Olaf Falafel

Olaf Falafel with The 2019 Edinburgh Funniest Joke of the Fringe Award

Olaf Falafel is a comedian and children's author. Falafel illustrates his own books and is the creator and presenter of Art Club, an online art channel for children.[1] He has been a stand-up comedian since 2012[2] and is known for posting humorous videos on Twitter.[3] His humour frequently involves puns and absurdity.[4][5]

Career

[edit]

Falafel worked as an art director before becoming a comedian.[6]

In 2014, he was nominated for the Laughing Horse Comedy Club's New Act of the Year competition.[7] In 2017 he was included in both The Guardian's and The Telegraph's rundowns of the funniest jokes of the Edinburgh Fringe.[8][9] In 2018 Falafel was in Dave channel's, The Mirror's, The Evening Standard's, The Scotsman's and i News's rundowns of the top jokes of the Edinburgh Fringe[10][11][12][13][14] and won an award for his festival poster.[15]

Falafel secured a three-book contract with HarperCollins in 2016, after asking for a publisher to approach him in a tweet.[6]

In 2019, Falafel made headlines by winning the Best Joke Of The Fringe.[16] He took the title with the gag: "I keep randomly shouting out 'Broccoli' and 'Cauliflower' – I think I might have florets".

In 2020, Falafel signed a two-book deal with Walker books to illustrate Unleash Your Creative Monster[17] a "funny and informative" guide to creative writing.

In 2021, off the back of his Art Club YouTube videos,[18] Falafel signed a two-book deal with Puffin to create his first middle grade chapter books called Trixie Pickle Art Avenger[19] about a child who becomes their school's version of Banksy.

In August 2022, Falafel had two jokes in the Best Joke of the Edinburgh Fringe Top Ten list.[citation needed]

In 2023 Falafel's picture book Blobfish won The Society Of Authors Queen's Knickers Award,[20] and the Federation of Children's Book Groups' Children's Book Award,[21] and was shortlisted for the Wainwright Prize for Children's Writing on Nature and Conservation.[22]

In March 2024 Falafel won 'Best Kids Show' at the Leicester Comedy Festival, for his show 'Olaf Falafel's Stupidest Super Stupid Show (Yet)' [23]

Live Shows

[edit]
  • 2015 – Expect the Unexporcupine (with Michael Stranney)[24]
  • 2016 – Olaf Falafel and the Cheese of Truth[25]
  • 2017 – The Marmosets of My Mind[26]
  • 2018 – There's no I in Idiot[27]
  • 2019 – Olaf Falafel Presents Knitting With Maracas
  • 2022 – Olaf Falafel's Super Stupid Show (family friendly show)
  • 2022 – Olaf Falafel STOAT
  • 2023 – Olaf Falafel's Super Stupid Show 20% More Stupider (family friendly show)
  • 2023 – Look What Fell Out Of My Head

Books

[edit]
  • 2017 – Old Macdonald Heard a Parp
  • 2017 – Father Christmas Heard a Parp
  • 2018 – Old Macdonald Heard a Parp from the Past[28]
  • 2019 – It's One Giant Leek For Mankind[29]
  • 2021 – Unleash Your Creative Monster[17]
  • 2022 – Trixie Pickle Art Avenger[19]
  • 2022 – Blobfish[30]
  • 2023 – Trixie Pickle Art Avenger - Toxic Takedown[31]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Heritage, Stuart (January 8, 2021). "From Shakespeare to drawing sausage dogs: the best TV for homeschooling". The Guardian. Retrieved January 8, 2021.
  2. ^ Moorhead, Rosy. "Comedy is the solution for maths expert Matt". St Albans & Harpenden Review. Retrieved November 17, 2020.
  3. ^ "Unilad stole my Vine! Comedians frustration as gag goes viral". Comedy News. Chortle. November 23, 2015. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
  4. ^ Bennett, Steve (August 5, 2018). "Olaf Falafel: There's no i in idiot". Reviews. Chortle. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
  5. ^ Dessau, Bruce (August 15, 2018). "Edinburgh Fringe, Olaf Falafel review: Absurdity so well-crafted that silly doesn't do it justice". Culture. The Evening Standard. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
  6. ^ a b "Comic Lands a Book Deal After Asking for one on Twitter". News. Chortle. December 1, 2016. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
  7. ^ "New Act of the Year – Previous Winners and Finalists". Laughing Horse. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
  8. ^ Fleckney, Paul (August 15, 2017). "The 10 best jokes from the Edinburgh Fringe". The Guardian. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
  9. ^ "The 60 Funniest One Liners from the 2017 Edinburgh Fringe". The Telegraph. August 25, 2017. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
  10. ^ "Edinburgh Fringe's Top 10 Jokes Revealed". Sky News. August 20, 2018. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
  11. ^ McCaffrey, Julie (August 15, 2018). "The Best Jokes from Edinburgh Festival Fringe this Year". The Mirror. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
  12. ^ Greig, Finlay (August 19, 2019). "60 Edinburgh Fringe One-Liners that Really Deserved to Win Funniest Joke". i News. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
  13. ^ Thompson, Jessie (August 10, 2018). "Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2018 Best Jokes". Evening Standard. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
  14. ^ "The 10 Best Jokes of the Edinburgh Fringe". The Scotsman. August 20, 2018. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
  15. ^ "Olaf Falafel writes a kids' adventure". Chortle. July 2, 2021. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
  16. ^ "Edinburgh Fringe funniest joke: Vegetable gag wins top prize". BBC News. August 19, 2019. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
  17. ^ a b Hackett, Tamsin (June 11, 2020). "Walker Books signs two-book deal with creative duo Andy Jones and Olaf Falafel". The Bookseller. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
  18. ^ Bennett, Steve (March 31, 2021). "'The greatest thing to happen during lockdown'". Features. Chortle. Retrieved October 1, 2021.
  19. ^ a b Hackett, Tamsin (July 2, 2021). "Puffin serves up Falafel's 'laugh-out-loud' middle-grade adventure". The Bookseller. Retrieved October 1, 2021.
  20. ^ "The 2023 Queen's Knickers Award Winner". Society of Authors. May 8, 2020. Retrieved January 5, 2024.
  21. ^ "Children's Book Award 2023". Federation of Children's Book Groups. February 4, 2023. Retrieved January 5, 2024.
  22. ^ "10th Anniversary Shortlist for the James Cropper Wainwright Prize Announced". Wainwright Prize. James Cropper plc. August 10, 2023. Retrieved January 5, 2024.
  23. ^ Bennett, Steve (March 18, 2024). "'Jenny Eclair's Officially a Legend'". Comedy News. Chortle. Retrieved March 20, 2024.
  24. ^ The British Comedy Guide – Edinburgh Fringe 2015
  25. ^ The List – Reviews
  26. ^ The Edinburgh Reporter – Culture
  27. ^ Chortle – Reviews
  28. ^ Love Reading
  29. ^ Olaf Falafel
  30. ^ O’Connell, Alex. "Blobfish by Olaf Falafel review — fish it out, it's blobby good". ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved June 5, 2022.
  31. ^ Falafel, Olaf (May 4, 2023). Trixie Pickle Art Avenger: Toxic Takedown.
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Olaf_Falafel&oldid=1237782848"