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James Veitch (comedian)

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James Veitch
NationalityBritish
Alma materSarah Lawrence College
University of Aberdeen
OccupationComedian
Websiteveitch.me

James Veitch (/viːtʃ/) is an English comedian, mostly known for his comedy performances using slideshows and video effects that show interactions with authors of scam emails (known as scam baiting).

In September 2020, Veitch was the subject of more than a dozen allegations ranging from emotional abuse to rape. HBO subsequently removed his comedy special from its streaming platform, and Veitch was dropped by his agent.

Early life

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Veitch attended Sarah Lawrence College.

Career

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Veitch worked as a film editor on the 2006 film Papa Joe and as a digital intermediate conform artist on the 2008 movie Middle of Nowhere. In 2009, Veitch adapted John Keats's writings into a play for Keats House.[1]

Veitch's first solo comedy show, The Fundamental Interconnectedness of Everyone with an Internet Connection, was launched at Brighton Fringe in May 2014[2] as part of the arts industry showcase WINDOW.[3] The show ran in August at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.[4] It concerned scam emails, Veitch's humorous responses to them, and the nature of the Internet. The show was described by the Sunday Herald as "Topically brilliant comedy. Tears-down-the-face funny".[5] His next Edinburgh Fringe show was Genius Bar in 2015, about his time in this role at Apple. Alice Jones of The Independent praised the "neat premise" used to explore the end of Veitch's relationship and the show's conclusion, but said that "the constituent parts still feel a little disjointed".[6] Veitch authored Dot Con: The Art of Scamming a Scammer in 2015.[7] A Kirkus Reviews article said that Veitch's "absurdist approach and enthusiasm for his work make for unpredictably funny reading".[8]

He made two appearances on the talk show Conan.[9][10] Veitch recorded three TED talks in 2015 and 2016.[11] One chronicles Veitch's encounter with a supermarket chain's marketing emails, and the other two are about scam emails.[12][13][14] Veitch also presented the Mashable video series "Scamalot" on YouTube.[15] A Pleasance Courtyard performance in 2015 received praise from The Independent's Alice Jones, who stated that "Veitch has found a nerdy niche with his comic lectures about modern technology".[16] In 2018, he starred in the Melbourne International Comedy Festival (Allstars Supershow). Veitch was a guest presenter on the live trivia gameshow HQ Trivia. In 2019, Veitch was the host of that year's Britannia Awards.[17] He hosted a humorous investigative journalism series on BBC Radio 4 called James Veitch's Contractual Obligation.[18] In August 2020, his comedy special, James Veitch: Straight to VHS, was released on HBO Max.

Sexual misconduct allegations

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On 1 September 2020, more than a dozen women who attended Sarah Lawrence College with Veitch made allegations against him ranging from emotional abuse to rape.[19] Veitch declined to comment on the allegations which were reported by Hollywood Reporter, "but a source close to him says he denies all allegations".[19] HBO subsequently removed his comedy special from its streaming platform.[20] Veitch was dropped by his agent and edited out of a Quibi show he was set to host.[21] Though the BBC initially decided to retain Contractual Obligation on BBC Sounds, it was removed in early September.[22][23]

References

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  1. ^ Thorpe, Vanessa (17 July 2009). "Art beat: Poetic justice for John Keats". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 January 2022.
  2. ^ "The Fundamental Interconnectedness of Everyone with an Internet Connection listing on Broadway Baby". broadwaybaby.com.
  3. ^ modernbricabrac. "Brighton Fringe 2014 programme launch and an early doors selection". Modern Bric a Brac. Retrieved 11 September 2024.
  4. ^ "James Veitch: The Fundamental Interconnectedness of Everyone with an Internet Connection". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 28 December 2014.
  5. ^ "James Veitch Gilded Balloon: Turret Until Aug 25 Four stars". The Sunday Herald. 17 August 2014. Retrieved 28 December 2014.
  6. ^ Fox, Killian (2 August 2015). "'The only way to fight email scammers is to waste their time. It's a lot of fun'". The Observer. Retrieved 19 January 2022.
  7. ^ Veitch, James (2 August 2015). "A few words with the web's con artists". The Observer. Retrieved 19 January 2022.
  8. ^ "Dot Con (Review)". Kirkus Reviews. 19 March 2020. Retrieved 19 January 2022.
  9. ^ "James Veitch's Elaborate Wrong Number Prank". teamcoco.com. Retrieved 29 June 2018.
  10. ^ "James Veitch Is A Terrible Roommate". teamcoco.com. Retrieved 29 June 2018.
  11. ^ "James Veitch Keynote Speaker". WME Speakers. Archived from the original on 22 February 2019. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
  12. ^ Veitch, James (23 October 2020). The agony of trying to unsubscribe. Retrieved 11 September 2024 – via www.ted.com.
  13. ^ Veitch, James (23 October 2020). This is what happens when you reply to spam email. Retrieved 11 September 2024 – via www.ted.com.
  14. ^ More adventures in replying to spam. TEDSummit 2016.
  15. ^ "Man hilariously responds to stranger's totally legit $9 million inheritance offer". Mashable. 29 July 2016. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
  16. ^ Jones, Alice (11 August 2015). "Nervy nerd's love story has a bit of byte". The Independent. p. 39. Retrieved 29 May 2021.
  17. ^ "2019 Britannia Awards". www.bafta.org. 26 October 2019.
  18. ^ "BBC Radio 4 - James Veitch's Contractual Obligation, Mindfulness". BBC. Retrieved 11 September 2024.
  19. ^ a b Masters, Kim (1 September 2020). "Sarah Lawrence Alums Allege Rape Against Comedian James Veitch". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 1 September 2020.
  20. ^ Harrison, Ellie (2 September 2020). "HBO Max pulls James Veitch comedy amid rape allegations". The Independent. Retrieved 5 September 2020.
  21. ^ Kemp, Ella (2 September 2020). "HBO pulls James Veitch comedy special following rape allegations". NME. Retrieved 11 September 2024.
  22. ^ Richardson, Jay (2 September 2020). "James Veitch's show to remain on BBC Sounds despite rape allegations". British Comedy Guide. Retrieved 15 November 2020.
  23. ^ Richardson, Jay (25 September 2020). "BBC reverses decision on hosting James Veitch's Radio 4 show". British Comedy Guide. Retrieved 15 November 2020.
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