Henry Normal

Who is Henry Normal?

Henry Normal is an English comedian, television producer, poet and writer. He is Managing Director of Baby Cow Productions Ltd which he set up with Steve Coogan.

When living in Chesterfield, Normal chanced upon a local fanzine writer and knocked on the bedsit door of editor Faye Ray. The fanzine editor played Normal tapes of 'ranting' poets he had recently received including Steven 'Seething' Wells, Little Brother and Joolz. Normal went on to be a central figure in the local music scene and the performance poet was a regular fixture at local gigs.

In his early career, Normal toured with the band Pulp. With Mark Atwood he helped form the Live Poets Society whose motto was 'poetry so good you can actually understand it'. Established in Manchester, they performed in pubs and clubs throughout the north of England. Normal had an eccentric delivery style, and at a 1987 poetry convention in Corby performed with a paper bag over his head. Also in the 1980s, Henry Normal had short prose pieces published in small press magazines such as Peace & Freedom. He had a live album released in 1987 by in Tape, Ostrich Man.

In 1991 he starred in Channel 4's late night series, Packet of Three, which blended stand-up comedy with a peculiarly solipsistic sitcom about the staff working at a theatre for variety, called the Crumpsall Palladium. As the beleaguered, depressed theatre owner, Normal was assisted by stage manager Frank Skinner and kiosk attendant Jenny Eclair.