Learning to laugh: How Sheffield makes funny people
Sheffield has been called a haven for walkers, a musical powerhouse and home to some of the finest food north of London. But we’re rarely called the capital of comedy. And yet there’s definitely something about the city and the University that creates funny people. Like every creative endeavour, comedy is taken very seriously by the University – with both the Comedy Revue and Sheffield Comedy Improvisation Society (SHRIMPS) well-supported by the SU… and sometimes by their audiences. While we work on our material, take a look at some of the recent-ish alumni who are making us laugh right now.
Munya Chawawa
Being effortlessly funny is hard work. Fortunately for us, Munya Chawawa (BSc Psychology 2014) is an absolute grafter. Producer, presenter, writer, performer and singer – Munya credits his work ethic to the chunk of his childhood spent in Zimbabwe. He said that there, academic attainment was the social currency, and that “…everyone was shredded because we had to do two hours of sport after school every day.” The family moved back to the UK when Munya was 11. So Munya has Robert Mugabe to thank for spending his teenage years in Framingham Pigot.
Being cool in Nottinghamshire had nothing to do with intelligence, and he was soon the bullies’ favourite target. Maybe it was this combination of factors that equipped Munya to ultimately win the popularity contest that is high school (head boy, playground breakdance champion). And for the rapid reaction satire that ultimately gave him his biggest break – beginning in 2019 by taking on Jamie Oliver’s cultural appropriation of Jamaican food with the character Jonny Oliver.
Or maybe it was the years and years he spent honing his craft on our own Forge Media:
“Being a host on Forge Radio and presenter for Forge TV was a springboard of gold-medal-winning-British-gymnast proportions. I presented on the red carpet at the BRITs 2014, became a music presenter for PopShack TV and 4Music, and even became the first student in the UK to wear Google Glass to record their graduation.”
In a 2015 graduate profile, Munya said: “The one piece of advice I will give is: stop mincing with diluted ambitions, define your goal and chase it unremittingly until not a single person can deny you are good at what you do.”
Follow Munya on Instagram and Twitter
Helen Monks
“My name is Helen Monks and I graduated from the School of English a year ago and now I’m working as a professional actor,” explains Helen in a 2014 interview for the uni. “I was really lucky that I auditioned for Raised by Wolves while I was still studying at Sheffield. They let me go and do that and then I filmed it the summer after I graduated.”
That’s Helen (English and Theatre 2014) playing down what has got to be the best-deserved or luckiest break into comedy and acting – and it happened because of a joke. Helen went home from Sheffield to Birmingham for one night to see Caitlin Moran at a literary festival… “During the event Caitlin mentioned she was penning a sitcom with her sister and goddess Caz, and so when I went to get my book signed at the end I told her ‘I should totally play you,’ and unbelievably she said, ‘Yes! You should!’”
That was all in 2014. Ten years later, her CV not only includes playing Germaine in two series of Raised By Wolves – based on Caitlin Moran’s life – but also Maja Einstein in Genius, Susanna in Upstart Crow, plus appearances in Inside No 9, and voicing Roderika in the global gaming phenomenon Elden Ring.
There’s much more to Helen Monks than these comedy roles. Just recently, she appeared in A Midsummer Night’s Dream with the RSC in Stratford, and since 2015 she’s been the co-artistic director of LUNG – a campaign-led theatre company that uses people’s actual words to tell hidden stories.
“Theatre gives you this massive freedom,” she says. “All you need is the venue, then you can do anything you want.”
Here, Helen has written and performed one-woman shows and tested her new stand-up sets. And she’s worked with the LUNG team to shine a light on political, social and economic issues in modern Britain. Though it tours nationally, LUNG is based in Barnsley – so Helen still has a connection with the region. We like to think it has something to do with us.
“During my time at the University of Sheffield there were huge amounts of resources that allowed you to sort of facilitate your own work – like an actual theatre where I previewed the shows that I’d written for the Fringe. I was hugely sad to leave there, but you know, it’s like Sheffield for life. What I learned there I’ll carry with me forever.”
Follow Helen on Instagram
Tim Key
Tim Key (BA Russian Studies 2000) is a comedian, poet, actor and writer renowned for his unique blend of deadpan delivery and absurdist humour.
Or as one fan put it: “He makes me laugh and I don’t even know why he’s funny.”
Maybe that’s because, more often than not, he’s doing about five things all at once. But there’s no doubt that Tim is funny, by anyone’s standards. From the Fringe award-winning material like “Drive-Thru McDonalds was more expensive than I thought… once you’ve hired the car…” to roles including Alan Partridge’s sidekick Simon, The Witchfinder, and Tweeting a 45 second video of himself riding the paternoster lift at the Arts Tower.
Running through, under and around the rest of his career is Tim Key the poet – author of five anthologies and into his sixth series of Tim Key’s Late Night Poetry Programme. His poems craft worlds that are funny, ridiculous, touching and last for only a few lines. But what is his secret?
“I’ve written 3,000 poems – it’s easy if you’ve got no quality control.”
Follow Tom on Instagram and Twitter
Ellie Gibson
Journalist, comedian, mum, best-selling author and world-record holder – Ellie Gibson
(BA Hons English Literature 1999) is one of a kind.
Actually, she’s part of a one-of-a-kind duo, the Scummy Mummies, with her best friend Helen Thorn, which started as a podcast and has evolved into a live show, book and all manner of adventures.
She also appears on the gaming panel show Dara Ó Briain’s Go 8 Bit on Dave, and runs her own gaming Twitch channel, EllieGibsonGames. In fact she has been a gaming journalist since 2003, but it is the Scummy Mummies which have defined the last 11 years or so of Ellie’s career. Beginning when Gibson met Australian comedian Thorn doing standup, the number one parenting podcast grew with their friendship.
Today, they’ve recorded over 270 episodes and they reach a loyal audience of millions. And they’re breaking the odd record too.
In March 2023, Ellie and Helen set the record for the highest ever live comedy gig at Mount Everest’s South base camp. Unlike the previous record holder, they walked the 11 miles to the base camp.
Though it took months of training, including running the London Marathon together and trekking for 100 miles through the Lake District, Ellie and Helen took it all in their stride.
“We’ve been through hard times before, like that gig in a Thai restaurant in Manchester to nine people. Trekking to Everest was easy peasy by comparison.”
