Matt Roper

Matt Roper

Matt Roper (centre) in London, 2015
Born May 20, 1977
Cheshire, England
Medium Character comedy,
Alter egos, Stand up, Satire
Nationality British
Years active 1997–present
Notable works and roles

Wilfredo

The Greatest Show on Legs

I'll Say She Is: The Lost Marx Brothers Musical

Matt Roper is a British comedian, writer and musician.

Career

Roper made his stand-up debut in the late-1990s and is noted for his work as a writer-performer in sketch comedy and revue on the London fringe during that period; the satirical sketch show Newsrevue at the Canal Cafe Theatre, Nice Mischief and A Touch of Roberts and Roper[1] at Jermyn Street Theatre. Performing stand-up comedy, he became one of the first comics to play the Manchester Comedy Store, appearing regularly at the Buzz Club and in the East Dulwich Cabaret's All New Stand-up Show.[2]

Roper first gained prominence with his creation of the stage character Wilfredo, a grotesque satire of a Mediterranean romantic singer. The character is notoriously ill-mannered; frequently salivating onstage, drinking and smoking his way throughout songs, while berating his musicians and audience members with insults and expletives.[2][3] The character has divided critics, leading them to proclaim him as "strangely endearing",[4] "utterly charming and uplifting",[5] "unlikeable",[6] "quite inappropriate"[7] and "a genius creation".[7]

With Wilfredo and his band, Roper has toured the British summer festival circuit, counting the Glastonbury Festival[8][9][10] among his successes on several occasions. In July 2010 Wilfredo became the surprise hit of the Port Eliot Literary Festival, appearing onstage with Jarvis Cocker.[11] Roper has presented the character at the Café de Paris, the Tobacco Factory in Bristol, Brighton Komedia and at London's Leicester Square Theatre in addition to touring internationally. He has performed the character at festivals worldwide, touring to Spain,[12] Italy,[13][14] the Czech Republic,[15] Germany,[16] Hungary,[17] Slovakia,[18] South Africa,[19] the Philippines, Australia and Argentina.[20][21]

In May 2011, Roper played the Devil in Terry Newman's political satire Lucifer: My Part in the New Labour Project (And How I Invented Coalition Government) – a multi-character solo performance – in London and for the Brighton Festival.[22]

In June 2011, Roper appeared as Wilfredo in the first series of Rufus Hound's What's So Funny? for BBC Radio 7 (now BBC Radio 4 Extra).[23] In December 2011 Wilfredo recorded the Christmas Day edition of The Comedy Club Interviews for BBC Radio 4 Extra.[24] 2011 also saw an appearance on Arthur Smith's Pissed Up Chat Show at the E4 Udderbelly at the Southbank Centre.

With comedian Pippa Evans under the guise of Loretta Maine, Roper co-wrote and recorded the song 'Happy Goddamn Christmas', released on 1 December 2012, peaking at No. 6 on the iTunes UK Comedy Charts.[25] An accompanying video was released on 13 December, featuring cameos by Arthur Smith, Imran Yusuf, Ruth Bratt and Thom Tuck, via BBC Three.[26] Also with Evans, he co-wrote and recorded the single 'Peace All Over The World (At Christmas Time)', released 8 December 2014 and reportedly banned by BBC Radio 2 who were "worried that sensitive listeners would be offended".[27]

In September 2014, Roper joined the line-up of the surreal sketch comedy group The Greatest Show on Legs, debuting in Leipzig, Germany.[28]

Roper presently resides in Harlem, New York City.[29][30] He makes regular appearances under the guise of characters at the Slipper Room in Manhattan's Lower East Side.[30]

On April 14, 2016 it was announced that Roper is to play Chico Marx, eldest of the Marx Brothers, in I'll Say She Is: The Lost Marx Brothers Musical, set to open on May 28, 2016 Off-Broadway at the Connelly Theater in New York City.[31]

Roper blogs for the Huffington Post's UK edition[32] and is a writer for PictureBox Films; an SVOD division of NBC Universal Pictures.

Edinburgh Festival Fringe

At the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Roper has presented three feature length solo shows, Wilfredo: Erecto! (2011), The Wonderful World of Wilfredo (2012) and Wilfredo: Deconstructed (2014). Drawing positive comment and reviews in the press, Wilfredo was described by the Guardian newspaper as "weird, intimate and wonderful"[33] and by Time Out as "an extraordinary creation who cuts a hacking, spluttering, beer dribbling figure upon the stage".[34] The comedy industry website Chortle observed the character as "cantankerous, often lecherous and almost certainly consumptive, coughing and burping his way through the set, at one point hacking up phlegm like a horse chewing a toffee."[35]

At the 2012 Edinburgh Festival, Roper appeared opposite Phil Nichol in a one-off performance at the Traverse Theatre for Theatre Uncut's season of radical playlets, playing an advertising executive representing a global corporation, in Indulge by the Icelandic playwright Andri Snaer Magnuson.[36]

In 2015, Roper accepted the Malcolm Hardee Award for Cunning Stunt of the Year, awarded to a group or individual annually for performing elaborate publicity stunts to promote their festival appearance. He had gained access to a social media account belonging to Kate Copstick, head comedy critic of the influential Scotsman newspaper, writing a glowing review of his own talents under her name.[37][38]

Politics

In November 2014, Roper was among 44 comedians to sign an open letter to Dapper Laughs published nationally in the Independent newspaper, protesting "encouraging rape culture and normalising sexism" in his ITV2 series, which was subsequently cancelled.[39][40] He is a member of the Save Soho movement, a collective of artists who oppose the ongoing closure and demolition of music venues and independent businesses within the London neighbourhood, adding his signature to a letter to Boris Johnson in 2014.[41] Roper is a long-time supporter of the British Labour Party and many of its causes. He is also a supporter of the British-based NGO Burma Campaign UK.[42]

Personal life

Roper is the son of the late British comedian George Roper.[43] He currently resides in New York City.

Discography

References

  1. ↑ UK Theatre Web
  2. 1 2 Comedycv.co.uk Entry for Matt Roper – Retrieved 15 February 2011
  3. ↑ Camden New Journal – retrieved 21-07-10
  4. ↑ Wilfredo: Erecto! Review – Edinburgh Festival Fringe Chortle.com, retrieved 30-08-12
  5. ↑ ED2011 Wilfredo: Erecto! Review – Three Weeks, Three Weeks, retrieved 08-01-12
  6. ↑ The List – Bizarre and creepy cruise ship act The List – Wilfredo: Erecto!, ret. 30-08-12
  7. 1 2 Broadwaybaby.com BroadwayBaby.com: Review: The Wonderful World Of Wilfredo – Retrieved 30 August 2012
  8. ↑ Glastonbury Festival 2010
  9. ↑ Off The Wagon – Balkan beats and gypsy music
  10. ↑ NME.com Glastonbury Line-up 2010
  11. ↑ Matt Roper and Jackie Juno a double bill at the Totnes Festival, PRSD, retrieved 15-09-10
  12. ↑ Showtime Tenerife: Wilfredo, Kai Humphries, Daniel Simonsen, Jessica Fostekew - Sept 20 2014
  13. ↑ Corriere del Mezzogiorno Wilfredo, il Rock visto da Granada
  14. ↑ ConnectMagazine.it Wilfredo, Un Uomo e La Sua Musica. A Nardò il fenomeno lounge dell'Inghilterra
  15. ↑ Alex Frackleton, Wilfredo (UK) Open Air Metamorphisis. Hradec Králové, Czech Rep. Fri 27 June 2014
  16. ↑ 'KarliBebenRückschau' Karli Beben - Feinkost Blog Sept 2014
  17. ↑ 'Unique Character Act To Perform in Budapest' Daily Hungary 21 June 2014
  18. ↑ 'Character Performer in Bratislava on Thursday' Slovakia Daily 21 June 2014
  19. ↑ 'Cape Town Funny Festival: Line-up' Expressoshow.com 11 June 2013
  20. ↑ Inside Buenos Aires 10–17 March 2014
  21. ↑ Feeling Funny In Buenos Aires? You’re not alone. | What's Up Gringo? Magazine
  22. ↑ Brighton Fringe Interview: Matt Roper, The New Current, retrieved 26-05-11
  23. ↑ BBC – BBC Radio 4 Extra Programmes What's So Funny? Episode 12, Series 1. Broadcast Fri 24 June 2011 – Retrieved 27 June 2011
  24. ↑ BBC – BBC Radio 4 Extra Programmes The Comedy Club Interviews. Broadcast Sunday 25 December 2011 – Retrieved 1 January 2012
  25. ↑ Musicchart.info 'Happy Goddamn Christmas'
  26. ↑ BBC Three Comedy: Happy Goddamn Christmas
  27. ↑ London Evening Standard | Wilfredo and Carmella’s BBC blackout Published: 15 December 2014
  28. ↑ The John Fleming Blog 15 September 2014
  29. ↑ Solutions, Powder Blue Internet Business. "Comic arrested for dozing on the subway : News 2015 : Chortle : The UK Comedy Guide". www.chortle.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-02-08.
  30. 1 2 "UK comedy performer Matt Roper aka 'Wilfredo' in criminal court in New York". John Fleming's blog - SO IT GOES. Retrieved 2016-02-08.
  31. ↑ Lost 1924 Marx Brothers Musical I'LL SAY SHE IS to Make Off-Broadway Debut BroadwayWorld.com Published: April 24, 2016
  32. ↑ Huffington Post Matt Roper at the Huffington Post United Kingdom – Retrieved 30 August 2012
  33. ↑ The Guardian Guardian.co.uk – Edinburgh Festival 2011, Isy Suttie: My Edinburgh 02-09-11
  34. ↑ Soundcloud Ben Walters reviews Wilfredo: Erecto for Time Out, retrieved 02-09-11
  35. ↑ Chortle Chortle.co.uk Edinburgh Fringe 2011 – Wilfredo: Erecto! review, retrieved 02-09-11
  36. ↑ British Theatre Guide British Theatre Guide – Retrieved 20 February 2013
  37. ↑ Solutions, Powder Blue Internet Business. "Malcolm Hardee winners announced : News 2015 : Chortle : The UK Comedy Guide". www.chortle.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-02-07.
  38. ↑ "Tags: 2015". Beyond The Joke. Retrieved 2016-02-07.
  39. ↑ The Independent | Dapper Laughs: Jenny Eclair and Isy Suttie among 44 comedians to sign open letter against 'entirely sexist' ITV star Published: November 2014
  40. ↑ Pocklington, Rebecca. "Dapper Laughs: 44 comedians sign open letter against controversial comic after sick rape joke sparks outrage". mirror. Retrieved 2016-02-08.
  41. ↑ Save Soho | Letter To Boris Johnson Published: Dec 2014
  42. ↑ Burma Campaign UK Celebrate Aung San Suu Kyi's 65th birthday – Retrieved 6 August 2010
  43. ↑ Manchester Evening News Stars bid farewell to comic pal

External links

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