Helen Keen

Award-winning comedy writer and performer

Author

Helen Keen is an award-winning comedy writer and performer. She began her career by winning the first Channel 4 New Comedy Writing prize and wrote material for various established tv and radio shows.

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Helen Keen's videos

What Helen Keen's clients say

Here is some of the feedback from audiences and clients who have worked with Helen.

"I can honestly say that I have never enjoyed an event as much...Helen Keen's show - hilarious and not just for rocket scientists. A subtle mix of humour and humanity, featuring tall tales from the founding fathers of the space age, blended with wry political comment."

Institute of Physics, Ireland

"Harnessing a sharp comedy sensibility to an arsenal of fascinating facts, she's a treat for anyone who matches a sense of humour with an inquiring mind."

The Guardian

"Her quirky, science-themed humour instantly delights audiences of all ages."

Science City, York

"The effervescent rocket-buff, Helen Keen."

Dominic Cavendish,

The Telegraph

"Embodies all the best things about intellectual comedy. Smart without being elitist, and with just the right amounts of sincerity and sarcasm"

Spoonfed.co.uk

"The Otley Science Festival has now booked Helen Keen to perform both Rocket Science and her Arctic Show, and we want more! In both cases, Helen's performance went down extremely well with her witty comedy, strangely packed with information. A palpable hit with the audiences."

Marty Jopson,

Organiser,

Otley Science Festival and One Show expert

"Quirky, offbeat and original...Helen Keen is clearly someone to watch."

Sunday Times

"Startling fine entertainment...crisp, sophisticated comedy."

The Guardian

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Helen’s speaking themes

Languages:

English

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Helen Keen's 2024 biography

Helen Keen’s background

As a performer, she toured the country with Robin Ince and Prof. Brian Cox as a guest of the Uncaged Monkeys (the live version of Radio 4’s Infinite Monkey Cage which she has also appeared on several times). Helen was later appointed the first Comedian in Residence at Newcastle University’s Centre for Life Science Village.

In August 2013 she compered the first ever live comedy night at CERN, Large Hadron Comedy, the event was webcast and attracted CERN’s largest international on-line audience since the announcement of the discovery of the Higgs boson…

In 2014 she joined the Stargazing Live live roadshow as a comedian & history of space travel expert and appeared in the second TV series of The Alternative Comedy Experience (curated by Stewart Lee), broadcast on Comedy Central.

Helen’s first solo stand up show It Is Rocket Science (winner – Buxton Fringe Festival, Best Comedy Performance) was picked up by BBC Radio 4 and has so far launched 3 critically acclaimed series. The show won the 2013 WISE Media Award and was shortlisted for the 2014 Writers’ Guild Award for Best Radio Comedy.

In 2015 she was selected as a Wired Innovation Fellow.

She has also been featured on:

Radio 4’s The Infinite Monkey Cage, Museum of Curiosity, Wordaholics and Jon Ronson On
Live at the Electric BBC3
Radio 4’s Fourth Dimension
Woman’s Hour
BBC7’s Comedy Club

Helen won the Association of British Science Writer’s Royal Society Radio Prize for her BBC Radio 4 comedy show about space history, It Is Rocket Science earlier this summer and her latest science-comedy series, Big Problems with Helen Keen has just been broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in their prime 6.30pm slot.