After a successful Edinburgh Fringe,
Chelsea Birkby embarks on her debut tour with
This is Life, Cheeky Cheeky - a smart, silly, surprising show about lust for life and also – ass. Meanwhile, you can check out Chelsea’s first ever Edinburgh Fringe show,
No More Mr Nice Chelsea, on YouTube from Monday 23rd December - via
https://www.youtube.com/@chelseabirkby
Chelsea has bipolar disorder. Allegedly. She doesn’t think she has it anymore, but her doctor tells her that’s a “classic sign”. She’s done a lot of things to overcome despair: try to go viral (good for mental health), appreciate art (National Gallery Top Trumps), read important texts (The Bible but also the Maroon 5 guy’s sexts), watch YouTube workouts (literally just watch them) and try really hard to meditate (which only makes it worse). But what if it’s not about doing, it’s about being?
This is Life, Cheeky Cheeky is a show about choosing to be in the moment, a mind and a body. It’s about embracing desire. Like, embracing it really, really hard.
With some help from the greatest minds – Camus, Kant and her Nan – Chelsea unpacks the big questions, like: can sexual objectification be empowering? How do we live the good life in an absurd world? And, why does ass mean so much in today’s society?
Expect a collision of high and low brow, silliness and sorrow, tightly written jokes and conversational spontaneity.
Chelsea was a finalist and runner-up in several prestigious comedy competitions including So You Think You’re Funny and Leicester Square Theatre New Comedian of the Year. She was tour support for Helen Bauer, Ed Patrick, Celya AB and Fern Brady.
Chelsea has been seen on the BBC New Comedy Awards and heard on Radio 4’s Sideways, Today, Radio 4 Extra’s The Comedy Club and 5Live’s Nihal Arthanayake, Times Radio and various podcasts including Richard Herring’s Leicester Square Theatre Podcast Trusty Hogs with Helen Bauer and Catherine Bohart.
She’s written for several series of BBC's Mock The Week and for BBC Radio 4. Her commentary has been featured in The Independent and in Metro.
Chelsea's highly acclaimed debut, No More Mr Nice Chelsea won Best Debut (Amused Moose Awards), was nominated for Best Show (Comedian's Choice Awards) was mentioned on BBC Radio 4's The Today Programme, was listed in the funniest jokes of the fringe in The Times (twice!) and The Telegraph, and transferred for a sell-out run at London's Soho Theatre. This Is Life, Cheeky Cheeky was Chelsea’s second Edinburgh Fringe hour and was created with direction from Daniel Emery and Molly Stacey. It received 10 x 4 and 5-star reviews, a placing in the Dave’s Joke of the Fringe Top 10, nominations for the ISH Comedy Award and, for the second year running, Best Show Comedian’s Choice, as well as featuring in the Best Jokes of the Fringe collections for The Times, The Telegraph and the Edinburgh Evening News.
TOUR DATES
Saturday 18th January, 8pm
CHELTENHAM, Everyman Theatre
Friday 21st February, 7.30pm
LEICESTER, Real Ale Classroom
Friday 7th March, 7pm
OXFORD, Common Ground
Thursday, 13th March, 7.30pm
EDINBURGH, Monkey Barrel
Wednesday 19th March, 8pm
BRIGHTON, Komedia
Thursday, 20th March, 8pm
MANCHESTER, Grub
Friday 28th March, 7.30pm
BRISTOL, Basement 45
picture by Esme Buxton