{{Short description|British comedian}} {{Use British English|date=July 2022}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2022}} {{Infobox person | name = Henry Paker | image = Henry Paker EIBF 2025.jpg | caption = Paker at the 2025 Edinburgh International Book Festival | birth_name = <!-- only use if different from name -->| | death_date = <!-- {{Death date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} (DEATH date then BIRTH date) --> | death_place = | birth_date = | other_names = | occupation = Comedian, writer, actor, artist, illustrator | years_active = 1990s–present | known_for = | notable_works = Three Bean Salad | website = }} '''Henry Paker''' is a British comedian, writer and illustrator.
Paker has written for television series ''8 Out of 10 Cats'', ''Mock the Week'', ''Comic Relief'', ''Top Gear'', ''Russell Howard’s Good News'', ''Seann Walsh World'', ''Michael McIntyre's Big Show'', ''Never Mind the Buzzcocks'', ''Stand Up for the Week'', ''Big Fat Quiz of the Year'',<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.hotwatercomedy.co.uk/comedian/556/henry-paker/|title=Henry Paker's Comedy Profile |Hot Water Comedy Club|website=www.hotwatercomedy.co.uk}}</ref> ''Hypothetical''<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.comedy.co.uk/tv/hypothetical/interviews/josh-widdicombe-on-series-4/|title=Josh Widdicombe on Hypothetical's return interview - Hypothetical|first=British Comedy|last=Guide|date=9 May 2022|website=British Comedy Guide}}</ref> and ''Would I Lie To You''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.comedy.co.uk/tv/would_i_lie_to_you/episodes/2020/1/|title=Would I Lie To You? Christmas Special - Would I Lie To You? At Christmas|first=British Comedy|last=Guide|website=British Comedy Guide}}</ref> He has acted in an episode of the sitcom ''Josh''.
His radio work includes the BBC Radio 4 sitcom ''ReincarNathan'',<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.comedy.co.uk/live/features/henry_paker_man_alive_interview/|title=Henry Paker interview|first=British Comedy|last=Guide|date=20 March 2019|website=British Comedy Guide}}</ref> and he has appeared on the ''Beef and Dairy Network Podcast''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.comedy.co.uk/radio/news/2530/beef_dairy_network_on_radio_4/|title=Beef And Dairy Network Podcast to be broadcast on Radio 4|first=British Comedy|last=Guide|date=13 April 2017|website=British Comedy Guide}}</ref>
==Stand-up comedy== Paker began performing stand-up comedy in 2006.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Henry Paker, comedian reviews : Chortle : The UK Comedy Guide |url=https://www.chortle.co.uk/comics/h/33377/henry_paker/review |access-date=2023-04-22 |website=www.chortle.co.uk |language=en}}</ref> In 2008 he won the Leicester Mercury Comedian of the Year and came second place in the Laughing Horse new act competition.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Henry Paker, comedian reviews : Chortle : The UK Comedy Guide |url=https://www.chortle.co.uk/comics/h/33377/henry_paker/review |access-date=2023-04-22 |website=www.chortle.co.uk |language=en}}</ref>
Paker has performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe regularly, first performing in 2008.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Henry Paker, comedian reviews : Chortle : The UK Comedy Guide |url=https://www.chortle.co.uk/comics/h/33377/henry_paker/review |access-date=2023-04-22 |website=www.chortle.co.uk |language=en}}</ref>
The comedian Ivo Graham declared Paker’s 2010 Edinburgh Festival Fringe show, which he described as a “surrealist maverick unreading the Bible”, as the funniest stand up he had ever seen.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2017/aug/18/ivo-graham-heroic-slice-bad-parenting-lucky-jim-fish-called-wanda|title=Ivo Graham: 'Shaving my head was meant to give me an air of mystery and menace. It did not'|date=18 August 2017|website=the Guardian}}</ref> The Independent in 2010 saw “flashes of bonkers brilliance.. the real joy lies in the duo’s surreal flights of fancy” before it “descends into irredeemable silliness by the end” when reviewing The Golden Lizard which Paker wrote and performed with Mike Wozniak.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/comedy/reviews/the-golden-lizard-pleasance-courtyard-2059950.html|title=The Golden Lizard, Pleasance Courtyard|date=23 August 2010|website=The Independent}}</ref> The Golden Lizard won Paker and Wozniak the Best New Show at the Leicester Comedy Festival in 2011.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news/history/gallery/every-winner-leicester-mercury-comedian-6712534|title=Every Leicester Mercury Comedian of the Year winner listed|first=Isaac|last=Ashe|date=26 February 2022|website=LeicestershireLive}}</ref>
Paker’s one liner “Are headphones getting bigger or are idiots getting smaller?” made The Guardian best 10 joke list from the 2016 Edinburgh Festival,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2016/aug/15/edinburgh-festival-2016-standup-best-jokes|title=Sex, pandas and Boris Johnson's hair – the best jokes from Edinburgh festival|date=15 August 2016|website=the Guardian}}</ref> as well as a selection in The Daily Telegraph.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comedy/comedians/the-funniest-jokes-from-the-edinburgh-fringe/|title=Edinburgh Festival Fringe: the 37 funniest jokes|website=The Telegraph}}</ref> Paker had also previously made The Guardian’s list in 2014.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2014/aug/12/edinburgh-fringe-2014-10-best-jokes-so-far|title=Edinburgh fringe 2014: the 10 best jokes so far|date=12 August 2014|website=the Guardian}}</ref> In 2014 fellow comedian Romesh Ranganathan described Paker as “a genius.. funny falls out of him.”<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2014/aug/08/romesh-ranganathan-edinburgh-festival-2014-10-questions|title=10 questions for Romesh Ranganathan|date=8 August 2014|website=the Guardian}}</ref>
Paker’s 2018 Edinburgh show ''Man Alive'' was described as an “introverts manifesto” that “exceeds expectations in a wonderfully imaginative way” in The Times with Paker proving to be “a grandmaster at the pull-back-and-reveal”.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.thetimes.com/culture/comedy/article/cartoons-big-reveals-and-lots-of-laughs-wmlvx6t5s|title=Edinburgh comedy review: Henry Paker at Banshee Labyrinth|first=Dominic|last=Maxwell|via=www.thetimes.co.uk}}</ref> The show was directed by Amy Beth Hayes.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bn1magazine.co.uk/bn1-talks-to-henry-paker/|title=BN1 talks to Henry Paker|first=Elizabeth|last=Rosenberg|date=6 November 2019}}</ref>
==Comedy podcasts== Paker is a member of the ''Three Bean Salad'' podcast with fellow comics Benjamin Partridge and Mike Wozniak. The podcast was described as having an “RP-accented vibe” by The Times,<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.thetimes.com/culture/tv-radio/article/10-podcasts-to-bring-cheer-in-january-from-bob-mortimer-to-bill-nighy-l79gqbr06|title=10 podcasts to bring cheer in January, from Bob Mortimer to Bill Nighy|first=Patricia|last=Nicol|via=www.thetimes.co.uk}}</ref> with the comics “meandering off the point of a different topic each week”.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.chortle.co.uk/news/2021/05/01/48328/mike_wozniak_launches_a_new_podcast|title=Mike Wozniak launches a new podcast : News 2021 : Chortle : The UK Comedy Guide|first=Steve|last=Bennett|website=www.chortle.co.uk}}</ref> The podcast has had occasional live shows such as at the London Podcast Festival in 2021.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.thetimes.com/culture/tv-radio/article/london-podcast-festival-review-are-live-recordings-as-good-as-listening-alone-fksjwbd8k|title=London Podcast Festival review — are live recordings as good as listening alone?|first=Patricia|last=Nicol|via=www.thetimes.co.uk}}</ref> In March 2024, it won in the Best Podcast category at the Chortle Awards.<ref>{{cite web|website=Chortle|url= https://www.chortle.co.uk/news/2024/02/08/54949/final_chortle_award_nominees_revealed|title= Final Chortle Award nominees revealed|date=9 February 2024|accessdate=9 February 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|accessdate=5 March 2024|title= Chortle Awards 2024 results|date=4 March 2024|url= https://www.comedy.co.uk/news/7801/chortle-awards-2024-results/|website=Comedy.co.uk}}</ref>
Paker is a regular contributor on the ''Beef and Dairy Network Podcast'', a comedy podcast presented and written by comedian Benjamin Partridge.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Guide |first=British Comedy |date=2017-04-13 |title=Beef And Dairy Network Podcast to be broadcast on Radio 4 |url=https://www.comedy.co.uk/radio/news/2530/beef_dairy_network_on_radio_4/ |access-date=2023-04-22 |website=British Comedy Guide |language=en}}</ref>
==Illustrations== As an illustrator, Paker was said by The Guardian to have “charmingly” provided the illustrations for Adam Kay’s book ''Anatomy''<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/dec/19/adam-kay-we-should-talk-to-kids-about-sex-and-alcohol-everything-goes-wrong-when-people-close-up|title=Adam Kay: 'We should talk to kids about sex and alcohol. Everything goes wrong when people close up'|date=19 December 2020|website=the Guardian}}</ref> as well as Kay’s follow up ''Kay's Marvellous Medicine: A Gross and Gruesome History of the Human Body'',<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.chortle.co.uk/news/2021/03/16/48019/adam_kay_signs_up_for_more_childrens_books|title=Adam Kay signs up for more children's books : News 2021 : Chortle : The UK Comedy Guide|first=Steve|last=Bennett|website=www.chortle.co.uk}}</ref> which was nominated for the Children's Non-fiction Book of the Year Award at the British Book Awards.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thenational.wales/news/national/uk-today/20020068.british-book-awards-2022---full-list-nominees/|title=Sally Rooney and Julia Donaldson among nominees for British Book Awards 2022|website=The National Wales}}</ref> Paker illustrated the 2023 autobiography of comedian Joe Wilkinson.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.chortle.co.uk/news/2023/09/08/54119/joe_wilkinson_writes_a_book_about_his%C2%A0‘utterly_pointless_life’|website=Chortle|accessdate=14 December 2023|title=Joe Wilkinson writes a book about his 'utterly pointless life'|date=8 September 2023}}</ref>
Paker co-wrote and illustrated the book ''Why Steve Was Late: 101 Exceptional Excuses for Terrible Timekeeping'' with Dave Skinner with whom he also wrote ''Don't Arm Wrestle a Pirate'', which was made into animations voiced by Steve Coogan.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://machcomedyfest.co.uk/show/2014/henry-paker-unpacked/|title=Unpacked|website=Machynlleth Comedy Festival}}</ref>
Paker’s illustrations have appeared in The Spectator, The Observer and Prospect (magazine).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.universitypressbooks.com/book/9781838951610|title=Why Steve Was Late: 101 Exceptional Excuses for Terrible Timekeeping (Hardcover) | University Press Books/ Berkeley|website=www.universitypressbooks.com}}</ref>
==Personal life== He attended the Anna Scher Theatre School in Islington.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Paker |first=Henry |date=6 December 2023 |title=Assassination Episode, Three Bean Salad Podcast |url=https://open.spotify.com/episode/7h4nRKLTCBbruVV2ob9tDm |access-date=5 March 2024 |website=Spotify}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Paker, Henry}} Category:British stand-up comedians Category:21st-century British people Category:Living people Category:Alumni of the Anna Scher Theatre School Category:Year of birth missing (living people)