Andy Hollingworth has been photographing the world of comedy for almost two decades.
He has documented the careers of some of our best-loved and infamous laughter-makers and championed a number of important acts from their earliest days to sell-out arena tours and groundbreaking television shows. We feature well-known iconic images from Andy’s huge archive, a set of new portraits and, for the first time, photographs of items which helped to shape the history of the genre from this century and the last.
Andy Hollingworth began photographing comedians in 1995 in response to his earliest childhood memory – his normally stone-faced grandfather laughing at the antics of the Yorkshire comedian Charlie Williams on ‘The Golden Shot’. In his twenties Andy tracked down Charlie to his Barnsley home and took photographs as a souvenir of their meeting.
These first pictures began an archive of images that have become recognised as one of the most comprehensive and important within the medium of comedy. Andy’s photographs have graced the posters, book covers and DVD sleeves of hundreds of our most well-loved and infamous laughter makers – Ricky Gervais, Sarah Millican, Lee Evans, Kevin Bridges, Sean Lock, Alan Carr, Johnny Vegas, Bill Bailey, Jimmy Carr, Eddie Izzard, Rhod Gilbert, Harry Hill, Dara O’Briain, Steve Martin, Rowan Atkinson, Tim Minchin and Michael McIntyre have all used Andy’s images to promote their work.
His work can be found in private public collections across Britain and the USA including the National Portrait Gallery, Leicester Comedy Festival, the Ilford collection and Rotherham Art Gallery. Working from his base in the North of England, in London or in the theatres and arenas around the UK, Andy is equally known for his studio, live and outdoor portraits and for the versatility of his freewheeling style.
