Ted Chippington back on tour
Stewart Lee's favourite comic to support Stewart Lee's favourite band
Cult stand-up Ted Chippington is to support post-punk rockers The Nightingales on their next tour.
Both the comedian and the band are favourites of Stewart Lee, who made a documentary about the musicians, King Rocker, which aired on Sky Arts last year.
Lee has said he was inspired by deadpan anti-comedy pioneer Chippington, calling him ‘the first post-alternative comedian’ and priaising his ‘mixture of surrealism and insolent provocation and uncompromising boredom’.
The Staffordshire-born comics also frequently performs his own versions of well-known songs in a similarly listless style – although his act often leaves audiences bemused or hostile and turning to heckling.
Another admirer, Richard Herring, has spoken of Chippington's ‘contempt for the very idea of jokes’.
Chippington retired from comedy in 1990, but he returned to the stage in 2007 with Lee’s support – and released a retrospective box set of his work
He will be supporting The Nightingales on their UK tour, which kicks off in Glasgow on April 19 and runs to May 7. The full schedule is here.
Chippington has toured with the band before and in the 1986 released a single with them and We've Got a Fuzzbox and We're Gonna Use It, entitled Rockin' With Rita (Head to Toe).
Published: 7 Mar 2022
