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Olaf Falafel

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Olaf Falafel
Falafel with the 2019 Funniest Joke of the Fringe Award
PseudonymOlaf Falafel
Born1976-1977[1]
Years active2012-present
Websitewww.olaffalafel.com

Olaf Falafel is a comedian and children's author. Falafel illustrates his own books and is the creator and presenter of Art Club, an online art channel for children.[2] He has been a stand-up comedian since 2012[3] and is known for posting humorous videos on Twitter.[4] His humour frequently involves puns and absurdity.[5][6]

Early life

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Falafel is from Luton.[1]

Career

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Falafel worked as an art director before becoming a comedian,[7] and came up with his stage name as part of a workshop at the Tringe Festival, a comedy festival in Tring.[8]

In 2014, he was nominated for the Laughing Horse Comedy Club's New Act of the Year competition.[9] In 2017 he was included in both The Guardian's and The Telegraph's rundowns of the funniest jokes of the Edinburgh Fringe.[10][11] In 2018 Falafel was in Dave channel's, The Mirror's, The Evening Standard's, The Scotsman's and i News's rundowns of the top jokes of the Edinburgh Fringe[12][13][14][15][16] and won an award for his festival poster.[17]

Falafel secured a three-book contract with HarperCollins in 2016, after asking for a publisher to approach him in a tweet.[7]

In 2019, Falafel made headlines by winning the Best Joke Of The Fringe.[18] He took the title with the gag: "I keep randomly shouting out 'Broccoli' and 'Cauliflower' – I think I might have florets".

In 2020, Falafel signed a two-book deal with Walker books to illustrate Unleash Your Creative Monster[19] a "funny and informative" guide to creative writing.

In 2021, off the back of his Art Club YouTube videos,[20] Falafel signed a two-book deal with Puffin to create his first middle grade chapter books called Trixie Pickle Art Avenger[21] about a child who becomes their school's version of Banksy.

In August 2022, Falafel had two jokes in the Best Joke of the Edinburgh Fringe Top Ten list.[citation needed]

In 2023 Falafel's picture book Blobfish won The Society Of Authors Queen's Knickers Award,[22] and the Federation of Children's Book Groups' Children's Book Award,[23] and was shortlisted for the Wainwright Prize for Children's Writing on Nature and Conservation.[24]

In March 2024 Falafel won 'Best Kids Show' at the Leicester Comedy Festival, for his show 'Olaf Falafel's Stupidest Super Stupid Show (Yet)'. [25] Falafel also illustrated the map and provided the narration of penguin facts for a "Penguin Parade" sculpture trail in London, exhibited between November 2024 and January 2025.[26][27][28]

Live Shows

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  • 2015 – Expect the Unexporcupine (with Michael Stranney)[29]
  • 2016 – Olaf Falafel and the Cheese of Truth[30]
  • 2017 – The Marmosets of My Mind[31]
  • 2018 – There's no I in Idiot[32]
  • 2019 – Olaf Falafel Presents Knitting With Maracas
  • 2022 – Olaf Falafel's Super Stupid Show (family friendly show)
  • 2022 – Olaf Falafel STOAT
  • 2023 – Olaf Falafel's Super Stupid Show 20% More Stupider (family friendly show)
  • 2023 – Look What Fell Out Of My Head

Books

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  • 2017 – Old Macdonald Heard a Parp
  • 2017 – Father Christmas Heard a Parp
  • 2018 – Old Macdonald Heard a Parp from the Past[33]
  • 2019 – It's One Giant Leek For Mankind[34]
  • 2021 – Unleash Your Creative Monster[19]
  • 2022 – Trixie Pickle Art Avenger[21]
  • 2022 – Blobfish[35]
  • 2023 – Trixie Pickle Art Avenger - Toxic Takedown[36]

References

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  1. ^ a b Logan, Brian (August 6, 2024). "'This isn't going to be sensible!' Olaf Falafel, Edinburgh fringe's king of one-liners". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved January 8, 2025.
  2. ^ Heritage, Stuart (January 8, 2021). "From Shakespeare to drawing sausage dogs: the best TV for homeschooling". The Guardian. Retrieved January 8, 2021.
  3. ^ Moorhead, Rosy. "Comedy is the solution for maths expert Matt". St Albans & Harpenden Review. Retrieved November 17, 2020.
  4. ^ "Unilad stole my Vine! Comedians frustration as gag goes viral". Comedy News. Chortle. November 23, 2015. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
  5. ^ Bennett, Steve (August 5, 2018). "Olaf Falafel: There's no i in idiot". Reviews. Chortle. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
  6. ^ Dessau, Bruce (August 15, 2018). "Edinburgh Fringe, Olaf Falafel review: Absurdity so well-crafted that silly doesn't do it justice". Culture. The Evening Standard. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
  7. ^ a b "Comic Lands a Book Deal After Asking for one on Twitter". News. Chortle. December 1, 2016. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
  8. ^ Logan, Brian (August 6, 2024). "'This isn't going to be sensible!' Olaf Falafel, Edinburgh fringe's king of one-liners". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved January 8, 2025.
  9. ^ "New Act of the Year – Previous Winners and Finalists". Laughing Horse. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
  10. ^ Fleckney, Paul (August 15, 2017). "The 10 best jokes from the Edinburgh Fringe". The Guardian. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
  11. ^ "The 60 Funniest One Liners from the 2017 Edinburgh Fringe". The Telegraph. August 25, 2017. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
  12. ^ "Edinburgh Fringe's Top 10 Jokes Revealed". Sky News. August 20, 2018. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
  13. ^ McCaffrey, Julie (August 15, 2018). "The Best Jokes from Edinburgh Festival Fringe this Year". The Mirror. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
  14. ^ Greig, Finlay (August 19, 2019). "60 Edinburgh Fringe One-Liners that Really Deserved to Win Funniest Joke". i News. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
  15. ^ Thompson, Jessie (August 10, 2018). "Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2018 Best Jokes". Evening Standard. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
  16. ^ "The 10 Best Jokes of the Edinburgh Fringe". The Scotsman. August 20, 2018. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
  17. ^ "Olaf Falafel writes a kids' adventure". Chortle. July 2, 2021. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
  18. ^ "Edinburgh Fringe funniest joke: Vegetable gag wins top prize". BBC News. August 19, 2019. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
  19. ^ a b Hackett, Tamsin (June 11, 2020). "Walker Books signs two-book deal with creative duo Andy Jones and Olaf Falafel". The Bookseller. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
  20. ^ Bennett, Steve (March 31, 2021). "'The greatest thing to happen during lockdown'". Features. Chortle. Retrieved October 1, 2021.
  21. ^ a b Hackett, Tamsin (July 2, 2021). "Puffin serves up Falafel's 'laugh-out-loud' middle-grade adventure". The Bookseller. Retrieved October 1, 2021.
  22. ^ "The 2023 Queen's Knickers Award Winner". Society of Authors. May 8, 2020. Retrieved January 5, 2024.
  23. ^ "Children's Book Award 2023". Federation of Children's Book Groups. February 4, 2023. Retrieved January 5, 2024.
  24. ^ "10th Anniversary Shortlist for the James Cropper Wainwright Prize Announced". Wainwright Prize. James Cropper plc. August 10, 2023. Retrieved January 5, 2024.
  25. ^ Bennett, Steve (March 18, 2024). "'Jenny Eclair's Officially a Legend'". Comedy News. Chortle. Retrieved March 20, 2024.
  26. ^ "Fleet Street Quarter: Festive penguins go on display". BBC News. November 16, 2024. Archived from the original on January 8, 2025. Retrieved January 8, 2025.
  27. ^ "A Penguin Parade Sculpture Trail Has Marched Into Fleet Street". Londonist. October 8, 2024. Retrieved January 8, 2025.
  28. ^ "THE FLEET STREET QUARTER PENGUIN PARADE SCULPTURE TRAIL". Fleet Street Quarter. Retrieved January 8, 2025.
  29. ^ The British Comedy Guide – Edinburgh Fringe 2015
  30. ^ The List – Reviews
  31. ^ The Edinburgh Reporter – Culture
  32. ^ Chortle – Reviews
  33. ^ Love Reading
  34. ^ Olaf Falafel
  35. ^ O’Connell, Alex. "Blobfish by Olaf Falafel review — fish it out, it's blobby good". ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved June 5, 2022.
  36. ^ Falafel, Olaf (May 4, 2023). Trixie Pickle Art Avenger: Toxic Takedown.
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