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Pat Condell
Photographic face portrait of Condell with sun glasses on.
Condell in January 2006
PseudonymEddie Zibin (used in the 1980s)[1]
Birth namePatrick Condell
Born1949 or 1950[2]
Ireland[3]
MediumWriter, comedian
Years active1982–present[1][4]
GenresTopical comedy, religious/political satire, anti-theism
Subject(s)Atheism, free speech, UKIP
Websitewww.patcondell.net
youtube.com/patcondell
Template:Infobox comedian awards

Patrick "Pat" Condell (born 1949 or 1950[2]), is an Irish[2] writer, political commentator, comedian and atheist internet personality. He performed alternative comedy shows during the 1980s and 1990s in the United Kingdom, and won a Time Out Comedy Award in 1991. He was also a regular panellist on BBC Radio 1's "Loose Talk".

From early 2007, he began posting short monologues denouncing religion to a number of video sharing websites, consequently receiving numerous death threats. His videos have been featured on many websites, including YouTube and LiveLeak. They have also been published to DVD, and also as a book of video transcripts. As of February 2012, Pat Condell's YouTube channel has over 169,000 subscribers and 38 million views.

In a video titled "Vote small, think big", uploaded a fortnight before the 2010 UK general elections, and on his website, Pat Condell expressed support for the UK Independence Party.[5][6][7] He is an atheist activist, a strong proponent of free speech and critic of religion.[8]

Early life

Condell was born in Ireland[9] and raised in England as a Roman Catholic.[10] He was educated in several different Church of England schools across South London; he said of this time "I found myself segregated in assembly and shunted into another room while everyone said their morning prayers. The whole pantomime seemed hollow to me even then. Once you become aware of the gulf between what people profess to believe and how they actually behave, it’s hard to take any of it seriously."[10] His father was a compulsive gambler working in a betting shop until he was sent to prison for stealing money. He then died of leukaemia.[10] The family was impoverished, moving repeatedly from home to home. Condell left school at 16, and his first job was washing dishes in the revolving restaurant on top of the Post Office tower, now known as the BT Tower in London, for five shillings an hour.[11]

Condell became a vegetarian in 1976 after watching a deer being butchered.[12] Condell did a number of jobs including six years' logging in Canada.[10]

Comedy

Condell performed alternative comedy shows during the 1980s and 1990s in the United Kingdom. His first performance on stage was at the age of 32 in a comedy sketch called Mountbatten’s Plimsoll.[1][10] He also wrote poetry and appeared in the Poetry Olympics at the Young Vic Theatre in 1982,[13] which led to a job writing weekly poems for the Time Out magazine. Pat was described at the time as "a manic gimlet-eyed, crop-haired poet" in Drama: The Quarterly Theatre Review book.[14]

He then performed on the London Alternative Comedy circuit for several years (originally under the name Eddie Zibin).[1] He also performed at the Tunnel Club, next to the Blackwall Tunnel, where he describes the audience as a "nightmare"; bottles and glasses were thrown at him, and one person attempted to cut the microphone lead with a pair of garden shears. Condell was a performer at The Comedy Store in the Cutting Edge team,[10] with whom he performed at the Edinburgh Fringe in 1991.[15] That year Condell was the winner of a Time Out Comedy Award.[16] From 1991 to 1994 he was a regular panellist on BBC Radio 1's "Loose Talk".[17] During the mid 1990s, Condell was performing over 200 times a year. Due to the late nights and regular travelling he decided to start writing for other comedians, while still doing the occasional performance.[10] In 1991 he performed comedy sketches at Duke of York's Theatre, which were released onto DVD as Barf Bites Back! (1991).[18]

Condell's 1996 play, Barry Sorts It Out, was given a negative review in the Financial Times, which described it as "a sordid East End comedy" which "repeats ad nauseam the same gag." The reviewer concluded that it is "a play with all the bite of a set of joke-shop fangs."[19]

His 2006 stand-up show Faith Hope and Sanity, subtitled "A Few Jokes About Religion Before It Kills Us All", was a platform for his comedy and atheist beliefs. "This is the first time I’ve set out to write a show in order to say something, rather than just as a vehicle for stand-up" he said of the show.[10] He performed the show at London’s Etcetera Theatre.[20][21] Chortle gave Condell's 2006 show a negative review, noting that Condell is covering familiar territory but "is not quite up to the job," and observing that Condell's material was delivered "with very little variation in pace or tone, ... with the feel of a lecture" and "no structure, no building up to a passionate, climactic conclusion, no ebb and flow of storytelling." Chortle concluded that "Condell is still going through the motions."[22]

Online videos and politics

Condell had posted more than 100 video monologues on various video sites as of August 2011, which together had notched up over 35 million hits,[4][23] and his videos have been translated and subtitled into 14 languages on the dotSUB collaborative platform.[24] In September 2009, he was one of the top ten most subscribed users on YouTube in the United Kingdom and the most subscribed to comedian of all time in the UK.[25][26] Eight of his videos are in the top hundred most commented on videos in the UK.[27] Most of his YouTube videos chastise Islam and Western appeasement of Islam. His videos have caused Condell to receive hundreds of death threats and also a significant amount of support.[28][29][30]

His videos have been featured on websites and blogs, including Little Green Footballs,[31] YouTube,[32] LiveLeak,[23] Jihad Watch,[33] MilkandCookies,[34] Kathy Shaidle's blog,[35] Geert Wilders, the leader of the political party Party for Freedom website,[36] PZ Myers' blog Pharyngula,[37] and Richard Dawkins' website.[38] In 2007 one of Condell's YouTube videos was used in a presentation by Sir Harold Kroto, recipient of the 1996 Nobel Prize for Chemistry, at the Beyond Belief symposium.[39][40]

Condell's first video, uploaded to YouTube on 8 February 2007[41] was his participation in The Blasphemy Challenge,[42] an Internet-based project which aims to get atheists declare themselves.[43] The challenge asks atheists to submit videos to the website YouTube, in which they record themselves blaspheming or denying the existence of the Holy Spirit.[44][45]

Condell has spoken favourably of Geert Wilders[46] and has described the Quran as hate speech.[47]

UKIP

In April 2010, Condell urged his viewers to vote "for freedom" and said that a "vote for any of the three main parties" would be a wasted vote in the 2010 general election.[48] The same day the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) said that Condell "urges voters to shun the three old parties and vote UKIP".[49][50] In a video titled "Vote small, think big", uploaded a fortnight before the 2010 UK general elections, and on his website, Pat Condell expressed support for the policies of the UK Independence Party.[5][6][7] He is a strong proponent of free speech and critic of religion.[8]

Atheism

Richard Dawkins, author of The God Delusion, said of Condell that "Pat Condell is unique. Nobody can match his extraordinary blend of suavity and savagery. With his articulate intelligence he runs rings around the religious wingnuts that are the targets of his merciless humour. Thank goodness he is on our side".[51] In 2008, Dawkins's website released a collection of Condell's monologues on DVD, titled Pat Condell: Anthology.[51] The DVD was also sold on Amazon.com.[52]

In an interview with the Bosnian magazine Start,[53][54] Condell says his intent "is to get other people's unprovable beliefs out of my life, and out of government, the law and education. I don't care what people believe as long as I don't have to keep hearing about it."[55]

He has been criticised by Christian author Dinesh D'Souza on AOL News, who said "If the televangelists are guilty of producing some simple-minded, self-righteous Christians, then the atheist authors are guilty of producing self-congratulatory buffoons like Condell."[56] Atheist biology professor and blogger PZ Myers, on the other hand, endorsed Condell with a terse "Speak it, brother!".[57] The book Raising Freethinkers: A Practical Guide for Parenting Beyond Belief, describes Condell as "breathtakingly intelligent, articulate, uncompromising, and funny".[58]

He is a member of the National Secular Society[59] and has a large following of users on the Internet, including a Facebook group dedicated to him.[60]

No Mosque at Ground Zero

See also: Park51

Condell has been resolute and outspoken in his opposition to the development of Park51, near the site of the 11 September 2001 World Trade Center attack, in lower Manhattan. On 4 June 2010, he released a video titled "No Mosque at Ground Zero", in which he said that it was representative of Islamic triumphalism and that the United States would soon be on the verge of Islamization and have its freedoms trimmed, as Europe has.[61] The video has attracted 6 million views since it was uploaded. Speaking on why he believes the Mosque is offensive, Pat Condell claimed:

"To describe it as they have as a tribute to the victims is beyond bad taste, and shows a profound contempt for those who died. It would be hard to find a more provocative gesture short of standing on their graves and burning the American flag. Yet how typical of Islam, with its own hair trigger sensitivity to the slightest imagined insult, to do something so arrogant and insensitive."[62]

Additionally, Condell cast some doubt over the funding of the community centre, and claimed that Islam would have been banned in the civilised world if it wasn't for the fact it was a religion. He compared the system of Sharia and the Muslims who endorse it to Nazi Germany.

The Trouble with Islam reaction

The Trouble with Islam

Condell also received criticism after links to his monologue, titled The Trouble with Islam, were circulated to commissioners in the California city of Berkeley's Peace and Justice Commission. Condell said in the video that Islam is "a religion of war", that "Muslim women in Britain who cover their faces are mentally ill", though in some parts of the world women have no choice but to cover their face, as they are "governed... by primitive pigs whose only achievement in life is to be born with a penis in one hand and a Qur'an in the other." Commissioner Elliot Cohen described Condell's comments as "insulting, degenerating and racist".[63]

Condell then accused Cohen of being "motivated by his own narrow personal and political agenda which has nothing to do with me or the video clip."[64] The video was initially sent to them by fellow Peace and Justice Commissioner Jonathan Wornick, who said it "tries to expose intolerance in the Muslim world," such as "the intolerance of radical Islamists who say if you insult Allah, you should have your head cut off."[65] Condell said that its popularity proves "there is an enthusiastic audience for comedy ideas and opinions which are routinely censored out of existence in the UK’s mainstream media, thanks to misguided political correctness".[66]

YouTube censorship

See also: Censorship of YouTube

Condell's video Welcome to Saudi Britain was removed by YouTube early in October 2008, but reinstated shortly after. In it Condell criticises Britain's sanctioning of a Sharia court, and refers to the entire country of Saudi Arabia as "mentally ill" for its abuse of women.[17][67]

A YouTube spokesman said "YouTube has clear policies that prohibit inappropriate content on the site, such as pornography, gratuitous violence or hate speech.... If users repeatedly break these rules we disable their accounts." The National Secular Society were amongst the complainants to YouTube, saying "as usual, he (Condell) does not mince his words, but he is not saying anything that is untrue. His main thrust is one of outrage on behalf of those Muslim women who will suffer because they are forced to have their marital problems solved in a male-dominated Sharia court."[17]

Shortly after, YouTube reversed their earlier decision saying "Upon further review of the context of Pat Condell's comments, we've reinstated it." Richard Dawkins applauded the reversal, saying "I congratulate YouTube on an excellent decision. Pat Condell is hard-hitting, but always quietly reasonable in tone."[67] Condell believed that it was removed due to a flagging campaign by Islamic activists.[28][29][30]

YouTube also briefly removed Condell's video Godless and Free restored it, emailing Condell explaining that it had been removed erroneously.[28][29][30]

Works

Year Name Medium Role Notes References
1991 Barf Bites Back! Stand-up Comedy Actor [18]
1997 Barry Sorts It Out Comedy Writer [68][69]
1998 Stand and Deliver Stand-up Comedy Writer [70][71][72]
2008 Pat Condell Anthology Stand-up Comedy Writer/actor An anthology of 35 of Condell's videos. [51][52]
2010 Godless and Free Paperback Writer [73]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d Condell, Pat. "Comedy and Me". patcondell.net. Retrieved 28 May 2008.
  2. ^ a b c Hay, Michael (3 November 2006). "Pat Condell: interview". Time Out. Retrieved 27 February 2012. Condell's 56. He was born in Ireland, as a catholic, then moved to England as a child and was educated in Church of England schools
  3. ^ Condell, 17 August 2010
  4. ^ a b Condell, Pat. "Pat Condell's YouTube page". YouTube. Retrieved 2 March 2008.
  5. ^ a b "Vote small, think big says Pat Condell – UK Independence Party". Ukip.org. 25 April 2010. Retrieved 13 April 2012.
  6. ^ a b "The Unacceptable Face Of Secularism". Socialist Unity. Retrieved 13 April 2012.
  7. ^ a b "FAQ". Patcondell.net. 27 February 2008. Retrieved 13 April 2012.
  8. ^ a b Godless and Free (2010) Pat Condell
  9. ^ Pat Condell (17 August 2010). An Irish joke. YouTube. Event occurs at 1:08. Retrieved 20 August 2010. I was born in Ireland {{cite AV media}}: Unknown parameter |timecaption= ignored (|time-caption= suggested) (help)
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h Hay, Malcolm (3 November 2006). "Pat Condell: interview". Time Out London. Retrieved 20 August 2010. Condell's 56. He was born an Irish Catholic but educated in Church of England schools.
  11. ^ Condell, Pat. "FAQ". patcondell.net. Retrieved 9 July 2009.
  12. ^ Condell, Pat. "Godless and Meatless". patcondell.net. Retrieved 16 March 2009. I became a vegetarian in 1976 while watching a deer being butchered.
  13. ^ Foreman, Judy (30 November 1982). "Poets' marathon at Young Vic 'Olympics'" (fee required). The Times. Times Digital archive. Retrieved 6 September 2009.
  14. ^ Drama: The Quarterly Theatre Review. British Theatre Association. 1981. p. 34. OCLC 297266816. {{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  15. ^ "STA Catalogue – Event Details". University of Glasgow. Retrieved 16 March 2009.
  16. ^ "Time Out Awards". Chortle. 1991. Retrieved 22 October 2007.
  17. ^ a b c Beckford, Martin (4 September 2008). "YouTube censors comedian's anti-Sharia video called 'Welcome to Saudi Britain'". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 16 March 2009.
  18. ^ a b "Barf Bites Back! (VHS) (1991)". Amazon.co.uk. Archived from the original on 22 January 2009. Retrieved 16 March 2009.
  19. ^ Shuttleworth, Ian. "The pick of london's second one-person play festival". Financial Times. Retrieved 4 February 2008.
  20. ^ "As recommended by the Messiah." Chortle.co.uk. 11 October 2006. Retrieved 17 March 2009.
  21. ^ Hall, Julian (11 January 2007). "James Sherwood: I Know What You Did Last Sunday, Etc Theatre, London". The Independent. Retrieved 17 March 2009.
  22. ^ "Pat Condell: "Faith Hope & Sanity"". Chortle.co.uk. Retrieved 3 September 2011.
  23. ^ a b "Pat Condell's Live Leak page". LiveLeak. Retrieved 4 December 2007.
  24. ^ "Videos uploaded by patcondell". dotSUB. Retrieved 16 April 2011.
  25. ^ "YouTube – patcondell's channel". YouTube. 12 September 2009. Archived from the original on 12 September 2009. Retrieved 12 September 2009. #1 – Most Subscribed (All Time) – Comedians – United Kingdom
  26. ^ "Now Condell video is banned from YouTube". MediaWatchWatch. 2 October 2008. Archived from the original on 12 September 2009. Retrieved 12 September 2009. YouTube's most subscribed comedian, Pat Condell
  27. ^ "All – Most Discussed (All Time) (UK)". YouTube. pp. 1–4. Retrieved 24 April 2010.
  28. ^ a b c Brendel, Carel (7 March 2009). "Dwarse cabaretier Pat Condell niet verbaasd over opmars van Wilders" (in Dutch). Netherlands: Algemeen Dagblad. Retrieved 17 March 2009.
  29. ^ a b c Pat Condell (10 March 2009). "Interview with Dutch newspaper AD Weekend (unedited)". Archived from the original on 8 February 2010. Retrieved 16 March 2009.
  30. ^ a b c Nasser, PLodewijk (9 March 2009). "Interview met Pat Condell" (in Dutch). Het Vrije Volk. Retrieved 16 March 2009.
  31. ^ "lfg search results for pat condell". Little Green Footballs. Retrieved 17 March 2009.
  32. ^ "YouTube – Broadcast Yourself". 23 July 2008. Archived from the original on 23 July 2008. Retrieved 23 July 2008.
  33. ^ "Pat Condell: Welcome to Saudi Britain". Jihad Watch. 2 September 2008. Retrieved 24 April 2010.
  34. ^ "Pat Condell: A Word about the Soldiers". MilkandCookies. 12 March 2009. Retrieved 17 March 2009.
  35. ^ Shaidle, Kathy (13 December 2007). "Pat Condell: "Another public relations triumph for Islam!"". fivefeetoffury.com. Retrieved 17 March 2009.
  36. ^ "Pat Condell on the Geert Wilders ban". geertwilders.nl. 14 February 2009. Retrieved 17 March 2009.
  37. ^ Myers, Paul Zachary (23 April 2010). "Mohammed's dead hand still ruins lives from the grave". Scienceblogs. Retrieved 24 April 2010.
  38. ^ "Archive Search". richarddawkins.net. Archived from the original on 26 July 2008. Retrieved 17 March 2009. Results 1 – 13 of 13 for "pat condell"
  39. ^ Beyond Belief 2007 (Documentary). The Science Network. 2007. Retrieved 11 September 2009. (video length 39:56; Condell starts at 17:20, ends at 19:08)
  40. ^ "Nobel prize winner gives Pat Condell a shout-out (at 3:00)". 5 December 2007. Retrieved 16 March 2009.
  41. ^ Condell, Pat (8 February 2007). "Re: The Blasphemy Challenge". YouTube. Retrieved 27 March 2009.
  42. ^ McKeegan, Dave (27 February 2008). "Laughing religion off the planet – an interview with Pat Condell". The Freethinker. Retrieved 27 March 2009.
  43. ^ Adler, Jerry (8 January 2006). "Beliefwatch: Blasphemy". Newsweek. Archived from the original on 2 January 2007. Retrieved 17 September 2007.
  44. ^ Lampman, Jane (4 January 2007). "Atheists challenge the religious right". Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 17 September 2007.
  45. ^ Berman, John (30 January 2007). "The Blasphemy Challenge". ABC News. Retrieved 17 September 2007. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  46. ^ "Pat Condell: Shame on the Netherlands". Panarmenian.Net. 29 January 2009. Retrieved 13 April 2012.
  47. ^ Barillas, Martin (3 March 2009). "Geert Wilder's speech to CPAC Conference". Spero. Retrieved 26 April 2012.
  48. ^ Condell, Pat (24 April 2010). Vote small, think big. YouTube. Event occurs at 1:19 and 6:38. Retrieved 6 August 2010. Personally, I'll be voting for the UK Independence Party ... a vote for any of the three main parties is ... a wasted vote
  49. ^ "Vote small, think big says Pat Condell". UK Independence Party. 25 April 2010. Retrieved 7 May 2010.
  50. ^ Condell, Pat (3 May 2010). Hello angry atheists. YouTube. Event occurs at 01:30. Retrieved 6 August 2010. some people ... missed the point of the video, which was to encourage people to vote for someone who actually shares their values
  51. ^ a b c "Pat Condell: Anthology DVD available now!". richarddawkins.net. 29 April 2008. Retrieved 17 March 2009.
  52. ^ a b "Pat Condell Anthology". Amazon.com. ASIN B0018CABC6. Retrieved 2000-03-16. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  53. ^ "Kontaktirajte Magazinu START". Magazin Start. Archived from the original on 3 January 2008. Retrieved 18 March 2009.
  54. ^ "Start Interview List". Magazin Start. Retrieved 18 March 2009.[dead link]
  55. ^ "Interview with Pat Condell". Archived from the original on 31 September 2008. Retrieved 2009-03-24. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |archivedate= (help)
  56. ^ D'Souza, Dinesh (26 September 2007). "Why Is This Atheist So Smug?". AOL News. Archived from the original on 12 September 2009. Retrieved 20 September 2009. {{cite web}}: |archive-date= / |archive-url= timestamp mismatch; 20 February 2009 suggested (help)
  57. ^ Myers, PZ (28 November 2007). "Speak it, Brother!". Scienceblogs. Retrieved 29 November 2007.
  58. ^ Raising Freethinkers: A Practical Guide for Parenting Beyond Belief. Amacom. 2009. p. 288. {{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  59. ^ "Comedian Pat Condell's videos receive millions of hits". National Secular Society. Retrieved 22 October 2007.
  60. ^ Sims, Paul (10 August 2007). "Comedian Pat Condell ranting about religion". New Humanist. Archived from the original on 14 September 2007. Retrieved 26 March 2009. {{cite web}}: |archive-date= / |archive-url= timestamp mismatch; 14 October 2007 suggested (help)
  61. ^ S. Leiken, Robert (1 July 2005). "Why Is This Atheist So Smug?". Foreign affairs. Retrieved 13 February 2011.
  62. ^ "Pat Condell on Ground Zero mosque: "Is it possible to be astonished, but not surprised?"". Jihad Watch. 4 June 2010. Retrieved 13 February 2011.
  63. ^ "Comic in US 'hate speech' row". Chortle. 17 May 2007. Retrieved 22 October 2007.
  64. ^ "Letters to the Editor". Berkeley Daily Planet. 29 May 2007. Retrieved 22 October 2007.
  65. ^ Scherr, Judith (15 May 2007). "Commissioners Condemn Bigoted E-Mail" (PDF). Berkeley Daily Planet. Archived from the original on 11 September 2009. Retrieved 22 October 2007.
  66. ^ Duke, Barry (11 August 2007). "Condell hits top a million". The Freethinker. Retrieved 22 October 2007.
  67. ^ a b Dawkins, Richard (4 September 2008). "YouTube Reinstates Pat Condell". Richarddawkins.net. Retrieved 24 April 2010.
  68. ^ "Pat Condell – playwright". doollee.com. Archived from the original on 18 October 2007. Retrieved 3 December 2007.
  69. ^ "Barry Sorts It Out". UK Theatre Web. Retrieved 16 March 2009.
  70. ^ "Pat Condell". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 16 March 2009.
  71. ^ McCrory, Helen. "Performance Details: Stand And Deliver". Retrieved 16 March 2009.
  72. ^ Laing, Allan (14 March 1998). "Script? What script? Stars reveal the secret behind new drama Stand and Deliver; It's the way I tell 'em". The Herald. Glasgow, UK. Retrieved 17 October 2009.
  73. ^ "Godless and Free". Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 25 May 2012.

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