Artists and Comedians
Jack Rooke
Watford
Jack Rooke is a comedian, presenter, CALM ambassador and writer from Watford. His debut show ´Good Grief’, a comedy-theatre hour co-written with his 85 year-old Nan Sicely, was met with critical acclaim earning two transfers at Soho Theatre, a nomination for ‘Best Show by an Emerging Artist’ Total Theatre Awards 2015 and a highlights mention in The New York Times’ Top Highlights of the Edinburgh Festival 2015.
‘Good Grief’ was the headline production of Soho Theatre’s inaugural Soho Rising Festival, showcasing the best in new writing and performance. Soho Theatre are producing a national tour of ‘Good Grief´ in Spring 2017 and have commissioned Jack’s second full-length comedy-theatre show ´Happy Hour’.
In broadcasting, Jack is currently filming his debut BBC Three comedy-documentary series ´Jack Rooke’s Happy Man’ about male identity, body image, mental health. He has developed ´Good Grief’ for BBC Comedy which will be broadcast in March 2017 on BBC Radio 4. He is the resident on-air expert in bereavement and mental health for BBC Radio 1, frequently featuring on R1´s Surgery and helping create documentaries such as ´R1’s Guide To Happiness’ (2014) and Clara Amfo´s ´Running with Grief’ (2016).
As a presenter, Jack hosts The Guardian Literary Institute at Camp Bestival and The Arts Amphitheatre at Bestival. Jack has created work for The Independent, BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 4, The Guardian, Cosmopolitan, Huffington Post and Channel 4 as both a comedian and an ambassador for male suicide prevention charity CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably), where Jack curates and hosts comedy showcase Save The Male in aid of CALM. Jack previously was Deputy Editor of CALM’s mens lifestyle magazine CALMzine, picking up the 2016 Mind Media award for Best Publication.
Jack has performed at Soho Theatre, Roundhouse, Royal Court, Trafalgar Studios, Latitude and Bestival. He featured in the music video for Santigold’s ´Can’t Get Enough Of Myself’ alongside Jay-Z, Pharrell Williams, Andy Samberg and Olivia Wilde.
