Andy Shaw is the co-founder and organiser of London’s free-thinking comedy club, Comedy Unleashed. The Times described it as ‘the comedy night that takes the PC out of the stand-up elite’. The Daily Telegraph dubbed it ‘crackling with a punk-like spirit that isn’t afraid of causing offence’. The club hosts comedians who challenge conventional thinking to make us laugh – and occasionally think.
Andy writes the ‘Word of the Week’ for The Spectator and spoof guides, including ‘10 Steps On Becoming a New Progressive’ and ‘A Guide To The Tories For The Under 10s’ (see https://life.spectator.co.uk/author/andy_shaw/).
Andy is currently compiling a ‘Bullshit Dictionary’ - a satirical poke at faddish words and vacuous phrases which explores how language is used to obfuscate meaning. As new words enter the discourse, or take on new meaning, such as ‘sustainable’, ‘gender neutral’ or ‘denier’, they often avoid precise definition, undermine honest debate or obscure an agenda. It is a light-hearted look at the political manipulation of language.