak of British VHS comedy.
PolyGram Video · 75 min
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Working-men's club stand-up filmed at Newcastle City Hall.
PolyGram Video · 75 min
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Britain's most profane comedian defiles the spirit of Christmas in Newcastle.
PolyGram Video · 56 min
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A 1993 mockumentary detailing the fictional hometown origins of the comic.
PolyGram Video · 51 min
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The final VHS installment of his profanity-heavy helmet trilogy.
PolyGram Video · 60 min
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A straight-to-VHS barrage of intensely blue British pub jokes.
PolyGram Video · 55 min
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The 1990 direct-to-video set that launched a blue comedy empire.
Channel 5 Video
On stage
He is a surviving fixture of the Northern English working men’s club circuit. Because television networks consider his act unbroadcastable, he operates away from the mainstream comedy ecosystem. Instead, he built his audience through word of mouth, live tours, and physical media sales. City councils routinely ban him from performing in their theatres, which only hardens his appeal to his base.
He constructs his set out of pure obscenity. There is no protective layer of irony buffering the act. He simply tells the bluest jokes he can write, dragging the sensibilities of an older era of British comedy into the present. He will deliver a xenophobic punchline, complain about his mother-in-law, lead a foul-mouthed singalong, and sit down for a quick piano break. He says the things he knows will cause outrage, and the room laughs precisely because they know they aren’t supposed to.
Born Royston Vasey in Middlesbrough, he spent time in borstal and the Merchant Navy before taking his building-site banter to the stage. The creators of The League of Gentlemen later used his real name for their fictional town, eventually casting him in a cameo as the mayor.
At a glance
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