Deborah Frances-White is a London-based comedian, author and screenwriter.[1] She has both British and Australian citizenship.[2] She hosts the podcasts Global Pillage and The Guilty Feminist.[3] She wrote the 2018 comedy film Say My Name.
Frances-White is one of three directors at the improv theatre company The Spontaneity Shop, which she co-founded with Tom Salinsky in 1996.[7] After developing a number of improvisation formats at The Spontaneity Shop (including the improvised romantic comedy DreamDate which had a pilot made for ITV[8]), Frances-White turned to stand-up comedy. Her first significant solo show was How to Get Almost Anyone to Want to Sleep With You which she performed at The Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2007[9] and at The Melbourne International Comedy Festival in 2008[10] where she also hosted The Melbourne International Comedy Festival Roadshow.[11]
Frances-White's recent shows have been more personal. Cult Following (2012) dealt with her experiences as a teenage Jehovah's Witness,[12]Half a Can of Worms (2013) was about tracking down her biological family[13] and Friend of a Friend of Dorothy (2015) was about feminism, sexism and homophobia.[14]
Her BBC Radio 4 series Deborah Frances-White Rolls the Dice was first broadcast in spring 2015[18] and featured stories about her adoption, green card marriage, and the quest to find her biological family. The episodes were titled "Half a Can of Worms", "Cult Following", "Visa Issues" and "Who's Your Daddy"? In January 2016, the show won Frances-White the Writers' Guild of Great Britain award for "Best Radio Comedy".[19] A second series was first broadcast in autumn 2016.[20]
With Sofie Hagen, she created the podcast The Guilty Feminist. She is also the creator and host of the podcast Global Pillage, a comedy panel show. In 2019, The Guilty Feminist and Amnesty International joined forces for the Secret Policeman’s Tour, consisting of three shows with comedy, music and discussion, all in support of human rights.[22] In 2023, The Guilty Feminist also launched Media Storm, a news podcast hosted by journalists Mathilda Mallinson and Helena Wadia.[23]
Frances-White regularly appears at corporate events speaking about confidence, charisma, diversity and sexism.[24] Her TEDx talk on Charisma vs Stage-Fright[25] was cited by James Caan as the secret of his presenting skills.[26]
With her writing partner Philippa Waller, Frances-White contributed two episodes of Young Dracula in 2014.[21] She has co-written two books: The Improv Handbook with Tom Salinsky[27] and Off the Mic with Marsha Shandur,[28] both published by Bloomsbury. She writes for Standard Issue Magazine.[29] In 2018, Virago published The Guilty Feminist, a spin-off from her podcast.[30] Her debut feature film, the comedy thriller Say My Name,[31] premiered on 19 March 2019.
Frances-White became a Jehovah's Witness while still a teenager. Her years in the religion and how she left it were the focus of her 2012 Edinburgh Fringe stand-up comedy show and two of the episodes of her BBC Radio 4 show Deborah Frances-White Rolls the Dice.[18][32]
