100 Comedy Heroes of UK Comedy (out Autumn 2024)

Mark Ritchie delivers his third showbusiness memoir – and this time the subject is laughter and the people who produce the laughter. 100 Heroes of UK Comedy … And ME! reveals what finding the right gags can do to the people who venture on stage to raise them.

Though not a household name, Yorkshire-based Mark has performed in cabaret across the globe as a comedian and singer and he draws on this wealth of experience to detail how performing stand-up comedy for a living can impact on the physical and mental health of the comedian, proving if proof is needed, that comedy is a very serious business.

In between outlandish but true showbusiness comedy tales, Mark names his 100 Heroes of UK Comedy from the once mighty Clubland circuit or who had their origins there, and tells tales of his connections with them. Some of the performers listed are today’s household names, while others are no longer with us. There are even a few forgotten comedy names thrown into the mix.

In fact, many are unsung heroes of comedy, but what they all have in common is they have made Mark laugh at one time or another. Each entry on Mark’s Top 100 List reveals funny or quirky insights about every single comedian in this amazing whizz-through of people who were born with funny bones.

This is the third volume of Mark’s trilogy about Northern comedy. The previous volumes are Right Place… Wrong Time – an account of his life working as an entertainer – and The Clubland Empire: My Part in Its Downfall – which charts the rise and demise of the UK working men’s club movement.

Mark is also publisher of the national monthly magazine UK Cabaret and a media pundit who has worked as a local newspaper Clubland columnist and as regional representative for The Stage newspaper. He lives in Yorkshire with his wife Beverley and their two Old English Sheepdogs Stan and Ollie.