Liz Carr
Liz Carr is a British actress, stand-up comedian,[1] broadcaster and international disability rights activist, who studied law at Nottingham University.[2]
Career
Comedy
Carr uses a wheelchair and frequently refers to her condition in her stand-up as “meus thronus kaputus”. She is frank about her life as a disabled person and the inherent comedy that brings - "I've had some tuts, which is fantastic... I look quite frail to some people, so it's like, 'She's talking about sex, she's swearing.' Every stereotype you didn't expect. People generally look terrified. 'Oh my God, is she going to be funny? Can we laugh at this?'".[3]
She has been part of a number of comedy groups, including "Abnormally Funny People" with Tanyalee Davis, Steve Day, Steve Best, Simon Minty and Chris McCausland.
In 2007 she was runner up in the Hackney Empire New Act of the Year competition.
Hosting and commentary
Carr co-hosted the BBC's Royal Television Society award winning Ouch! Podcast [4] with Mat Fraser from 2006 to 2013, and in 2011 worked as a researcher for the long running BBC panel show and British TV comedy series, Have I Got News for You.
In 2011, Carr was part of a Newsnight debate on the controversial issue of assisted suicide, following the screening on the BBC of Terry Pratchett: Choosing to Die, which included Jeremy Paxman and David Aaronovitch.[5]
Acting
In 2013, she joined the long-running BBC crime thriller series Silent Witness as regular character Clarissa Mullery.[6][7]
Activism
For the past 20 years, Carr has been a disability rights campaigner in the UK and has spoken at many rallies. In May 2008 she joined with ADAPT, a prominent disability rights group in the United States, to raise money for ADAPT and to protest against presidential candidate John McCain's refusal to support the right of people with disabilities to live in their own homes.
She opposes Lord Faulkner's Assisted Dying Bill, stating: "I fear we’ve so devalued certain groups of people – ill people, disabled people, older people – that I don’t think it’s in their best interests to enshrine in law the right of doctors to kill certain people."[8]
References
- ↑ Liz Carr on: Chortle: The UK Comedy Guide
- ↑ Nottingham University
- ↑ Interview by Mary O'Hara (2006-06-21). "Interview: Liz Carr | Society". The Guardian. Retrieved 2013-01-13.
- ↑ Official Ouch! Podcast page
- ↑ IMDb: Newsnight
- ↑ Clarissa Mullery
- ↑ BBC Ouch interview Liz Carr on her Silent Witness role. BBC Ouch blog. Retrieved 11 January 2013
- ↑ Liz Carr, Not so Silent Witness, Standard Issue Magazine http://standardissuemagazine.com/voices/liz-carr-interview/