Shows


Henry Normal

Download images & bio

Henry Normal - Everything and More

I usually pick a topic for each tour. In this new show I’m concentrating on everything. Jokes, poems and stories digging deep into the subject of every single thing in the universe and beyond. A show honed perfectly for everyone in particular. 

 

Bio:

Henry is a writer, poet, TV & Film producer, founder of the Manchester Poetry Festival (now the Literature festival) and co-founder of the Nottingham Poetry Festival. In June 2017 he was honoured with a special BAFTA for services to Television.


He co-wrote and script edited the multi-award winning Mrs Merton show and the spin off series Mrs Merton and Malcolm. He also co-created and co-wrote the first series of The Royle Family.
With Steve Coogan he co-wrote the BAFTA winning Paul and Pauline Calf Video Diaries, Coogan's Run, Tony Ferrino, Doctor Terrible and all three of Steve's live tours and the film The Parole Officer.

Setting up Baby Cow Productions Ltd in 1990, Henry Executive Produced all and script edited many of the shows of it's 17 and a half year output during his tenure as MD.
Highlights of the Baby Cow output during his time include the Oscar nominated film Philomena, I believe in Miracles, Gavin and Stacey, Moone Boy, Uncle, Marion and Geof, Nighty Night, The Mighty Boosh, Red Dwarf, Hunderby, Camping and Alan Partridge.

Since retiring in April 2016, Henry has written and performed 10 x BBC Radio 4 shows combining comedy, poetry and stories about family. His 11th BBC Radio 4 show ' A Normal Journey' will be recorded this autumn. Born in St Anne's Nottingham in 1956, Henry now lives in Fairlight, Nr Hastings with his wife and screenwriter Angela Pell and their son Johnny.

In April 2018. Two Roads publishers released his book of memoirs 'A Normal Family' which was writthen with his wife Angela Pell, drawing on his family expereience. It immediately became a best seller on Amazon and has already been reprinted. The paperbavk was released on 21st March 2019.

Henry performs poetry at Literature Festivals around the UK and has eleven poetry books available from Flapjack. On 15th August this year Henry’s 12th poetry book entitled 'Collected Poems Volume 3' will be released, Henry’s 13th book 'A Moonless Night ' is also set for release on 28th February 2024.

He was recently given an honorary doctorate of letters by Nottingham Trent University, another by Nottingham
University and has a beer and a bus named after him in Nottingham!

Quotes:
Succinct, heartrending and peppered with gentle punchlines’ Hannah Verdier, The Guardian
Shove up National Treasures. We need to make room for Henry Normal" Simon ';Hagan - Radio Times


"the Alan Bennett of poetry" The Scotsman


"Dovetails bittersweet poetry with a sublimely observant wit" The Guardian


"A mixture of the absurd and downright wacky...a gentle giant of stand-up poetry" The List


"The poetry itself is stuff of proper substance, marrying the suburban beauty of Beatles ballads with the blunt candour of the kitchen sink"The Guardian

"Witty and uncannily accurate with his observations"- The Stage


"Distinctly funny" - Time Out


It’s a rare and lovely thing: half an hour of radio that stops you short, gently demands your attention and then wipes your tears away while you have to have a little sit down - The Guardian


" a real treat to hear a seasoned professional like Henry taking command of this evening comedy spot to deliver a show that's idiosyncratic and effortlessly funny

"Not heard anything that jumps from hilarious to moving in such an intelligent, subtle way as Henry Normal"

Thursday 13th February 2025

The Quay Theatre, Sudbury

Buy tickets

Friday 14th February 2025

Stage4Beverly's Winter Festival, Beverly

Buy tickets

Thursday 1st May 2025

Reading Concert Hall

Buy tickets

Friday 2nd May 2025

Cambridge Corn Exchange

Buy tickets

Saturday 3rd May 2025

RNCM, Manchester

Buy tickets

Sunday 4th May 2025

Melton Mowbray Theatre

Buy tickets

Monday 5th May 2025

The Glee Club, Birmingham

Buy tickets

Tuesday 6th May 2025

Royal & Derngate, Northampton

Buy tickets

Thursday 8th May 2025

The Playhouse, Whitley Bay

Buy tickets

Friday 9th May 2025

Harrogate Theatre

Buy tickets

Saturday 10th May 2025

Worthing Pavilion

Buy tickets

Monday 12th May 2025

New Vic Theatre, Newcastle-Under-Lyme

Buy tickets

Tuesday 13th May 2025

Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury

Buy tickets

Wednesday 14th May 2025

Liverpool Philharmonic Theatre

Buy tickets

Thursday 15th May 2025

The Playhouse, Stratford-Upon-Avon

Buy tickets

Friday 16th May 2025

Hackney Empire, London

Buy tickets

Saturday 17th May 2025

White Rock Theatre, Hastings

Buy tickets

Tuesday 20th May 2025

Taunton Brewhouse

Buy tickets

Wednesday 21st May 2025

The Glee Club, Cardiff

Buy tickets

Friday 23rd May 2024

The Victoria Theatre, Halifax

Buy tickets

Saturday 24th May 2025

The Octagon, Sheffield

Buy tickets

Tuesday 27th May 2025

The Dukes Theatre, Lancaster

Buy tickets

Wednesday 28th May 2025

Stockton ARC

Buy tickets

Thursday 29th May 2025

Burnley Mechanics

Buy tickets

Friday 30th May 2025

St Alban's Arena

Buy tickets

Saturday 31st May 2025

Revelation, Ashford

Buy tickets

Shows


Dr. John Cooper Clarke

John Cooper Clarke shot to prominence in the 1970s as the original ‘people’s poet’.

IDEAL - THE AWARD-WINNING TV SHOW STARRING JOHNNY VEGAS

Johnny Vegas stars as Moz, as award-winning BBC TV series comes to the stage for very first time, celebrating 20 years since the show’s first broadcast.

Brian Bilston

Brian Bilston has been described as the Banksy of poetry and Twitter’s unofficial Poet Laureate; with over 200,000 followers on social media, Brian has become truly beloved by the online community.

Arthur Smith & Clare Ferguson-Walker

Two poets from different planets crash land onto stages across the U.K and Ireland, making a poetic and comedic show greater than the sum of its parts....(never ask a lady the sum of her parts). Expect poems, puns, laughter and tales from these two brilliant wordsmiths.

Nigel Planer

Nigel Planer was an original member of the comedy groups at the centre of the ‘Alternative Comedy’ movement in the 1980s and starred in the seminal TV series The Young Ones, and The Comic Strip Presents.

Luke Wright

Whether he’s opening for the Libertines or reciting Georgian ballads down your local, Luke Wright is adept at taking poetry places it doesn’t normally go.

Toria Garbutt

Toria Garbutt is a spoken word artist from Knottingley - a former mining town in West Yorkshire

Graham Nash

Graham Nash, two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee and Grammy award winner, will perform songs spanning his sixty-year career from The Hollies to Crosby, Stills and Nash, to CSNY and his beloved solo career.