Artist Profile
Daniel Simonsen
Norwegian born Daniel Simonsen burst onto the comedy scene in late 2007. Within just a few months he had achieved huge recognition and success in two of the most prestigious comedy competitions in the country and had gained a strong reputation for being a talented, fresh and original comedian.
He is a trained actor, having been educated at Ecole Phillipe Gaulier, Paris, France, where former students include Academy Award winners Geoffrey Rush, Roberto Benigni and Golden Globe winner Sacha Baron Cohen. He was also considered for the role of ‘Courtney’ in Universal Pictures movie “Your Highness”, directed by David Gordon Green (Pineapple Express, East Bound and Down). He was offered an audition for the film after the crew saw him perform at the Comedy Store 2009.
Simonsen continues to be a circuit favourite doing gigs for Off the Kerb and Mirth Control, amongst others.
This year Daniel will be featuring in The Comedy Reserve as part of the Edinburgh Festival at Pleasance Jackdome 4th-30th (not 16th or 23rd) August at 21.30.
UK:
WINNER SO YOU THINK YOU’RE FUNNY 2008
LAUGHING HORSE FINALIST 2008
CHORTLE BEST NEWCOMER NOMINEE 2009
PERFORMED AT THE JUST FOR LAUGHS FESTIVAL IN MONTREAL 2009
WINNER KING GONG SHOW AT THE COMEDY STORE
WINNER LION’S DEN GONG SHOW
WINNER KING OF THE RING GONG SHOW
WINNER COMEDY CAFÉ NEW ACT NIGHT
NORWAY:
WINNER ‘PERFORMER OF THE YEAR’ AT IMMATURUS, THE STUDENT THEATRE OF BERGEN 2005
WINNER IMPROV THEATRE CHAMPIONSHIP 2004
“A SCANDINAVIAN who surely deserves his place in the comedy section is Daniel Simonsen. Last week, in a pub in London's Chalk Farm hosting the Monkey Business comedy club, Lucy Porter and Paul Sinha were wrestling with new material for Edinburgh. Sandwiched between them was an unheralded young Norwegian who you knew was funny before he even opened his mouth. Simonsen's ten minutes were the best of the night. He won the So You Think You're Funny award last year, with Gilded Balloon director Karen Coren saying "he has funny bones".” Scotsman
“Karen Koren, director of the Gilded Ballon, said Simonsen had won because "he has funny bones". She said: "All the finalists were fantastic, it just happens that Daniel was a little bit different” BBC SYTF Final
“Next up, Daniel Simonsen, a bone-dry Norwegian with a more-than agreeable line in weird observations. He admits to being nervous in social situations, and wittily describes his anxiety at an office induction day or his tendency to say ‘hello’ to strangers in the street way too early. His personality is a little hard to fathom, but he makes the most of this awkwardness, coming across as ethereal and disconnected – an image helped by the heavy accent. Indeed, he gets laughs even from the way he says something like ‘walkie-talkie’. He hasn’t yet fully capitalised on his apparent strangeness, but shows a lot of promise as a relative newcomer.” Chortle Laughing Horse Final 2008
“Norwegian Daniel Simonsen has a head-start in comedy for his accent alone, the bone-dry, off-kilter Nordic delivery providing a distinctively stilted rhythm to the jokes and a innate awkwardness in communication. He milks this well, with routines about his social nervousness, whether it be in his job as a hospital porter or an exchange as simple as spotting an acquaintance in the street. Not everything is aimed at his own gaucheness, mind, and he has a keenly-observed section about film trailer hyperbole. There is some nicely quirky writing here, and it’s easy to see why the judges were impressed enough to grant him first place” Chortle So You Think Your Funny Final 2008
“Daniel Simonsen's sublimely subversive comedy operates on the edge of a unique, neurotic Scandinavian reserve - you're never quite sure how much is a genuine foreign naivety and how much is cleverly feigned, although judging by the skill with which he deploys most of his quiet, nervous, backhanded jokes, it's probably the latter. Impressively keeping a slightly drunk and uninterested audience of people probably just sheltering from the rain entertained” Three Weeks (Edinburgh 2009)
“Simonsen is a Norwegian comic with an impressive grasp of whimsy” Guardian
“Very promising” Time Out
“Brilliant newcomer” Time Out
“Marvellous” Time Out
QUOTES FROM INDUSTRY PEOPLE AND WEB SITES
“Tremendous promise” Don Ward Comedy Store
“Huge potential” Knock 2 Bag
“We watched the final and this bloke shone. He's from Norway, is really very good. Very refreshing stuff.” Just The Tonic
“Masterful. Very skilled. Timing is very good” Comedy Brewhouse
"He is fantastic. He is very original. That kind of originality has to be something thats gonna be remembered" Monkey Business
