Ashley Blaker

Ashley Blaker is a British comedian and television producer. Blaker is a writer for TV and radio and a longtime collaborator with Matt Lucas: he was producer of Little Britain[1] and Rock Profile.[2] He also co-created and wrote The Matt Lucas Awards, and appeared in one episode. Lucas, amongst others, has described Blaker as "the UK's only Orthodox comedian".[3][4][5]

Ashley Blaker
Blaker in 2020
Birth nameAshley Blaker
BornLondon, UK
MediumTelevision, radio, stand-up
NationalityBritish
Alma materOxford University, Cambridge University
GenresStand-up comedy, satire, observational comedy
Subject(s)Human interaction, religion, Judaism, family
Notable works and rolesLittle Britain

As a stand-up comedian, Blaker’s first Off-Broadway show, Strictly Unorthodox, opened in May 2017 at The Theater Center.[6] and his second Off-Broadway show, Goy Friendly opened in February 2020, at the SoHo Playhouse.[7]

Early life

Blaker was educated at the Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School, where he was four years behind Sacha Baron Cohen,[4] and a friend of Matt Lucas, with whom he went on to create Little Britain.[1] He is a graduate of both Oxford and Cambridge.[8] He embraced Orthodox Judaism in his early twenties.[1]

Career
Poster for Goy Friendly

As a producer

Having completed a BBC course, Blaker had started work with them as a trainee radio producer. An unexpected encounter in the street in 1999 with his old school friend Lucas proved a turning point for them both.[9] Lucas had pitched the idea of Little Britain to the controller of BBC 2, Jane Root.[9] Blaker suggested turning it into a radio show and despite the initial reticence of Lucas' writing partner David Walliams, they decided to press ahead.[9] The show launched in 2000, and Blaker produced two series on the radio before the show switched to TV in 2003.

With Little Britain under way, the same group collaborated on Rock Profile. The first series was broadcast in 1999, comprising 13 episodes, on digital channel UK Play and subsequent series appeared on BBC Two.

From 2012-13, Blaker was producer, as well as co-creator and co-writer (with Matt Lucas) of The Matt Lucas Awards,[10] a BBC TV show in which Blaker appeared on-screen in one episode.

As a comedian

In 2017, he was commissioned by the BBC to create a show called Ashley Blaker's Goyish Guide To Judaism,[11] described as "an insider's view of his religion"".[12] It was broadcast in June 2018 as part of BBC Radio Four's Stand-Up Specials series.[13] A follow-up was commissioned and broadcast in 2019.[14]

Blaker's stand-up show, Observant Jew, was part of the 2018 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.[15]

In 2019, he performed a UK tour titled Prophet Sharing in tandem with Muslim comedian Imran Yusuf.[16]

In August 2020, a new four-part series 6.5 Children was commissioned from Blaker by BBC Radio 4.[17][18]

Critical reception

His material has been described by the New York Times as being different from most other Jewish comics': "In contrast to most overtly Jewish comedy, which usually compares Jews and gentiles, most of his material juxtaposes the frum and not frum."[19] The paper's review described him as "a skilled joke-teller with none of the borscht belt timing you would expect from a Catskills comic. And since we rarely hear the perspective of the ultra-Orthodox in comedy clubs, there’s a pleasing freshness about an act that offers a look into a world often hidden from public view."[19]

Bibliography
  • Lucas, Matt (2017). Little Me. London: Canongate. ISBN 978-1786890863.

References

  1. Richardson, Jay (2 January 2018). "The comedians who are putting their faith in jokes". iNews.
  2. https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/search/0/20?adv=0&q=Ashley+Blaker+Rock+Profile&media=all&yf=1923&yt=2009&mf=1&mt=12&tf=00%3A00&tt=00%3A00#search
  3. Lucas 2017, p. 133.
  4. Hoffman, Gil (27 December 2016). "Ashley Blaker: Born to Kvetch". Jerusalem Post.
  5. Freedland, Michael. "Jonathan Sacks at 70 reinvents himself as the 'cartoon rabbi'" – via www.thetimes.co.uk.
  6. https://www.theatermania.com/shows/new-york-city-theater/off-broadway/ashley-blaker-strictly-unorthodox_324157
  7. https://www.timeout.com/newyork/theater/goy-friendly
  8. Hoffman, Barbara (25 May 2018). "This Jewish comedian has a lot to kvetch about".
  9. Lucas 2017, p. 160.
  10. British Comedy Guide. "The Matt Lucas Awards - BBC1 Panel Show - British Comedy Guide". Comedy.co.uk. Retrieved 12 February 2020.
  11. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0b4zg8c#:~:text=BBC%20Radio%204.-,Ashley%20Blaker%2C%20Britain's%20only%20ultra%2DOrthodox%20stand%20up%20comedian%2C,world%20of%20strict%20Orthodox%20Judaism.
  12. "BBC - BBC Radio 4 announces dazzling line-up of new comedy titles - Media Centre". www.bbc.co.uk.
  13. "BBC Radio 4 - Stand-Up Specials, Ashley Blaker's Goyish Guide to Judaism". BBC.
  14. "BBC Radio 4 - Stand-Up Specials, Ashley Blaker's Goyish Guide to Judaism - 2". BBC.
  15. Savitsky, Sasha (23 July 2018). "Orthodox Jewish comedian Ashley Blaker works in show business but he can't own a TV". Fox News.
  16. https://www.list.co.uk/article/112120-ashley-blaker-and-imran-yusuf-its-incredible-how-much-we-are-alike-thankfully-we-never-seem-to-run-out-of-material/
  17. https://www.comedy.co.uk/radio/news/5874/ashley-blaker-65-children/
  18. https://www.chortle.co.uk/news/2020/08/04/46628/new_radio_comedy_for_ashley_blaker_-_and_his_family
  19. Zinoman, Jason (13 June 2018). "What's So Funny About Orthodox Judaism? This Comic Has One Answer" – via NYTimes.com.
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