COMEDIANS

Comedians gives us an exclusive and revealing peek behind the curtain of the British Comedy scene. Steve Best's own years on the comedy circuit have not only taken him to the four corners of the planet but helped him to gain the trust of some of the funniest people on it - and with it an open door to the four corners of their dressing rooms. Being in the exact right place is only one thing, however. Being there at the right time is another matter entirely; and none more so than when it can be measured by the split-seconds of the camera's shutter. We are very fortunate, therefore, that Best's mastery of photographic timing is faultless because with it we get such a complete picture. The look exchanged between Julian Clary and the compere Paul Thorne, at the Ealing Comedy Festival, was as fleeting as can be, but its depth does not escape Best's eye. There is such camaraderie and affection between the two comedians. There is admiration. Well-wishing and gratefulness. And we sense the shared adrenalin rush. We know that it is Joe Rowntree who must be about to go on because we can hardly breathe for him whilst Michael Fabbri must just have triumphed because Best captures his immortal smile for all eternity. In Best's image of Barry Cryer we have a whole career in the mirror, and we can't tell whether the name-call is about to happen or is as long gone as any of the nerves that used to go with it. And who knew that Jack Whitehall might ever take anything seriously enough to show any nerves, or to feel the need to actually plan any of his material for that matter? But of course he does, and of course he has to - as Best reveals so perfectly to us. And so it is with Harry Hill. Everything is there in the moments of stillness that Best portrays - the meticulous and hard-working people behind the comic personas we know and love.

About the Author :
Steve has photographed over 1000 comedians for two photography books - Comedy Snapshots, published by Articul8 Publishing, April 2014 and Joker Face published by Unbound, September 2017. Steve has taken head shots and live action shots for many comedians and authors for their PR, brochure, live shows and books including David Baddiel, Tim Key, Alan Davies and Mark Billingham. Steve toured his fine art exhibition Clicking Comedians following a month at the prestigious Stills Gallery, Edinburgh during the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. It then toured much of the UK and went back to the Edinburgh Festival to the Pleasance. His new exhibition, Comedians: Back to Front is now in London at the Observatory Photography Gallery. Three of his photographs were chosen for the Saatchi Gallery on screen. One of his photographs was shortlisted for the RA Summer exhibition 2020. Steve Best has built a reputation as a great visual comic, harnessing a mind-boggling array of gadgets and gags to keep his audience in stitches. Funny, frenetic and mad, his unique form of slapstick comedy is backed up with astounding talent; he plays the guitar like a genius, is wonderful at magic, and fluent in Serbo-Croatian. Steve is a regular on the nationwide comedy circuit; As a headline act, Steve has gone on to perform all over the world including Hong Kong, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Bali, Shanghai, South Africa, The Falkland Islands, Bosnia, Kosovo, Germany, Holland, Denmark, Norway, Spain, Greece, Ireland, Italy and Southend-on-Sea. He plans to go further afield. His UK profile has been hugely boosted by supporting some major tours, including Frank Skinner, Omid Djalili and Craig Charles. With Frank Skinner, Steve was part of the biggest live comedy show at Battersea Power Station playing in front of 6000 people. He has headlined an extensive university tour and took his own show to the Edinburgh to massive critical acclaim. Steve co-wrote and performed two sketch shows, Death By Sketches and Skitzaphrantic for the Edinburgh Festival. Steve starred in C5's The Big Stage, BBC1's The Stand Up Show, and ITV’s Weapons of Mass Distraction. He starred in a Film Four/Channel Four short film Life as we know it. He was the audience warm up performer for the Skinner and Baddiel, Unplanned live TV show as well as for Frank Skinner’s chat show. Joe Bor has just made a feature length documentary, Clowntographer about Steve’s search for what makes a great comedy photograph.

Review :
I’m not sure when I first saw Steve’s act - a brilliantly inventive and hilarious procession of visual gags and tricks - but I remember being glad I didn’t have to follow him. No one wanted to, you couldn’t top that, you needed an interval or a bus home. So when he said he was turning his hand to photography I was more than a little surprised. The fact is no one takes photos of comedians like Steve. Why? Because he knows us, because he’s one of us. No one captures the atmosphere backstage like him because no one has the access - to us he’s just Steve, and he’s got his camera with him again we stop trying to impress or be funny - no mean feat for a comic - and Click! he’s got us. When I look at these photos I’m right back there in the clubs , in the theatres,  that happy vibrant scene, the camaraderie, the thrill and the fight - because it doesn’t matter how big or successful you are or how many people have bought tickets to see you, we are all, at the end of the day exactly the same thing - stand up comics and on any night any one of the people in this book can die or be the best in the world. Only we know this and only Steve is able to nail it.Thanks for capturing us Steve you are simply the… no, sorry, not gonna go there. - Harry Hill… For many years I’ve been following Steve’s photography work and have been mightily impressed, so when it came to looking for a photographer for the Comedy Store's 40th birthday show and celebration in 2019 then it was a no-brainer to ask him to be the official photographer. I love the shot of myself holding my granddaughter when I gave a little speech at the celebrations. In fact I love it so much it is now on the walls of the Comedy Store! Steve has a fantastic eye for catching the moment. Being a comedian himself he totally gets the timing of comedy and the nuances and idiosyncrasies of the comedians. He also understands the Comedy Store, the best comedy club in the world (I would say that wouldn’t I?) Steve has photographically mastered the room, finding weird and wonderful angles and positions to creatively capture the performance. And because he feels very at home with the comedians he manages to get beautifully candid, in the moment, poignant shots backstage. His pictures document the ever changing world of comedy and comedians. With this collection of photographs he has not only given us so much visual pleasure but also a superlative historical pictorial documentation of the best live comedy scene in the world. I’ll certainly ask him back for the Comedy Store's 50th birthday celebrations! - Don Ward, Founder, Executive Producer & CEO of the Comedy Store… I love Steve’s photos. Being a stand up comedian himself he knows what makes a comedian tick, and this comes across in the photos beautifully. - Lee Mack… I just went to the Dome and saw your exhibition. It is brilliant. I kept going back and looking at some of them over and over again. You should be immensely proud of it, you've created something really special - Matt Forde… You’re used to posing for photographs in this line of work, so a lot of photos we have of ourselves have a self awareness about them. He always captures us in the most natural positions. This photo of me for example, this is the first and last time I will ever strike this pose. I imagine it’ll be the photo they use at my service when I actually die on stage in my 70’s (a psychic told me once, that’s how it’s going to happen.) - Jayde Adams… Being a performer himself gives Steve Best a unique access to and understanding of comics. He knows where to find us, lurking and laughing in corridors or getting ‘into the zone’ backstage. I love his photographs because they show the timeless beauty of the theatre or comedy club. He captures the huge variety of emotions that comics will whirl through in one show. You can tell from the photos that he’s one of us and he ‘gets’ us. - Jo Caulfield… Steve Best would be one of my favourite portrait photographers, even if I'd just come upon him by chance. The fact that his photographs are all of people I know, doing the thing I love best, is kind of overdoing it a little to be honest. Back in 1995, in the Tufnell Park Tavern, Steve Best made me fall off my chair, laughing at his act. Now, he makes me sit up straight, looking at some of the best stage and backstage photography I've ever seen. I wish I knew what it was, the magical ingredient, the knack of capturing character in a likeness, in a frozen moment, on film. Whatever it is, Steve has it. - Simon Evans… Now live art is a memory there has never been a better time to revisit Steve Best's unflinching portraits of comedians at work, in spaces that will one day soon ring with laughter again. - Stewart Lee… It takes a comedian to know a comedian and Steve just instinctively knows how to "get the shot". The pictures that capture the joy, laughter and camaraderie of those off stage moments and what it is to be part of the gang of clowns. Equally he has got such a brilliant eye for getting those pictures that seem to get the very essence of the comic. The thing that defines them on stage. I'm usually caught in an exaggerated cartoon like pose...and this is me in a nut shell. - Zoe Lyons.