COMEDY
LEFT-FIELD CHARACTER COMEDIAN & AWARD-WINNING COMEDY SONGWRITER
Hello. My name’s Waen Shepherd and I’ve been a comedian on multiple prior occasions. I
might try to trick you into thinking I’m some kind of serious actor or arthouse composer,
and I’ve probably been that too. But most of my acting was comic, and most of my music
was written for comedies. In fact, I probably never stopped being a non-stop comedy
machine, even when - especially when - I thought I was being some straight-laced, stony-
faced muso thesp. And until now, or maybe a minute ago, you’d never heard of me.
So who is this random idiot?
I’m probably best known, if I’m known at all, for my New Romantic pop star alter ego Gary Le
Strange, who was reasonably popular among small cliques of comedy-literate people in
London and Scotland for about a month and a half nearly two decades ago. He won me the
Perrier Award for Best Newcomer at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2003 and a Chortle Award for
the same thing in 2004. If you click on some of the pictures to the right, you can see some of
the pop videos he made and a few shakily-filmed live sets he did that people other than me
have uploaded to YouTube.
But that was just a small part of it. I spent the best part of 30 years being a comedian whose
name usually wasn’t Waen Shepherd, and it wasn’t always Gary Le Strange either.
Sometimes it was Colin Watson, or Blake Famous, or William Whicker, or Origen Batley, or
The Ronnie Barker Appreciation Society. And occasionally, Waen Shepherd. But only just.
I was a regular at Oram & Meeten’s Club Fantastico and Robin Ince’s Book Club. I was in a
double act with Simon Farnaby called Peterford Golf Club, but also Animal Pie. I performed
several times at Simon Munnery’s legendary Cluub Zarathustra as a pantomime villain called
The Baddie. I was the third (and sometimes fourth) member of Tim Hope and Julian Barratt’s
comedy techno band The Pod. The Times once said I was one of the Top 50 comedians in
the country, and the Rough Guide to British Cult Comedy said I was one of the Top 50 British
cult comedians of all time. Both of which sound like lies to me. But you’re just going to have
to trust me.
And there’s no record of any of it, anywhere. Apart from the book I mentioned, and the links
on the right. Which will expand if I upload more stuff. Will I upload more stuff? Yes. I will
upload more stuff. And then we’ll see how serious I am.
What the papers said about Gary Le Strange…
“Hilarious” Evening Standard
“Consistently thrilling” Metro
“Brilliantly observed… inspiring” Scotsman ****
“A rare triumph… an inspired show, the like of which could scarce be imitated” The Stage
“Comic magic… perfect… brilliant” Times *****
“Such a finely honed creation that it’s easy to forget he’s a fictional character… if you don’t
love it, you just don’t get it” Fest *****
“Baffling, grandiloquent crap” Chortle *
FUNNY COMEDY ALBUMS FOR SALE
Links will take you to Amazon but all Gary Le Strange releases are available on iTunes, Spotify and most good streaming or download services
Hello. My name’s Waen Shepherd and I’ve been a
comedian on multiple prior occasions. I might try
to trick you into thinking I’m some kind of serious
actor or arthouse composer, and I’ve probably
been that too. But most of my acting was comic,
and most of my music was written for comedies.
In fact, I probably never stopped being a non-stop
comedy machine, even when - especially when - I
thought I was being some straight-laced, stony-
faced muso thesp. And until now, or maybe a
minute ago, you’d never heard of me.
So who is this random idiot?
I’m probably best known, if I’m known at all, for
my New Romantic pop star alter ego Gary Le
Strange, who was reasonably popular among
small cliques of comedy-literate people in London
and Scotland for about a month and a half, nearly
two decades ago. He won me the Perrier Award
for Best Newcomer at the Edinburgh Fringe in
2003 and a Chortle Award for the same thing in
2004. If you click on some of the pictures below,
you can see some of the pop videos he made and
a few shakily-filmed live sets he did that people
other than me have uploaded to YouTube.
But that was just a small part of it. I spent the
best part of 30 years being a comedian whose
name usually wasn’t Waen Shepherd, and it
wasn’t always Gary Le Strange either. Sometimes
it was Colin Watson, or Blake Famous, or William
Whicker, or Origen Batley, or The Ronnie Barker
Appreciation Society. And occasionally, Waen
Shepherd. But only just.
I was a regular at Oram & Meeten’s Club
Fantastico and Robin Ince’s Book Club. I was in a
double act with Simon Farnaby called Peterford
Golf Club, but also Animal Pie. I performed
several times at Simon Munnery’s legendary
Cluub Zarathustra as a pantomime villain called
The Baddie. I was the third (and sometimes
fourth) member of Tim Hope and Julian Barratt’s
comedy techno band The Pod. The Times once
said I was one of the Top 50 comedians in the
country, and the Rough Guide to British Cult
Comedy said I was one of the Top 50 British cult
comedians of all time. Both of which sound like
lies to me. But you’ll just have to trust me.
And there’s no record of any of it, anywhere.
Apart from the book I mentioned, and the links
below. Which will expand if I upload more stuff.
Will I upload more stuff? Yes. I will upload more
stuff. And then we’ll see how serious I am.
FUNNY COMEDY ALBUMS FOR SALE
Links will take you to Amazon but all Gary Le
Strange releases are available on iTunes, Spotify
and most good streaming or download services
What the papers said about Gary Le
Strange…
“Hilarious” Evening Standard
“Consistently thrilling” Metro
“Brilliantly observed… inspiring” Scotsman
****
“A rare triumph… an inspired show, the like of
which could scarce be imitated” The Stage
“Comic magic… perfect… brilliant” Times
*****
“Such a finely honed creation that it’s easy to
forget he’s a fictional character… if you don’t
love it, you just don’t get it” Fest *****
“Baffling, grandiloquent crap” Chortle *
COMEDY
LEFT-FIELD CHARACTER COMEDIAN & AWARD-WINNING COMEDY SONGWRITER
