Sophie Duker

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sophie Duker
Sophie Duker - 2019 (cropped).jpg
Sophie Duker at UK Black Pride 2019, Haggerston Park, Hackney, London
Born1990
London, United Kingdom
Alma materWadham College, Oxford
Occupationcomedian
Years active2015–present
Websiteavalonuk.com/clients/sophie-duker/

Sophie Duker (born 1990)[1] is a British stand-up comedian and writer.[2]

Early life[]

Duker was born in London to first-generation immigrants from West Africa. Her mother is from Cameroon and her father is from Ghana.[3] She studied French and English at Wadham College, Oxford.[4] She joined the Oxford Imps in her first year at university.[5]

Career[]

An alumna of the Pleasance Comedy Reserve, Duker was shortlisted for the Funny Women award in 2015.[6] She founded and hosted the "Manic Pixie Dream Girls" show as part of Edinburgh's Free Festival in 2016 and 2017.[7]

She has written for the Huffington Post.[8]

Duker was an assistant producer for Frankie Boyle's New World Order and a researcher for 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown. In 2019, she appeared on 8 Out of 10 Cats,[9] Frankie Boyle's New World Order, Dave Gorman: Terms and Conditions Apply,[10] and Mock the Week,[11] and in 2020 in 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown.

In 2017, Duker appeared in a Turtle Canyon short entitled "The Dates", which explores bisexual dating culture.[12]

In 2018, Duker set up the comedy night "Wacky Racists", which currently has a monthly residency at 2Northdown in Kings Cross, London, and performs spin-off shows at festivals and events across the UK. In December 2019, Soho Theatre hosted a seasonal Christmas "Wacky Racists" special.

Duker co-starred in the pilot for a hidden camera sketch show on Channel 4 called Riot Girls[13] as well as on the Comedy Central UK comedy show in 2018.[14]

Her first stand-up show, "Diet Woke", was premiered in 2018.[15] She took her 2019 show, "Venus", to the Brighton Fringe[16] and the Edinburgh Fringe, performing at the Edinburgh Pleasance from 31 July to 25 August 2019.[17]

In September 2020, during one of Duker's appearances on Frankie Boyle's New World Order, the host Frankie Boyle proposed the motion "Black Lives Matter Glosses Over The Complexities Of A World Where We All Need To Come Together And Kill Whitey". A clip of Duker making a joke which repeated the phrase "kill whitey"—a phrase pre-approved by the BBC, according to Duker—was widely spread online.[18] Duker joked about the phrase in the context of discussing her views on whiteness and capitalism in response to a 1970s clip of James Baldwin talking about black power.[18][19] Duker described that "far-right blogs to mainstream tabloids" began covering the story six days after the episode aired,[18] with the Daily Mail's Sarah Vine criticising the comments as "hateful dogma",[20] subsequent to which 1,300 complaints were made to the BBC.[19] The BBC responded that the content was "within audience expectations for a post-watershed, topical, satirical programme from a comedian whose style and tone are well-established", later dismissing the complaints.[21][22] A Greater Manchester police hate crime investigation was opened after a report in early January and closed a week later with no action.[19][23][20] Duker was subject to racist harassment on social media over the comments.[18][19][24]

In 2021, she was hired by Rumpus Media to co-present a new female-led topical panel show on Comedy Central[25] called Yesterday, Today and The Day Before[26] alongside fellow comedians Suzi Ruffell and Maisie Adam. However, Duker quit after the first episode in protest over cuts to her monologue about conflict between Israel and Palestine, with assistant producer Saima Ferdows and comedian Kemah Bob also quitting the show alongside her.[27][28][29]

Filmography[]

Duker has appeared on various shows as a panellist or guest, and was supposed to be one of the main hosts of Yesterday, Today and The Day Before over six episodes.

Television credits for Sophie Duker
Year Title Appearances
2019–2021 Frankie Boyle's New World Order 8 episodes
2019–2020 Mock the Week 3 episodes
2019–2020 8 Out of 10 Cats 2 episodes
2019 The Dog Ate My Homework 1 episode
2019 Don't Hate the Playaz 1 episode
2019 1 episode
2020 Roast Battle 1 episode
2020 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown 1 episode
2020 Comedy Game Night 1 episode
2020 Jonathan Ross' Comedy Club 1 episode
2020 Sorry, I Didn't Know 1 episode
2021 1 episode
2021 The Last Leg 1 episode
2021 Richard Osman's House of Games 5 episodes
2021 Yesterday, Today and The Day Before 1 episode
2021 Joe Lycett's Got Your Back 2 episodes
2022 Taskmaster Contestant, series 13

References[]

  1. ^ Ellis-Petersen, Hannah (7 August 2016). "Here's looking at you kid: Edinburgh show invites you to watch a baby". The Guardian.
  2. ^ "The funny thing about... privilege". BBC Ideas.
    - Brinkhurst-Cuff, Charlie (6 August 2018). "'I felt like the only black person doing improv': Why is the Edinburgh Fringe still so white?". inews.
    - "Sophie Duker - Maximum Fun". www.maximumfun.org.
  3. ^ "RHLSTP Edinburgh 2019 04 - Sophie Duker & Vikki Stone". acast.com. 6 August 2019. Retrieved 8 August 2019.
    - BBC Ideas (30 January 2019). "'I'm a triple threat minority': Comedian Sophie Duker on privilege - BBC Ideas" – via YouTube.
  4. ^ Duker, Sophie. "Race is a laughing matter – so why are we still constrained by colour? - Cherwell".
    - University of Oxford (18 February 2014). "Sophie Duker" – via YouTube.
    - Hagen, Sofie (2 May 2018). "88. Sophie Duker – I was very into peeing on rich people's houses". madeofhumanpodcast.com. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
  5. ^ "History & Line-Up". oxfordimps.com. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
    - "Wall of faces". ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
  6. ^ "Backyard Comedy Club". www.BackyardComedyClub.co.uk.
  7. ^ "#EdFringe17: Sophie Duker is a Manic Pixie Dream Girl". broadwaybaby.com. 10 May 2017. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
    - "Manic Pixie Dream Girls". www.comedy.co.uk/. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
  8. ^ "Sophie Duker". HuffPost UK.
  9. ^ "Sophie Duker". IMDb.
  10. ^ "Dave Gorman: Terms and Conditions Apply". dave.uktv.co.uk. Archived from the original on 23 September 2020. Retrieved 4 November 2020.
  11. ^ "Mock the Week, Mock the Week, Series 18, Episode 6". bbc.co.uk.
    - "Sophie Duker". comedy.co.uk. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
  12. ^ Dessau, Bruce (14 December 2017). "News: Winter Short Films Featuring James Acaster, Ed Gamble And More". Beyond the Joke. Retrieved 24 December 2020.
  13. ^ "Riot Girls". Channel 4. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
  14. ^ "What I Wish I'd Said". Comedy Central. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
  15. ^ Cranshaw, Rachel (28 May 2018). "Sophie Duker – Diet Woke, Brighton Fringe, review: poignant and laugh-out-loud funny". The Telegraph. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
  16. ^ "Brighton Bites: Sophie Duker: Venus". The Reviews Hub. 29 May 2019. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
  17. ^ "Sophie Duker: Venus". pleasance.co.uk. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
  18. ^ a b c d Duker, Sophie (19 October 2020). "In 2020, The Rules Are Still Different For Black Comedians". Bustle. Retrieved 12 February 2021.
  19. ^ a b c d Williams, Martin (14 January 2021). "Police probe 'hate crime' after comedian Sophie Duker jokes about 'killing whitey' on Frankie Boyle BBC show". The Herald. Retrieved 12 February 2021.
  20. ^ a b "Police to take no action over Sophie Duker's 'kill whitey' quip". Chortle. 14 January 2021. Retrieved 12 February 2021.
  21. ^ "BBC gets 1,305 complaints for 'kill whitey' joke". Chortle. 2 October 2020. Retrieved 12 February 2021.
  22. ^ "BBC officially dismisses complaints over Sophie Duker's 'kill whitey' joke". Chortle. 24 December 2020. Retrieved 12 February 2021.
  23. ^ Williams, Martin (16 January 2021). "Police drop 'hate crime' probe after comedian Sophie Duker joked about 'killing whitey' on Frankie Boyle BBC show". The Herald. Retrieved 12 February 2021.
  24. ^ Writtle, Mark (21 October 2020). "The Londoner: I'm not afraid of 'kill whitey' joke critics, says Sophie Duker". Evening Standard. Retrieved 12 February 2021.
  25. ^ "Shows". Comedy Central UK.
  26. ^ "PREVIEW: Yesterday, Today And The Day Before, Comedy Central". TVZoneUK. May 20, 2021.
  27. ^ "Comedians Sophie Duker and Kemah Bob quit all-female panel show Yesterday, Today And The Day Before over 'unacceptable interference'". May 27, 2021.
  28. ^ Guide, British Comedy (May 27, 2021). "Comedians quit Yesterday, Today & The Day Before in Palestine protest". British Comedy Guide.
  29. ^ Farber2021-05-27T12:40:00, Alex. "Comedy Central hosts step down amid censorship row". Broadcast.

External links[]

Retrieved from ""