Shows/Projects Archive
A Small Talk On Small Talk (2021)
A half-hour comedy programme due for broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on January 3rd 2021, making it one of the first original comedy programmes of the year. It's about small talk and what goes on inside our heads while we're trying to do it. It's produced by Steve Doherty of Giddy Goat, and co-stars Lucy Pearman.
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Job Pig (2020)
A currently-in-development mid-form sitcom project about the gig economy and Taskrabbit. A pilot script was performed at the Soho Theatre to acclaim in 2019, with a cast including myself, Lucy Pearman, John Kearns, Holly Burn and Ali Brice. It is currently being developed by Zeppotron Pictures.
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You Build The Thing You Think You Are (2020)
This was supposed to be my new live show for Edinburgh Fringe 2020. It was developed as part of an artist's residency at Battersea Arts Centre, and played sold-out performances at VAULT Festival and Leicester Comedy Festival. In response to the Fringe's cancellation, I adapted it into a feature film with help from Objectively Funny Productions, and it was streamed online, becoming one of the highlights of the lockdown comedy boom. It was acclaimed by the Guardian as "really capturing the spirit of creative Fringe comedy." It was directed by Alex Hardy and featured cameos from Katy Mitchell, Grace Gibson, Emily Day, Harriet Kemsley, Thom Tuck and Tom Bell. It is now available as a digital download from Go Faster Stripe.
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Useless Millennials (2020)
A programme from myself and Roxy Dunn for BBC Radio 4 that was broadcast in February 2020. Produced by Steve Doherty of Giddy Goat Productions, it was a podcast-esque chat about how bad the two of us are at any of the positive traits associated with our generation, but how good we are at embodying all its worst elements.
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Ladpad (2020)
A series of sketches from myself, Ali Brice and Alex Graham. Alex directs and Ali and I write and perform. They are absolute nonsense. The first sketch was about Ali trying to find his mum. The second is about me waiting for a visit from my cousin. The third is about Ali collecting an Amazon package for me. We released them online in early 2020.
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Joz Norris Is Dead. Long Live Mr Fruit Salad. (2019)
My first full solo show since 2017, the show was a nonsense exploration of anxiety and loneliness and connection via the persona of a live-action cartoon character who is wrestling with the knowledge that he doesn't exist. The show played sold-out performances at VAULT Festival, Leicester Comedy Festival, Glasgow Comedy Festival and Bath Comedy Festival and became one of the word-of-mouth hits of the 2019 Edinburgh Fringe, selling out its entire run and transferring to an extended run at Soho Theatre. It won the Comedians' Choice Award for Best Show and was nominated for the Malcolm Hardee Award for Comic Originality, the Chortle Award for Best Music & Variety Act, and was longlisted for the prestigious Edinburgh Comedy Award. It was directed by Alex Hardy, and co-starred Ben Target.
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Ed & Joz's Deleted Scenes (2019)
Mine and Ed Aczel's first live project; a low-effort attempt at a sketch show in which we try to reinvent ourselves as a sketch double-act and revisit all our old ideas that didn't make it into our short films and see whether any of them have legs as live sketches. Highlights include "Ed & Joz Get Stuck In A Door" and "Ed Can Talk To Birds." Absolute nonsense. It played at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2019.
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Ex (2019)
A webseries from myself and Roxy Dunn adapted from her play Timmy, which I performed in last year. The webseries takes the characters of Tim and Judith and explores their attempts to stay friends after breaking up. Two episodes were written by Roxy and one by me, and it was directed by Hunter Allen and Sami Ibrahim.
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Ed & Joz's Heist Movie (2019)
Another collaborative project from me and Ed Aczel, this one started as a stand-alone idea for a short film in which me and Ed, playing the same hopeless two characters we've played in all our collaborations, try to become career criminals by stealing a vending machine. This script was performed to acclaim at the Soho Theatre and later adapted into a stand-alone pilot/taster sponsored by Tiger Aspect, directed by Jonathan Brooks and produced by Avril Spary. Alongside me and Ed it co-starred Michael Stranney, Lucy Pearman, Ben Target and Alison Thea-Skot. It received its premiere screening at the Bill Murray in September 2019, and was an Official Selection at Short Com Film Festival 2020.
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Jonathan Spooky (2017-18)
A series of slow, gentle, tragicomic shorts I've been making over the last year or so about an out-of-place, out-of-time, sad, hopeless man called Jonathan Spooky who keeps getting ridiculous jobs that don't really make sense and that he's badly qualified for that result in him embarrassing himself and being bullied. The first short, World's Worst Ghost Walk, co-starred Adam Larter, Andy Barr, Eleanor Morton and Helen Duff; the second, World's Worst Living Statue, guest starred Mat Ewins and the third, World's Worst Lookalike, guest-starred John-Luke Roberts and Harriet Kemsley. The shorts are directed by Aniruddh Ojha.
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TIMMY (2018)
A play by Roxy Dunn written for the Edinburgh Fringe 2018, in which I played the title role of Tim. It's been a really fun opportunity to push my acting into more dramatic territory, and I'm really enjoying the current Fringe run. The show has received 4 and 5 star reviews, and is a really beautifully written study of a dysfunctional relationship and of the difficulties of communicating what's in your head to somebody you care about.
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Ed & Joz's Da Vinci Code (2018)
A new short film by myself and Ed Aczel, following on from the premise of our anti-documentary In Search Of Something last year. Whereas that short saw us as hopeless documentary filmmakers trying to find a subject for our documentary, this time we thought we'd go more literal and make an anti-adventure film in which we try, and fail, to go on an adventure searching for lost treasure or ancient conspiracies. It was directed by Paul Bertellotti and co-stars Isy Suttie, Ricky Grove, Ali Brice and Alison Thea-Skot. It should be out later this year.
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BBC Quickies (2018)
I was a sort of occasional floating cast member of the BBC's series of very short meme-esque sketches, the Quickies, and made a couple of them in 2018. The first was an idea by Maddy Anholt in which she and I play royal wedding planners who interview people in Windsor about Harry and Meghan to find out how they really feel; the second was a fun script about Love Island by Catherine Brinkworth in which I play a tribal drummer and which co-stars Olga Koch and Alison Thea-Skot; and the third explored the concept of cat people and dog people and involved me playing a dog-mutant thing fighting Alice Marshall's cat-mutant.
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How To... (2016-2018)
An anthology series of short sketches curated and directed by Matthew Highton in which an assortment of characters present some sort of simple instructional video which very quickly goes off the rails. I've co-written and performed in three instalments (How To Draw An Elephant; How To Do Regional Accents and How To Conjure A Spirit) and the series also features Ali Brice's How To Break The Ice At Parties and Matt's How To Carve A Pumpkin.
Tony Law & Friends On Ice: The Battle For Icetopia (2017)
In place of the traditional Weirdos Christmas Alternative Pantomime, Weirdos' wintry-themed show in 2017 was the stupidest, most ambitious and dangerous project we'd undertaken yet - an all-singing, all-dancing comedy musical play on ice at Alexandra Palace Ice Rink. As usual, it ws a top comedy pick in the Guardian, TimeOut and many more. It's the brainchild of Tony Law and Adam Larter, is written and directed by Adam, produced by Alex Hardy and stars Tony, Marny Godden, Michael Brunstrom, Matt Tedford, Ali Brice, Matthew Highton, Eleanor Morton, Bob Slayer, myself, Helen Duff, Ben Target, Kat Bond and Elf Lyons. The show won the Chortle Award for Comedy Event of the Year 2018 despite happening in 2017, and we weren't invited to the awards do.
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The Incredible Joz Norris Locks Himself Inside His Own Show, Then Escapes, Against All The Odds!! (2017)
As with my previous three shows, this was an hour of stand-up, storytelling, nonsense, characters, musical skits, attempts at self-expression, conceptual theatre, performance art, that kind of thing, but this time performed while literally trapped inside a giant web. It was about performance as disguise, social anxiety, families, the Elephant Man, ouroboroses and a nasty little baby. It played in Swansea, Leicester, Glasgow, Bath and London before returning to the Hive in Edinburgh for the Fringe in August, where it received sell-out crowds and rave reviews as well as being one of the Guardian's Comedy Picks. It is now available to stream on Amazon Prime and NextUp.
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"Had the audience in the palm of his hand before his body even appeared onstage...Mesmerising." - One4Review
"Joz Norris weaves a peculiar world in this lovely show." - The Skinny
"Wonderfully compelling." - British Comedy Guide
"Like the man himself, this is a show that's impossible to dislike." - Edinburgh Festivals Magazine
"It truly is one of the best shows of the Fringe." - Bunbury Magazine
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In Search Of Something (2017)
A documentary project I’ve been working on with Ed Aczel since last year. The basic idea is that two suburban amateurs with pretentions to being great visionary documentary filmmakers try to make a documentary without knowing what their subject is, hoping to find it on the way. We made a 10-minute taster of the idea which was directed by Jonathan Brooks and also stars Jacob Edwards, Alison Thea-Skot, John Kearns and Ben Target as our interviewees, and the idea is currently being pitched as a series for TV and online platforms.
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The Baby (2017)
A surreal arthouse horror-comedy short film I wrote with Lucy Pearman, directed by Sam Nicoresti and with lighting and sound design by Lottie Bowater. It's the stangest, most unusual thing I've yet made and I'm very proud of it. It co-stars Will Seaward and Eleanor Morton and is a noirish, Gothic exploration of post-natal depression in which Lucy plays a traumatised mother and I play her horrifying baby. It was a Category Finalist at the Brighton Rocks Film Festival for the Experimental & Arthouse category, received a Honourable Mention from the London-Worldwide Comedy Short Film Festival and was an Official Selection at the London Short Film Festival.
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Apoca Lips (2017)
A sort of nonsense satire piece that's the brainchild of producer/writer Alex Hardy, Apoca Lips was released just in time for the 2017 snap General Election, and will be returning for at least one more instalment to explore that election's aftermath. It sees a bunch of comics voicing the leaders of the various parties and, via some clever Facebook app technology, putting those words into the mouths of the politicians themselves. It's all very silly, takes an equally stupid stance regardless of the politicians' place on the political spectrum, and has been well received by Chortle, British Comedy Guide and even prominent MPs and ministers. I play Paul Nuttall and Tim Farron, it was directed by Matthew Highton, it co-stars Catherine Brinkworth, Mark Stephenson, Eleanor Morton and Nathaniel Tapley, and was co-written by the cast, Alex, Matt, Benjamin Alborough, Cameron Loxdale, Chris Aitken and Jon Horsley.
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Robert Johnson & The Devil Man (2017)
My second proper "short film" as opposed to something like a sketch or a webseries or whatever, and again a collaboration with director Matthew Highton. This one, following on from the themes of ambition, friendship and creativity from our first collaboration Double Act in 2016, is about a hapless millennial (yours truly) who, following in the footsteps of his namesake and hero Robert Johnson, sells his soul to the Devil (David Mills) to become a great artist, but learns that the perameters of the deal aren't quite what he always imagined them to be. It premiered at Hackney Picturehouse in March 2017 and is currently doing the rounds at film festivals around the world.
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My Big Fat Weirdos Christmas Wedding (2016)
The fifth annual Weirdos Panto, this time performed not in an abandoned, collapsing restaurant but on the main stage of the Leicester Square Theatre for three nights. Again written by Adam Larter and directed by Matthew Highton, this year's panto told the story of Adam and Flora's attempt to get married before Christmas, and the evil machinations of Flira's dad Gary to try and stop the wedding in order to stop foreigners from coming to Birmingham. I think it might have been a Brezit allegory. It starred Adam, Lucy Pearman, Cassie Atkinson, Beth Vyse, myself, William Lee, Michael Brunstrom, Phil Jarvis, Alwin Solanky, Marny Godden, Tom Meek, Matt Tedford, Eleanor Morton, Katia Kvinge, Sooz Kempner, Ben Target, Charlie Miller, Jack De'Ath, Jon Brittain, Kat Bond, Helen Duff, Rousha Browning, Mark Stephenson, Harriet Kemsley and Andy Barr.
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"Nice, too, is Joz Norris's irritating wedding planner." - Chortle
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A Load Of Croc (2016)
The first ever Weirdos webseries, a three-part bit of online nonsense that explores the adventures of Crocodile and Dorito Fish, two fan-favourite characters from various other Weirdos projects. In each episode, Crocodile gets himself into a social situation he doesn't know how to navigate and has to call on Dorito Fish's advice for help. It is utterly stupid. It's written by Adam Larter, directed by Matthew Highton, produced by Stuart Laws and stars William Lee, Michael Brunstrom, Beth Vyse, Mark Stephenson, Lucy Pearman, Christian Brighty, Cassie Atkinson, Stuart Laws, Alwin Solanky, Andy Barr, Katia Kvinge, Phil Jarvis, Harriet Kemsley, Charlie Miller, Ali Brice, Gareth Morinan, Matthew Highton, myself, Eleanor Morton and Liberty Hodes.
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Judge Rinder (2016)
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Last year Bob Slayer and I did something that was variously received as "the funniest episode of Judge Rinder ever" by some Rinder fans, "an embarrassment to comedy" by other Rinder fans, "true anarchy" by some comedians and "a deconstruction of the very nature of deconstructed comedy" by other comedians. Overall, then, I think we did our job. Essentially, I took Bob onto the show to sue him for an old contract dispute we've never forgotten. What ensued was the most interesting, and one of the funniest, pieces of entertainment I've ever been involved in making. I like to think it was performance art. Maybe it was just reality TV. We'll never really know.
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The Family Tree Podcast (2016-19)
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A semi-improvised narrative podcast from Dave Pickering and Jen Adamthwaite in which I play the role of self-involved nerd and folklorist Nathan Sullivan. Dave discovers an unexplainable mystery involving the reappearance of a dead body long ago disposed of, and decides to get to the bottom of it by having conversations with the family caught up at the centre of the mystery. The series takes the from of free-form improvised conversations around the structure of the scripted mystery Dave is investigating. The series also stars Leila Al-Jeboury, Zack Polanski, Natasha Magigi, Lucy Ayrton, Vera Chok, Krishna Istha, Charles Adrian, Mark Stevenson and Tony Pickering.
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Jalapeno High (2016)
A podcast from Weirdos Comedy Club that broadly follows the formula of John Hughes 1980s high school movies but repurposes them for the context of a high school whose curriculum consists solely of information about spicy food.Fred Suitcase recently moved to town with his kids Jessica and Clara and runs into trouble when it seems his boss is hatching a shady plan. Meanwhile, Jessica gets into trouble of her own when she falls for the high school jock and falls foul of the plans of the mean girls. Written by Adam Larter, directed by Matthew Highton and produced by Howard Cohen. Starring Harriet Kemsley, Mark Stephenson, John Kearns, Holly Burn, Cassie Atkinson, myself, Pat Cahill, Eleanor Morton, Katia Kvinge, Lucy Pearman, Letty Butler, Beth Vyse, Darren Maskell, Gareth Morinan, Marny Godden and probably more.
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Double Act (2016)
My first proper stand-alone short film, Double Act was produced as part of a creative partnership with producers Turtle Canyon Comedy and director Matthew Highton, and written by me. It tells the story of a struggling TV double act who have run out of work and decide to kill each other for the insurance money. It stars Ed Aczel and Michael Brunstrom as Greg and Pat, the double act themselves, and Gabby Best as their agent Anna, who agrees to help Greg mentor an assassination in exchange for a commission fee.
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The Unofficial Supergrass Musical: The Musical (2016)
Another daft play from the mind of Adam Larter, this one written specifically for Oxford and performed only twice, once at the Finsbury as a preview, and once at the Oxford Playhouse to an audience that included Mick Quinn from Supergrass and all his friends. The show chronicled the rise of Oxford's finest band and their battles against their Britpop contemporaries and the evils of drugs. It starred Adam as Gaz Coombes, Lucy Pearman as Mick Quinn and Thom Yorke, Matthew Highton as Danny Goffey, Beth Vyse as Mrs Coombes and Judy Finneganagain, Gareth Morinan as Mr Coombes and Liam Gallagher, Cassie Atkinson as Grace and the Teacher, myself as Rob Coombes and Jarvis Cocker and Ali Brice as John Peel and the Mayor of Oxford.
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Joz Norris: Hello, Goodbye (2016)
My main goal with my 2016 show was to make something that felt a bit more theatrical than previous shows, that played with space and visual images a bit more while also trying to tell a more contained story, though it again followed my usual shtick of a story that gets in the way of its own telling by virtue of its many tangents and irrelevant offshoots. It was my best show yet, sold out over a third of its run, and received a lot of amazing acclaim from colleagues, comics, promoters, producers, writers and so on. I was very proud. It's about love and death and being chased by a werewolf. Over the coming months it will be touring to Liverpool, Manchester, Oxford and more.
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"A skilful and thoughtful writer who fastidiously avoids boring or obvious choices and excels at being unselfconsciously daft." - TV Bomb
"Now THAT'S what I call absurdist silly comedy...What joy that Joz Norris seems to be the real deal." - The Girl With The Edinburgh Tattoo
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Iraq Out & Loud (2016)
This was an enormous project of which I was one very small part, but I'm very proud to have been anything to do with it at all, so am including it here. Initially the brainchild of Boothby Graffoe, Iraq Out & Loud was taken on as a project by Bob Slayer, produced by Heroes of Fringe and Omid Djalili, enabled by a bunch of incredibly hard-working people including Sorcha Shanahan, Becky Walker, Lottie Bowater, Sam Nicoresti, Eilidh Hodgson, and many more, and performed by around 1500 people. It involved the reading out loud of the entire Chilcot Report, in full, for 24 hours a day and 7 days a week, until it was finished. The likes of Stewart Lee and Alexei Sayle got involved, and at the end of the Fringe it won the Panel Prize for Spirit of the Fringe. More importantly, it made a statement about how important it is that this awful bit of history doesn't get swept under the rug. There now exists a 254-hour video of the entire thing, which will hopefully become an art installation at some point. I'm in there somewhere reading about Abu Ghraib.
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Adam Larter's Return On Investment (2016)
Adam's new show (previously titled There My Hat) was another daft play, this time set in an 80s office and exploring the highs and lows of businessman Glenn Fiscal and his colleagues, taking in a trip to the bowling alley and the drive-in on the way. I played hot-headed young business whizz-kid Billy Teeth, and Adam writes and stars as Glenn. The show's cast in previews also included Cassie Atkinson and Eleanor Morton, but the final cast for Edinburgh was rounded out by Marny Godden and Lucy Pearman.
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"Anarchically preposterous." - Chortle
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Deathbed (2016)
A sitcom pilot written by me about a dim-witted young guy forced to return home again and again to sit at the bedside of his dying grandfather, who keeps clinging on and refusing to die even though everybody else has lives they need to be getting on with. The pilot was selected for performance at the Soho Theatre for the Comedy Project in 2016, where it announced me as a writer to several producers and received acclaim from several industry insiders. I don't know if I'll ever develop it further as it was tricky to work out how to move bryond a pilot with it, but it remains something I'm very proud of and a performance I really enjoyed. It starred me, Liberty Hodes, Michael Brunstrom, Viv Groskop, Eleanor Morton, Sunil Patel and Barney Norris.
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Joz Norris: Breakfast Of Champions (2016)
A potentially overly-ambitious one-off bespoke concept show for Dave's Leicester Comedy Festival 2016, following on from my Electric Light Orchestra-themed one-off there last year. In this one, taking inspiration from Alan Ayckbourne's House And Garden, I attempted to stage a solo comedy show that's performed in two adjacent venues at the same time, using multimedia and lots of runnnig to try and simultaneously entertain two separate audiences. It technically didn't work, but it was a tremendous success. Also, Weirdos was nominated for the Liberty Spirit of the Festival Award at DLCF in 2016, and I like to think, as one of a whole bunch of Weirdos shows that played the festival this year, this ridiculous show had a small part to play in that nomination.
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Weirdos For Christmas No. 1 (2015)
The fourth annual Weirdos Panto, again held in the Heroes Grotto of Comedy in Bank and produced in association with Heroes of Fringe to raise money for Great Ormond Street Hospital. The show has been recommended and selected as critic's choice by publications including TimeOut, ToDo List, Londonist and the Times. This year, the story sees Weirdos Chief Adam Larter playing himself as he tries to get a band together to record a No. 1 Christmas single in order to raise funds to pay off the Inland Revenue. The show stars (deep breath) - Adam Larter as Adam, John Kearns as Dad, Thomas Meek as Mum, William Lee as Crocodile, Beth Vyse as Denise from the Inland Revenue, Cassie Atkinson as Lorraine from the Inland Revenue, Lucy Pearman as Flora from the Inland Revenue, Mark Stephenson as Daddy McScotsmas and Shy Peter, Katia Kvinge as Elf McElf, Michael Brunstrom as Dorito Fish, Eleanor Morton as Minty Pea-Chords on the Keyboards, myself as Jerk Norris, Pat Cahill as Micky Thumbs on the Drums, Alwin Solanky and Phil Jarvis as the Dancers, Laurence Owen as himself, Harriet Kemsley as the Agent, Lindsay Sharman as Celine Cellophane, Jon Brittain as Sick Beats and Gareth Morinan as Crazy Mike, with a few other surprises in there for good measure too. The show was written by Adam Larter and produced by Matthew Highton.
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The Girl Whisperer (2015-16)
A webseries loosely adapted from my 2014 show about dating and relationships, Awkward Prophet. This webseries, also adapted from an early idea by myself and Karl Schultz back in 2013, sees me playing myself as a shy, sexless idiot (so basically not acting) and asking an arrogant, oversexed idiot (Ralf Little, acting slightly more) for dating advice before proceeding to make a tall dick of myself. The series also stars Roxy Dunn, Bec Hill and Harriet Kemsley and was written by myself and Ralf Little. It was produced by Charlie Laurie, Zoe Rocha and Ralf Little at Little Rock Pictures. A second series, which moves away from dating to explore anxiety and the struggle to be normal, was released in 2016 starring myself, Harriet, John Kearns, Luke McQueen and Matthew Highton. The series received acclaim from the comedy industry, including praise from the likes of Dara O'Briain and Matt Lucas. In 2017 it was nominated for two awards at the Los Angeles Webseries Festival - Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series for me and Ralf Little, and Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for me.
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Only Fools And Horses And Horses And Horses And Horses And Horses (2015-16)
A confusing performance art piece based on the classic sitcom and brought to you by the Weirdos team. Written by Adam Larter for performance at the Museum of Comedy in September 2015, it loosely told the story of Del Boy's attempts to rescue Rodney from Hell, and confused a lot of die-hard Only Fools fans. Starring Adam Larter as Del Boy, myself as Rodney, Marny Godden as Uncle Albert and Trigger, Gareth Morinan as Boycie, Letty Butler (later Kat Bond) as Mickey Pearce, Jon Brittain as Marlene and the Geographical Area of Peckham, Alwin Solanky as Denzil and Cassandra's Grave, Andy Barr as himself and Christian Brighty as the Nag's Head. The show returned for performance at the Oxford Playhouse in September 2016.
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Joz Norris: Hey Guys! (2015)
A solo comedy show by me, Joz Norris, about being Joz Norris. Hey guys! I am become Death. I am Neil Young, waving my Flag. I am a Pigrat. I am building families out of friends. I can move forwards and backwards and side to side. I am saving time. I am a little lost boy. I keep my secrets somewhere safe. Come and have fun. But you got to wear your sunglasses, so you can feel cool. Why do we do it all? 50 minutes of nonsense in order to express one feeling.
"An absolute idiot...Simple, silly and screamingly funny." - Fest
"Joz Norris is like a children's teacher who has been put in charge of some adults for once. This is not an insult...Inspired." - The Skinny
Chosen as one of The Skinny's Top 3 London Alternative Acts at EdFringe 2015 alongside Holly Burn and Ben Target.
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Shambles (2015)
The second series of the Shambles webseries, devised and directed by Harry Deansway and produced by Wild Seed Comedy, telling the true story of Harry's luckless attempts to run an avant-garde comedy night that goes awry thanks to the ineptitude of the people around him. I play Harry's well-meaning but ineffectual intern Toby Tadpin, and the series also stars Tony Marrese as venue owner Greg, Tamsyn Kelly as barmaid Lex, Jody Kamali as dodgy agent Brian Legitte, Cassie Atkinson as comedy blogger Lizzie Johnbags, Beth Vyse as Lex's mum Trish, Luke McQueen as rival MC Jimmy Mystery, Simon Balch as Paranormal Investigator Colin Sprite, Alison Thea-Skot as jive instructor Valerie Dubumz, Matthew Crosby as himself, Tom Hensby as himself, Claire Ford as Harry's date Katie, Tom Turner as producer David Sharpe and Matt Steer as comedy critic Mark Casper-Williams, with guest appearances from a whole host of amazing comedians playing themselves (including John Kearns, Holly Burn, Lou Sanders, Pat Cahill, Ed Aczel, Alexander Edelman, David Mills and more).
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Comedians' Cinema Club (2015-19)
Already a cult hit in its London residency and festival appearances, I joined Comedian's Cinema Club at EdFringe 2015. The brainchild of Eric Lampaert, and co-helmed by Matthew Highton and Will Seaward, it sees comedians drunkenly and enthusiastically trying to recreate classic films, from Frozen to The Silence of the Lambs to The Wizard of Oz. The regular CCC team also consists of myself, Amy Howerska, Simon Feilder, Eleanor Morton, Laura Lexx, Katia Kvinge and Paul Duncan McGarrity and together we've performed in London, Bristol, Belfast, Leicester, Bedford, Wells and at Latitude. In 2017 we've got residencies in London, Brighton and LA and will also be producing regular podcasts and Youtube series.
"A performance equal parts terrifying and hysterically hilarious." - Broadway Baby on my performance as Olaf in Frozen.
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The Alternative Comedy Memorial Society (2012-20)
ACMS has long been one of the best-loved cult shows of the alternative comedy scene, and I've been doing bits and bobs for it for years, but in 2015 I was appointed an Honorary Board Member so I feel I can include it on this list. This appointment was in recognition of my joke where I spent every night of EdFringe 2015 going to ACMS and pretending to be the next act every time a new act was introduced, only to eventually go "Oh, I must have misread the email" and leave. In 2016, I was finally officially Hazed onto the Board along with Eleanor Morton and Elf Lyons to replace the purged Bridget Christie, Josie Long and Tom Bell. ACMS is co-hosted by John-Luke Roberts and Thom Tuck and the rest of the Board consists of William Andrews, Steve Pretty, Alexis Dubus, Sara Pascoe, Isy Suttie and Ben Target.
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The Unofficial Harry Potter Sequels (2015-16)
The good folks at Laugh Out London and Weirdos Comedy have been producing a series of unofficial Harry Potter sequels over the last year or two which have proven unprecedentedly popular. They're largely about Harry's disappointing and banal life after graduating from Hogwarts and star yours truly among the cast. The show has sold out at the Leicester Square Theatre and returns there in May before heading to the Edinburgh Fringe. I play Draco Malfoy and the show also stars Adam Larter (who writes the show) as Harry, Eleanor Morton as Ginny, Marny Godden as Hermione, Matt Tedford as Ron, Jon Brittain as Hagrid, Cassie Atkinson as Professor McGonagall, Gareth Morinan as Dumbledore, Sooz Kempner as Bellatrix, Laurence Owen as the Musician, Matthew Highton as Neville and Jack De'Ath as a Dragon.
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Hello World! Joz Norris's 100% Unofficial ELO Musical (2015)
This was a one-off musical extravaganza for Dave's Leicester Comedy Festival 2015. Written in 2005 by my deluded teenage self as a paean to my beloved Electric Light Orchestra, it tells the story of God's least favourite nephew, Horace Wimp, and his quest to find a wife. It was previewed at the Edinburgh Fringe 2014 and performed in full in Leicester in 2015 as a shambolic piece of nonsense engineered specifically to shatter the dreams of my teenage self. Great fun.
"I really enjoyed it, amazingly." - Geoff Rowe, Director of Dave's Leicester Comedy Festival
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A Trip (2014-15)
A highly original and high-budget webseries from myself and Adam Larter in which Laugh Out London commissions us to go and review restaurants up North, and we enjoy a series of quality meals while doing impressions of popular celebrities. Bears superficial similarities to the Steve Coogan/Rob Brydon project of a similar name, but the innovative use of greenscreen and top-end visual effects really makes it stand out. Currently we've done four episodes including a Christmas Special in which Adam accidentally mixed the music so loud that it drowned out most of the dialogue, and in the most recent episode we went to America so hopefully there's big things ahead. Also guest stars Charlie Miller as our much-abused producer.
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A Christmas Tail (2014)
The third annual Weirdos Alternative Comedy Pantomime, and the third in the hugely popular Crocodile Trilogy. The show was one of the main attractions of the Heroes Grotto of Comedy pop-up venue in December 2014 and one of the big hits of the festive season. It told the story of a feminist mermaid who travels to the human world in order to protest against an exploitative John Lewis advert. For the first time in the history of Weirdos, I was given a lead role in the form of Australian lobster Picasso, essentially in the pointless hope that it would stop me ad-libbing. Also starring Harriet Kemsley as Maggie the Mermaid, Katia Kvinge as her sister Sharon, Pat Cahill as the King of the Ocean, Luke McQueen as Jack the Advertising Executive, Mark Stephenson as the villainous Gary the Eel, Beth Vyse as evil John Lewis client Moira and John Kearns as Octopus and Finny Jones the Dolphin.
"Due to a mischievous pre-show announcement, Joz Norris has to put up with a barrage of audience abuse - the exoskeletoned twat." - Chortle
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Joz Norris: Awkward Prophet (2014)
My first solo stand-up show as myself, which played at several festivals nationwide - Dave's Leicester Comedy Festival, the Good Humour Club in York, Words With Edge Fest in London, Theatre Fest West in Salisbury and Trowbridge, and a month run at the Edinburgh Fringe playing at the Underbelly and promoted by Live Nation. Essentially, this was the story of an asexual boy who would desperately like to be in a relationship but has no idea why, except that he once saw it in a Richard Curtis film. Directed by Luke Chaproniere.
"He is a born entertainer, but also a great comedy writer...Norris is clearly a young comic going places." - Chortle
"A potentially massive future comedy star." - The Herald
"Either masterful or accidental...Brilliantly-executed." - Fest
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Weirdos Presents Blueprint (2013-14)
Weirdos Comedy Club's monthly comedy experiment/playground/happening, combining special guests with sketches, plays, ideas, costumes, music, silliness, art, the lot. The night was devised and directed by Adam Larter and featured short scripts written by Adam alongside absurdist sketches devised by the entire cast and written and rehearsed on the day. Highlights include Grassy Knoll's House Party, Bakers Vs. Pigeons Press Conference and Sigur Ros Dubbed At The Icelandic Brits. Guests over the course of the residency included Phil Kay, Lee Kern, Holly Burn, the Grandees, Darren Maskell, Bec Hill, Lou Sanders and many more. Roles played by me include Ghost Joz Norris, Time Traveller Joz Norris, Space Ranger Joz Norris, Buggie the Scotsman in Billy the Saddest Cigarette and Prince in time travel sex epic Supersexyfunkysexyfuture.
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The Colonel (2013-14)
Weirdos' second annual Christmas pantomime told the story of a young man from Kentucky who sets out from his smalltown beginnings to make a name for himself in the army before setting up a popular chicken-based franchise, all the while trying to win the love of his mother and defeat the evil Ron McDonald. The show was one of the biggest comedy hits of Christmas 2013, and played once more at Dave's Leicester Comedy Festival in 2014. I played the roles of Kentucky's soused greengrocer as well as Dr Who and an enthusiastic soldier called Joz Norris. The show also starred Ali Brice as Sanders, Beth Vyse as Mrs Sanders, Matthew Highton as Ron McDonald, Marny Godden as Penny, Pat Cahill as Hitler, John Kearns as Stanley, Ben Target as the Narrator and Adam Larter as Chicken Steve. It was written by Adam Larter and Matthew Highton and directed by Adam.
"Weirdos is fast becoming the nearest thing we have to a modern-day Comic Strip." - Chortle
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Joz Norris Has Gone Missing (2013)
My second solo show, and first full-length Edinburgh show. The show was included in Time Out's Top 10 Free Shows of the Fringe and Laugh Out London's Pick of the Free Fringe, as well as being Fringe Review's Top Pick for the Blind Poet venue. Joz Norris went AWOL for a bit, leaving an hour to be filled by three friends of his - crap superhero Mr Gumbo, garden-spider-turned-idiot-boy Rosco, and deluded aspiring rockstar Matt Fisher.
"Norris performs with indefatigable gusto and not a hint of pretension...Quality moments of silliness." - London is Funny
"Joz Norris may have gone missing, but his comic ability is still evidently present." - Three Weeks
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The What Not Podcast (2013)
Mine and Karl Schultz's "Two Comedians Talking to One Another" podcast, which was genuinely quite funny in places. Highlights included a conversation about what constitutes a pirate in the modern day, a story about penguins at an aquarium, and a fantasty about a live link between the O2 and a hospital bed. Produced by Luke Chaproniere and Jose Mouzo Estevez, with the odd guest appearance from John Kearns, Matthew Highton and Joe Davies.
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Weirdos Presents Hook (2012)
The first annual Weirdos panto, and probably the worst one. The messiest, where it all started and nobody knew what they were doing yet. This one was a word-for-word live recreation of the Steven Spielberg film Hook, and was as stupid as that sounds. Directed by Adam Larter and featuring a cast that included John Kearns as Peter Pan, Karl Schultz as Captain Hook, Holly Burn as Tinker Bell, Matthew Highton as Rufio, Darren Maskell as Smee, Beth Vyse as Wendy, Ali Brice as Jack, Mark Stephenson as Maggie, and many more. I played an attention-seeking Lost Boy and Peter Pan's Shadow.
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Joz Norris Is Matt Fisher: Uberperson (2012)
My first solo show, which played a short run at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2012 with supporting guests including John Kearns, Richard Todd, Harriet Kemsley, Amy Hoggart and Matthew Highton. The inauspicious live debut of deluded aspiring rockstar and Billy Joel fan Matt Fisher, replete with anecdotes about chicken, musings on death and a good bit about Wallace and Gromit. Directed by Barney Norris.
"Norris has created a genuinely brilliant character...The audience loves every second." - The Skinny
