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Roy 'Chubby' Brown

Roy 'Chubby' Brown (born Royston Vasey on February 3 1945) is an English stand up comedian known for adult comedy, offensive language and outrageous costumes. The controversial nature of his act means that he rarely appears on major television channels, and Brown has attracted accusations that his comedy style is outdated whilst also being described as "The most important comedian of the past 25 years". It is claimed that he performs to over 350,000 people each year.

Early life and career

Brown was born in Grangetown, Middlesbrough, North Riding of Yorkshire, and left home at the age of fourteen. He lived rough and held many jobs, at one time joining the merchant navy, and served time in Borstal and prison. He later moved into working men's clubs in the 1960s, first as a drummer and later as a comedy act, under the name "Alcock & Brown". He appeared on the television show New Faces in the 1970s and came second in the show, losing to a country and western band. Brown failed the audition for Opportunity Knocks after saying the word 'arse' during his interview.

Success as a blue comedian

Part of Brown's image is his stage costume; he typically wears a flying helmet and goggles, a multicoloured patchwork jacket and trousers, white shirt, red bow tie and moccasins.

During his long career, he has caused offence by mocking various things, including race, women, the Queen Mother (whose death occurred hours before Standing Room Only began recording) and himself. His ribald act causes offence to many, yet he still maintains a strong fan base. Roy's shows are very rarely seen on television, as nearly all of his material is highly sexist, racist and contains a lot of strong language, especially the word "cunt". However, a show about Brown's comedy was broadcast on Channel 4 on 8 May 2007.

One of the rituals of his shows is that they always start with the crowd shouting "You fat bastard!" repeatedly, to which he dances. He then approaches the microphone and says "Fuck off!" This heckling occasionally continues during his act. One example is from "Standing Room Only": Brown is playing the piano when an audience member shouts something along the lines of "fat bastard", to which he replies "Fuck off, daft arse!"

His real name, Royston Vasey, was used for the fictional village in the comedy television show The League of Gentlemen. He also made several cameo appearances as the foulmouthed mayor of the village.

Stand Up Releases

Whilst Brown has been performing for over 30 years, Universal have been releasing videos of his live shows around Christmas time since 1990. Around 2000, DVD releases ran alongside VHS releases, until Brown's VHS releases were eventually scrapped by 2005, and shows are now released on DVD only.

VHS Releases

Exposed (1993)

VHS & DVD Releases

From Inside The Helmet (1990) (Part of the '40 Years Of Fun And Filth' Boxset)
The Helmet Rides Again (1991)
The Helmet's Last Stand (1992) (Part of the '40 Years Of Fun And Filth' Boxset)
Chubby Brown Exposed (1993)
Jingle Bollocks (1994)
Clitoris Allsorts (1995)
Saturday Night Beaver (1996)
Obscene and Not Heard (1997)
Chubby Goes Down Under and Other Sticky Places (1998)
You Fat Bastard! (1999)
Thunder Bollocks (2000)
Stocking Filler! (2001)
Standing Room Only! (2002)
Bad Taste (2003)
Giggling Lips (2004)

DVD Releases

King Thong (2005)
Kick-Arse Chubbs (2006)
The Good, the Bad & the Fat Bastard (2007)
Dirty Weekend In Blackpool (2008)

Movie

In 1993 Brown released a movie called U.F.O. starring himself and Roger Lloyd Pack. In it he is abducted by aliens while staying in a hotel in Blackpool during his live shows. The movie wasn't popular with the critics but very popular with his fans who have seen him perform live or on VHS and DVD.

Music

One of his best known songs is a cover version of "Living Next Door to Alice (Who the Fuck is Alice)" recorded with Smokie. The recording originated because Smokie often played the original version in Ireland and whenever they sang the main line "I've been living next door to Alice" the audience would shout "Who the fuck is Alice?" Smokie then decided to do a spoof of their own song and thought that Roy was the ideal man for the job.

Shortly after the song was recorded the lead singer of Smokie, Alan Barton, was killed in a car crash. The rest of the band and Brown agreed to donate their royalties from the song to Barton's first wife.

Brown holds the record as the first man to get a record in the top ten with the word 'fuck' in it, and also the first to be played on BBC's Top of the Pops (albeit bleeped). The record spent 19 weeks in the UK chart, peaking at number 3.

He released a solo single in the winter of 1996 called "A Rocking Good Christmas", written by Ray Hedges; this reached number 51.

Brown has also released two albums, "Take Fat and Party" (1995) and "Fat Out of Hell" (1996); they achieved positions 29 and 67 in the UK album charts respectively.

Personal life

Brown is married to Helen, his third wife, with children and has homes in Middlesbrough and Lincolnshire. In 2003 he was fined £200 in Blackpool for assaulting a fan who had sworn at him; of the incident, Brown said "I have traditional values and I wanted the man to stop swearing.

Brown was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2002, and had a vocal cord removed. In 2006 he released an autobiography, Common as Muck: The Autobiography of Roy 'Chubby' Brown. He is also co-owner of the racehorse "Rasaman".