John Hegley-poetry, songs & comedy
John Hegley is one of the UK’s most innovative comic poets with several best-selling volumes of poetry to his name. He has been likened to a cross between Elvis Costello and Dickens. He makes poetry accessible and, like any good comedian, he makes you think long after the last laugh of the night has faded.
He celebrates the wonder of the English language, while challenging pre-conceptions and prejudices, appealing to both children and adults in equal measure. He is a regular sell-out at The Edinburgh Festival. He has performed at the Montreal Comedy Festival, the USA Comedy Festival in Aspen, with Ulrika Jonsson & Anita Dobson in The Pyjama Game and on BBC R4’s Hearing With Hegley
John’s first public performance monies came from busking his songs, initially outside a shoeshop in Hull, in the late Seventies. He performed on the streets of London in the early Eighties, fronting the Popticians, with whom he also recorded two sessions for John Peel, and has since been a frequent performer of his words, sung and spoken, on both local and national radio. He is also An Edinburgh Festival regular, and has produced ten books of verse.
