Roy Chubby Brown

Royston Vasey (born 3 February 1945), better known professionally as Roy Chubby Brown, is an English comedian. His act consists of offensive humour, high profanity and outspoken disdain for political correctness.

Early life

Roy Chubby Brown was born Royston Vasey on 3 February 1945 in Grangetown, Middlesbrough in the North Riding of Yorkshire He left school without any qualifications, leaving home at the age of fourteen, spent time living rough and moving from job to job, at one point joining the Merchant Navy. He became homeless and for some time slept in a fishing boat in Redcar. He was arrested and taken to a detention centre and then on to borstal, following which he went to prison.

Whilst in prison, Vasey read I Owe Russia $1200 by Bob Hope, which made him decide he wanted to be a stand-up comic. When he saw Ken Dodd perform live, he thought he was so good it inspired him to try comedy himself.

Vasey formed a comedy duo with a fellow ex-Pipelines band member. The duo named themselves Alcock and Brown, women, and homosexuals, and described as blue comedy, insult comedy, political satire, sarcasm, and self-deprecation.

He eventually began to perform at larger venues, reaching 500,000 people in the UK per year.

Film

In 1993, Brown released U.F.O., a science fiction film in which he featured along with Roger Lloyd-Pack and Sara Stockbridge. It was reviewed poorly, with Empire magazine calling the film "a stand-up show, allowing the comedian to tell his sexist jokes to a race of aliens who charge him for being a misogynist" and rating it 1/5.

In 2012, Brown voiced a talking lamp post in Robin Sheppard's film adaptation of Richard Milward's novel Apples. He also played the Victorian Photographer in the feature film Unconditional (titled Unconditional Love in the USA) directed by Bryn Higgins.

Television

Due to the controversial nature of his act, Brown's shows are rarely seen on television, however, a programme called Roy Chubby Brown: Britain's Rudest Comedian was broadcast on Channel 4 in May 2007.

Brown appeared in Series 2 of The League of Gentlemen as Larry Vaughn, mayor of the fictional town of Royston Vasey. The town's name comes from Brown's birth name. Vaughn's name, conversely, comes from the name of the mayor of the town in the American horror film Jaws.

Music

One of his best-known songs is "Living Next Door to Alice (Who the Fuck is Alice?)", a cover version of "Living Next Door to Alice", recorded with Smokie. The record spent 27 weeks in the UK Singles Chart, selling 400,000 copies and peaking at number 3 in October 1995. He released a solo single in the winter of 1996 called "A Rocking Good Christmas", written by Ray Hedges; this reached number 51. Brown has also released two albums, Take Fat and Party (1995) and Fat Out of Hell (1996); they achieved positions 29 and 67 in the UK Albums Chart respectively.

Personal life

Vasey has seven children from three marriages. He met his current wife Helen in Scarborough in the late 1990s, and lives with her and their two children in Tetney, Lincolnshire.

Vasey was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2002 and had a vocal cord removed.

In 2006, he released an autobiography titled Common as Muck: The Autobiography of Roy 'Chubby' Brown. In December 2011, he self-published a collection of memoirs from his life and career called It's Funny Being Me.

Vasey is a supporter of Middlesbrough Football Club.

In 2003, Vasey was fined £200 in Blackpool for assaulting a heckler by pulling him from his seat, dragging him across the floor and proceeding to attack him with a golf umbrella. Brown later claimed, "I just wanted the man to stop swearing and being abusive in front of women and children who were on the pier."

In 2009, Vasey was charged with assaulting a 21-year-old pregnant woman in a supermarket car park, but acquitted after the judge ruled due to the "poor quality of the CCTV footage, we are not convinced beyond reasonable doubt that Mr Vasey is guilty of the offence".

Throughout 2014, Vasey was fined for traffic offences on several occasions, including reading The Sun newspaper whilst driving on the A19 road in North Yorkshire.

Live performance releases

Brown's live shows have been distributed by Channel 5 Video (1990), PolyGram Video (1991–1998), Universal Pictures (UK) Ltd (1999–2017) and independently (2019–2025). Brown's live shows have been released on VHS (1990–2005), DVD (2000–2025) and Blu-ray (2010). Standing Room Only (2003) to Hangs Up the Helmet (2015) were released on CD, with Thunder Bollocks (2000) later being issued on CD as well. Some sporadic 1990s–2000s releases were released on cassette as well, up until Standing Room Only (2002).

The following titles were banned by the Irish film censor:

U.F.O. 7 February 1994 (cinema) 29 April 1994 (video)
Jingle Bollocks 30 September 1994 (video)
Saturday Night Beaver 15 November 1996 (video)
Chubby Goes Down Under and Other Sticky Regions 4 June 1999 (video)
Stocking Filler 7 September 2001 (video)

Releases

Stand-up

{|class="wikitable" width=99%

!style="width:18%;"|Title

!style="width:18%;"|Format

!style="width:18%;"|Catalog number

!style="width:11%;"|Year of release

!style="width:11%;"|Additional notes

|From Inside the Helmet

|VHS/DVD (2009)

|CFV 11412

|18 November 1990

|First overall title First title to be released on VHS. Only title to be released by Channel 5 Video.

|The Helmet Rides Again

|VHS/DVD (2001)

|083 622 3

|18 September 1991

|First title to be released by PolyGram Video.

|The Helmet's Last Stand

|VHS/Video CD (1995)/DVD (2004)

|086 416 3

|16 November 1992

|Jingle Bollocks

|VHS/DVD (2000)

|632 724 3

|14 November 1994

|Clitoris Allsorts

|VHS/DVD (2001)

|635 936 3

|6 November 1995

|Saturday Night Beaver

|VHS/DVD (2000)

|043 454 3

|11 November 1996

|Chubby Goes Down Under and Other Sticky Regions

|VHS/DVD (2000)

|057 068 3 PG 1208

|21 September 1998

|Last title to be released by PolyGram Video – this is due to Seagram (Universal's then-parent company) purchasing PolyGram Filmed Entertainment for £6.5 billion.

|You Fat Bastard!

|VHS/DVD (2000)

|061 611 9

|11 November 1999

|First title to be released by Universal Pictures (UK) Ltd.

|Thunder Bollocks

|VHS/DVD/CD (2006)

|902 101 3 078 066 2

|13 November 2000

|First title to be initially released on DVD. Only title to not receive a CD release until 2006. This title was originally going to be called Ginger Minge, but because the BBFC intervened due to "titles that may cause offence by their public display", the title had to be changed.

|Stocking Filler!

|VHS/DVD

|904 019 3 078 405 2

|11 November 2001

|Standing Room Only

|rowspan="4" | VHS/DVD/CD

|907 357 3 903 131 9

|11 November 2002

|First title to be released on CD.

|Bad Taste

|820 893 0 820 893 1

|10 November 2003

|Giggling Lips

|822 609 1 822 609 2

|8 November 2004

|King Thong

|823 602 4 823 602 5

|7 November 2005

|Last title to be released on VHS.

|Kick-Arse Chubbs

|rowspan="4" | DVD/CD

|824 497 9

|6 November 2006

|The Good, The Bad And The Fat Bastard

|825 058 5

|5 November 2007

|Dirty Weekend in Blackpool

|825 562 3

|3 November 2008

|Too Fat To Be Gay

|827 207 0

|9 November 2009

|Pussy & Meatballs

|DVD/Blu-ray/CD

|827 793 3 828 086 7

|22 November 2010

|Only title to be released on Blu-ray.

|Front Page Boobs

|rowspan="4" | DVD/CD

|829 032 7

|12 November 2012

|Who Ate All The Pies?

|829 626 7

|18 November 2013

|Don't Get Fit! Get Fat!

|830 124 7

|24 November 2014

|Hangs Up the Helmet

|830 524 1

|16 November 2015

|Last title to be released on CD.

|The Second Coming

|rowspan="6" | DVD

|831 272 9

|20 November 2017

|Last title to be released by Universal Pictures (UK) Ltd.

|50 Shades of Brown

|rowspan="5" | N/A

|19 November 2019

|First title to be released independently.

|Harmless Vulgarity And Friendly Smut

|3 August 2022

|No Foul Language

|17 November 2023

|Last Orders

|19 January 2025

|It's Just A Laugh

|15 December 2025

|Final overall title. Last title to be released on DVD. Last title to be released independently.