Comedian.
Writer.
Actor.
Director.
WINNER - BEST COMEDY - ADELAIDE FRINGE 2024
WINNER - PICK OF THE WEEK - ADELAIDE FRINGE 2024
"Praise her genius - and go"
★★★★★The Telegraph
"Elf Lyons is funny and wise - and a hero of sanity. She is, in the old fashioned sense, Bananas. She inspires all of us to rock out our fruit with no apologies. Mount your Satsuma, saddle those Mangoes, point North. Wait for the flare, she'll get you home" - Dylan Moran
One of The 50 Funniest Comedians of the 21st Century - The Telegraph
Press
ADELAIDE FRINGE BEST COMEDY WINNER | ADELAIDE FRINGE PICK OF THE WEEK WINNER | EDINBURGH FESTIVAL BEST SHOW NOMINEE | MALCOLM HARDEE AWARD FOR COMIC ORIGINALITY NOMINEE | BRITISH COMEDY GUIDE'S COMEDIANS CHOICE AWARD NOMINEE | NEURODIVERSE REVIEW DEAF ACTION DEAF EXCELLENCE AWARD NOMINEE |ADELAIDE FRINGE 'PICK OF THE FRINGE' WINNER | FRINGE WORLD 'BEST COMEDY SHOW' NOMINEE | BRITISH VOGUE'S '20 NAMES OF NOW' | BBC NEW TALENT HOTLIST
"Praise her genius - and go"
★★★★★The Telegraph
“This is comedy as enchantment, a show so beguiling that you don’t just love it, you somehow fall in love with it.”
★★★★The Scotsman
“Expert clowning that’s by turns charming, silly, touching and catastrophic”
★★★★The Times
“If you prefer your comedy going to the edge then toppling right off that edge try Lyons.”
★★★★Evening Standard
“Elf Lyons can’t be accused of treading the conventional career path since none of her shows ever remotely resembles the next.
She bites fiercely back... if lovable takes you so far, terrifying takes you further"
★★★★The Guardian
"Hits the stage like a tornado"
★★★★★ The Skinny
"Let go and let Lyons be your vessel."
★★★★ The List
"It does indeed take someone who’s a little bit unique to don a bottomless parrot costume and a pair of knickers"
★★★★ Fest Magazine
"Clever, spontaneous, outrageous and frenetic"
★★★★ The Advertiser, Australia
“Elf Lyons’s quirky shows are undefinable which is always a good thing. They break the boundaries that put theatre, comedy and performance art in distinct boxes.”
Lyn Gardner
About Elf
Elf Lyons is an award-winning comedian, clown and theatre practitioner. With over ten years of experience working as a professional comedian Elf spends her months touring internationally with her solo shows and directing and teaching artists all over the world.
In 2023 Elf was listed as number 25 in The Telegraphs 50 Best Comedians of the 21st Century' and was nominated for the Deaf Action Award for Deaf Excellence for her comedy show Heist which she developed with the visual vernacular performer, Duffy.
Originally from London, Elf aims to create work that pushes the relationship between comedy, theatre and performance art. Elf has been lucky to work on creative projects with the Barbican, the British Library, the London Science Museum, the Royal Society of Literature and the City of London to name a few.
Elf's live solo work has included solo shows re-enacting classical ballet using found items, musicals about the economy whilst dressed as a Lion, a mime show about a bank robbery and a comedy horror extravaganza inspired by the work of Stephen King.
Awards nominations for her work have included the Edinburgh Comedy Award for Best Show at the Edinburgh Fringe, the Malcolm Hardee Award for Comic Originality, British Comedy Guide's Comedians Choice Award and Fringe World Perth's Best Comedy Show. In 2018 Elf won Adelaide Fringe's Pick of the Fringe. In her show Unlikely Darlings with Helen Duff was one of The Telegraphs 50 Best Cultural Moments of the year in 2020.
TEACHING
As she has developed her work, Elf has spent time developing her methodology as a teacher, having worked in secondary education and at Universities as a visiting tutor and lecturer in comedy and clowning. In 2020 Elf set up Elf currently teaches the Soho Theatre's Comedy Labs Plus course and works as a visiting tutor at Rose Bruford University. Elf also travels the UK and Europe delivering clowning workshops to both artists and non-artists.
WRITING
Alongside her live work Elf is a well respected writer. She has written for The Guardian, The Times, The Telegraph, The Independent, Londonist, Cosmopolitan Magazine and Refinery29, among others. Topics have ranged from ethical non monogamy, the power of horror to economics.
RADIO & PODCASTS
Elf frequently guests on podcasts and radio programmes discussing subjects as varied as polyamory, economics and a wide range of political and social issues. She has been featued and interviewed on Classical Fix (BBC Radio 3), Loose Ends (BBC Radio 4), Standard Issue, The Spectator Podcast, The Insider for The Economist, Unexpected Fluids (Radio 1), Evil Genius (BBC Sounds), and BBC World Service’s Stand Up Show – London (BBC World Service)among many other acclaimed podcasts and radio shows. You can hear her frequently on The Breakfast Show and Culture Hour (Times Radio) and The Colin Murray Show (BBC Radio 5).
You can listen to her hit podcast Elfonomics on Apple Podcasts.
TV
Elf has done some television.
CURRENTLY IN 2024
In 2023 Elf performed and toured three different one hour comedy shows. These include; HEIST - an absurdist comedy show conducted entirely in BSL with Duffy; TALKS DIRTY - a one hour straight stand-up show about filth; and RAVEN - her ★★★★★ mad-cap comedy horror show.
In April Elf had her stage debut at the Arcola Theatre in the role of Rachel in Lisa Carroll's stage play The Misandrist.
Now, in 2024, Elf is touring Raven at the Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney Comedy Festivals in Australia alongside previewing her new solo show Horses.
CONTACT:
For acting enquiries please contact Simon Pontin at The Soundcheck Agency
Tel: +44 (0) 7734214453
Email: simon@thesoundcheckgroup.com
For comedy & performing enquiries contact Lucy Chesterman at Mick Perrin Management.
Tel: +44 (0)1273 622529
Email: mick@mickperrin.com
For enquries regarding voice work contact Laura Milne at The Joneses.
Tel: +44 (0)20 7253 8462
Email: laura@meetthejoneses.co.uk
For questions regarding directing and dramaturgy, contact Elf via the contact form below.