Olaf Falafel

Olaf Falafel
Falafel with the 2019 Funniest Joke of the Fringe Award
Pseudonym	Olaf Falafel
Born	1976-1977[1]
Years active	2012-present
Website	www.olaffalafel.com

Olaf Falafel is a comedian and children's author. Falafel illustrates his own books and is the creator and presenter of Art Club, an online art channel for children.[2] He has been a stand-up comedian since 2012[3] and is known for posting humorous videos on Twitter.[4] His humour frequently involves puns and absurdity.[5][6]

Early life

Falafel is from Luton.[1]

Career

Falafel worked as an art director before becoming a comedian,[7] and came up with his stage name as part of a workshop at the Tringe Festival, a comedy festival in Tring.[8]

In 2014, he was nominated for the Laughing Horse Comedy Club's New Act of the Year competition.[9] In 2017 he was included in both The Guardian's and The Telegraph's rundowns of the funniest jokes of the Edinburgh Fringe.[10][11] In 2018 Falafel was in Dave channel's, The Mirror's, The Evening Standard's, The Scotsman's and i News's rundowns of the top jokes of the Edinburgh Fringe[12][13][14][15][16] and won an award for his festival poster.[17]

Falafel secured a three-book contract with HarperCollins in 2016, after asking for a publisher to approach him in a tweet.[7]

In 2019, Falafel made headlines by winning the Best Joke Of The Fringe.[18] He took the title with the gag: "I keep randomly shouting out 'Broccoli' and 'Cauliflower' – I think I might have florets".

In 2020, Falafel signed a two-book deal with Walker books to illustrate Unleash Your Creative Monster[19] a "funny and informative" guide to creative writing.

In 2021, off the back of his Art Club YouTube videos,[20] Falafel signed a two-book deal with Puffin to create his first middle grade chapter books called Trixie Pickle Art Avenger[21] about a child who becomes their school's version of Banksy.

In August 2022, Falafel had two jokes in the Best Joke of the Edinburgh Fringe Top Ten list.^[citation needed]

In 2023 Falafel's picture book Blobfish won The Society Of Authors Queen's Knickers Award,[22] and the Federation of Children's Book Groups' Children's Book Award,[23] and was shortlisted for the Wainwright Prize for Children's Writing on Nature and Conservation.[24]

In March 2024 Falafel won 'Best Kids Show' at the Leicester Comedy Festival, for his show 'Olaf Falafel's Stupidest Super Stupid Show (Yet)'. [25] Falafel also illustrated the map and provided the narration of penguin facts for a "Penguin Parade" sculpture trail in London, exhibited between November 2024 and January 2025.[26][27][28]

Live Shows

• 2015 – Expect the Unexporcupine (with Michael Stranney)[29]
• 2016 – Olaf Falafel and the Cheese of Truth[30]
• 2017 – The Marmosets of My Mind[31]
• 2018 – There's no I in Idiot[32]
• 2019 – Olaf Falafel Presents Knitting With Maracas
• 2022 – Olaf Falafel's Super Stupid Show (family friendly show)
• 2022 – Olaf Falafel STOAT
• 2023 – Olaf Falafel's Super Stupid Show 20% More Stupider (family friendly show)
• 2023 – Look What Fell Out Of My Head

Books

• 2017 – Old Macdonald Heard a Parp
• 2017 – Father Christmas Heard a Parp
• 2018 – Old Macdonald Heard a Parp from the Past[33]
• 2019 – It's One Giant Leek For Mankind[34]
• 2021 – Unleash Your Creative Monster[19]
• 2022 – Trixie Pickle Art Avenger[21]
• 2022 – Blobfish[35]
• 2023 – Trixie Pickle Art Avenger - Toxic Takedown[36]

References

1. Logan, Brian (August 6, 2024). "'This isn't going to be sensible!' Olaf Falafel, Edinburgh fringe's king of one-liners". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved January 8, 2025.
2. Heritage, Stuart (January 8, 2021). "From Shakespeare to drawing sausage dogs: the best TV for homeschooling". The Guardian. Retrieved January 8, 2021.
3. Moorhead, Rosy. "Comedy is the solution for maths expert Matt". St Albans & Harpenden Review. Retrieved November 17, 2020.
4. "Unilad stole my Vine! Comedians frustration as gag goes viral". Comedy News. Chortle. November 23, 2015. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
5. Bennett, Steve (August 5, 2018). "Olaf Falafel: There's no i in idiot". Reviews. Chortle. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
6. Dessau, Bruce (August 15, 2018). "Edinburgh Fringe, Olaf Falafel review: Absurdity so well-crafted that silly doesn't do it justice". Culture. The Evening Standard. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
7. "Comic Lands a Book Deal After Asking for one on Twitter". News. Chortle. December 1, 2016. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
8. Logan, Brian (August 6, 2024). "'This isn't going to be sensible!' Olaf Falafel, Edinburgh fringe's king of one-liners". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved January 8, 2025.
9. "New Act of the Year – Previous Winners and Finalists". Laughing Horse. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
10. Fleckney, Paul (August 15, 2017). "The 10 best jokes from the Edinburgh Fringe". The Guardian. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
11. "The 60 Funniest One Liners from the 2017 Edinburgh Fringe". The Telegraph. August 25, 2017. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
12. "Edinburgh Fringe's Top 10 Jokes Revealed". Sky News. August 20, 2018. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
13. McCaffrey, Julie (August 15, 2018). "The Best Jokes from Edinburgh Festival Fringe this Year". The Mirror. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
14. Greig, Finlay (August 19, 2019). "60 Edinburgh Fringe One-Liners that Really Deserved to Win Funniest Joke". i News. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
15. Thompson, Jessie (August 10, 2018). "Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2018 Best Jokes". Evening Standard. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
16. "The 10 Best Jokes of the Edinburgh Fringe". The Scotsman. August 20, 2018. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
17. "Olaf Falafel writes a kids' adventure". Chortle. July 2, 2021. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
18. "Edinburgh Fringe funniest joke: Vegetable gag wins top prize". BBC News. August 19, 2019. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
19. Hackett, Tamsin (June 11, 2020). "Walker Books signs two-book deal with creative duo Andy Jones and Olaf Falafel". The Bookseller. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
20. Bennett, Steve (March 31, 2021). "'The greatest thing to happen during lockdown'". Features. Chortle. Retrieved October 1, 2021.
21. Hackett, Tamsin (July 2, 2021). "Puffin serves up Falafel's 'laugh-out-loud' middle-grade adventure". The Bookseller. Retrieved October 1, 2021.
22. "The 2023 Queen's Knickers Award Winner". Society of Authors. May 8, 2020. Retrieved January 5, 2024.
23. "Children's Book Award 2023". Federation of Children's Book Groups. February 4, 2023. Retrieved January 5, 2024.
24. "10th Anniversary Shortlist for the James Cropper Wainwright Prize Announced". Wainwright Prize. James Cropper plc. August 10, 2023. Retrieved January 5, 2024.
25. Bennett, Steve (March 18, 2024). "'Jenny Eclair's Officially a Legend'". Comedy News. Chortle. Retrieved March 20, 2024.
26. "Fleet Street Quarter: Festive penguins go on display". BBC News. November 16, 2024. Archived from the original on January 8, 2025. Retrieved January 8, 2025.
27. "A Penguin Parade Sculpture Trail Has Marched Into Fleet Street". Londonist. October 8, 2024. Retrieved January 8, 2025.
28. "THE FLEET STREET QUARTER PENGUIN PARADE SCULPTURE TRAIL". Fleet Street Quarter. Retrieved January 8, 2025.
29. The British Comedy Guide – Edinburgh Fringe 2015
30. The List – Reviews
31. The Edinburgh Reporter – Culture
32. Chortle – Reviews
33. Love Reading
34. Olaf Falafel
35. O’Connell, Alex. "Blobfish by Olaf Falafel review — fish it out, it's blobby good". ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved June 5, 2022.
36. Falafel, Olaf (May 4, 2023). Trixie Pickle Art Avenger: Toxic Takedown.

External links

• Official website