Helen Keen

Helen Keen is an English alternative comedian and writer born in Yorkshire, now living in London. She suffered with SM (Selective Mutism) as a child but overcame this before becoming a comedian.

Helen Keen
Helen Keen performs at the Hackney Empire, London, on 28 January 2007
BornYorkshire, England
Mediumstand-up, radio
NationalityBritish
Notable works and rolesIt Is Rocket Science
WebsiteOfficial Website

Career

Keen was raised in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire.[1] In 2005, along with writing partner Miriam Underhill, she won the first Channel 4 New Comedy Writing Initiative award.[2][3] Judges included station executives, as well as Annie Griffin, Victoria Pile and Arthur Mathews.[4] She also reached the 2005 UK Funny Women final.[5] In 2006, she was a finalist for the hotly competed Hackney Empire New Act of the Year title.[6] In 2007, she performed in the second annual tribute to Malcolm Hardee.[7][8] Her broadcast writing has included regular credits on BBC Radio 1's late-night experimental comedy show The Milk Run and BBC Radio 4's long-running The Now Show as well as the Dog Almighty edition of Channel 4's Comedy Lab series and the 2007 series of Channel 4's The Friday Night Project.

Live shows

Keen's subject matter tends towards the unusual and esoteric.[9][10] Her solo shows are also unusual in that they have all toured both arts festivals (including music festivals) and science festivals.[10]

At the Buxton Festival Fringe in July 2008, her first full-length solo show It Is Rocket Science! (a stand-up comedy lecture about the history of the space rocket) was nominated as Best Show and she won the Best Individual Performer award.[11] She then performed the show throughout the Edinburgh Fringe in August 2008. The show then toured science festivals across the UK and Ireland. For many festivals[12][13][14] this was the first time that they had booked a comedy performer.

Her second full-length show Helen Keen: The Primitive Methodist Guide to Arctic Survival (the true story of an ancestor trapped overwinter on an arctic whaling ship) ran throughout the Edinburgh Fringe in August 2009 before embarking upon a similar tour of science festivals. Also in this show and in interviews[15] Keen, a postman's daughter, discussed her working-class family background and her early experience of selective mutism.

In 2011 Keen was a guest on several performances of The Infinite Monkey Cage "Uncaged Monkeys" live tour alongside Brian Cox, Simon Singh, Robin Ince and Ben Goldacre.[16][17][18]

Keen also curates and comperes Spacetacular! A space-themed comedy quiz night along with Londonist Editor Matt Brown.[19][20] In 2012 Spactacular! received a UK Space Agency Space For All award.

Keen hosted the first Comedy Night at the CERN lab in August 2013, the show proved to be CERN's most successful webcast since the discovery of the Higgs boson there, and was followed from 105 countries by nearly 10,000 browsers.[21][22][23][24]

In 2013 Keen was a guest on The Infinite Monkey Cage.[25][17]

Radio

In December 2010 Keen recorded her first BBC Radio 4 series, It Is Rocket Science. She created, wrote and performed in the 4-part series based on her 2008 Edinburgh show It Is Rocket Science! Alongside Keen, the show starred Susy Kane and Peter Serafinowicz and was produced by Gareth Edwards. The first episode was broadcast on 9 March 2011. A second series was broadcast in 2012 and a third series aired on BBC Radio 4 in May 2014.

Big Problems with Helen Keen, which applied the same format to a broader range of scientific issues, was broadcast on Radio 4 in 2015.

Awards

In 2015 Helen Keen was made a Wired UK Innovation Fellow.[26]

In 2013 Helen Keen's BBC Radio 4 series It Is Rocket Science won the WISE Media Award.[27] This was presented by Princess Anne in a ceremony at the Science Museum, London. The show was also nominated for the 2014 Writers' Guild of Great Britain Award for Best Radio Comedy. It has been shortlisted for the 2015 Association of British Science Writers Royal Society Radio Prize.[28]

From 2010-12 Helen Keen was Comedian in Residence at the Newcastle Centre for Life Science Village – this is the first time this position has been awarded.

Channel 4 New Comedy Writing Award 2005[2]

Buxton Festival Fringe Best Comedy Performance 2008[11]

References
  1. Jupp, Emily (31 May 2012). "Helen Keen: I had high expectations that we would be living on Mars when I grew up". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 4 July 2015. Retrieved 4 July 2015.
  2. "Channel 4 announcement".
  3. "Writers' Guild announcement".
  4. "The Stage".
  5. "Review on Chortle, UK comedy industry website".
  6. "Helen Keen CV" (PDF). Avalon Management. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 December 2015. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
  7. Maxwell, Dominic (30 January 2007). "Review in The Times (London), 30th January, 2007". Retrieved 4 May 2010.
  8. "Review on Chortle, UK comedy industry website".
  9. "Review on Chortle, 2007".
  10. Kettle, James (20 March 2010). "Guardian Review, 2010". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 4 May 2010.
  11. "List of Buxton Festival Fringe finalists".
  12. "Dundee Science Festival webpage". Archived from the original on 29 September 2013. Retrieved 25 October 2017.
  13. "Article about York Science Festival". Archived from the original on 29 August 2009. Retrieved 25 October 2017.
  14. "Wrexham Science Festival webpage". Archived from the original on 27 September 2013. Retrieved 25 October 2017.
  15. "Interview on Woman's Hour, Jan 2010".
  16. Cavendish, Dominic (3 May 2011). "Uncaged Monkeys, New Theatre Oxford & touring, review". Retrieved 25 October 2017 – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
  17. "The Infinite Monkey Cage". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 25 October 2017.
  18. So You Want To Be An Astronaut? 06/12/2011 "Robin Ince and Brian Cox are joined by comedian Helen Keen ("It is Rocket Science") and space medicine expert Dr Kevin Fong, to discuss the future of human space travel. As NASA's space shuttle program comes to a close, what does the future hold in terms of humans bid to leave the confines of earth, and what has human space travel provided in terms of scientific understanding back at home? Brian Cox acknowledges the importance of the Apollo moon landings in inspiring him, and many like him, to take up careers in science - so what will the next big scientific inspiration be?" Producer: Alexandra Feachem." So You Want To Be An Astronaut.mp3
  19. "Review: Out of this World @ Museum of Science and Industry – 28/10/11 - Mancunian Matters". mancunianmatters.co.uk. Retrieved 25 October 2017.
  20. "Preview: Spacetacular! @ The Roxy Bar And Screen". 9 February 2012. Retrieved 25 October 2017.
  21. Chortle.com piece about the CERN comedy night
  22. CERN update about their first comedy night
  23. "Comedy Collider Presents: LHComedy". Archived from the original on 16 September 2016. Retrieved 25 October 2017.
  24. "LHComedy: CERN after dark stand-up comedy evening". 30 August 2013. Retrieved 25 October 2017.
  25. Science and Spin 12/22/2013 04:00 PM "This week on the Infinite Monkey Cage, Brian Cox and Robin Ince take to the stage at Manchester University, to discuss the state of science communication. Is the public engaged enough with the complexities of science? Are scientists engaging enough with the hoi polloi or still stuck in their ivory towers? And when was the 'golden age' of TV science, if it ever existed? Joining our presenters are scientists Matthew Cobb and Sheena Cruikshank, comedian Helen Keen and legendary science TV presenter and writer, James Burke, whose classic series 'Connections' captivated audiences around the world." Producer: Rami Tzabar. Science and Spin.mp3
  26. "2015 Wired Innovation Fellowships". Archived from the original on 24 June 2015.
  27. WISE. "WISE Awards 2013". www.wisecampaign.org.uk. Retrieved 25 October 2017.
  28. "ABSW Award nominations 2015". Archived from the original on 7 June 2015.
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