Writer, comedian, Edinburgh Festival Perrier Award nominee, founder member of the Comedy Store Players, Dave Cohen has been a constant presence on the British comedy scene for more than 35 years.
He – okay let’s drop the pretence that someone else is writing this. It’s me, Dave. I’ve written for some of the most successful TV shows including Have I Got News For You, Spitting Image, BBC sitcoms Not Going Out and My Family, and dozens of radio shows including News Quiz, Dead Ringers, Sunday Format and the award-winning 15 Minute Musical, which I co-created.
I spent 10 years as a stand-up comedian performing more than 2,000 gigs across the UK, and for some of that time was lead singer with the world’s first Jewish heavy metal band Guns’n’Moses. I became a full-time comedy writer in the mid-1990s but continued to perform and in 2000 made the series Travels With My Anti-Semitism for BBC Radio 4.
I’ve written nearly 100 songs for the multi-BAFTA winning BBC hit Horrible Histories.
Since 2006 I’ve been script editing and teaching comedy writing to everyone from beginners to hit sitcom writers.
- How To Be Averagely Successful At Comedy – “A gag-packed insight into the inner workings of the comedy world.” Bruce Dessau
- The Complete Comedy Writer – “Comprehensive, funny and ridiculously up-to-date guide for anyone who wants to write comedy. There’s nothing else like it.” British Comedy Guide
In 2015 I began podcasting Sitcom Geeks with James Cary, and you can currently find all episodes of our podcast here.
Here’s one of my favourite Horrible Histories songs: