Comedy
A-Z
The A-Z of Micky Flanagan
Vests, Pubs, Ketchup and going Out Out: it's the alphabet according to Micky Flanagan
A is for Arenas
One of the UK’s most successful comedians, Flanagan is regularly selling out the country’s biggest stages. In fact, last year during his nine-night residency at London’s O2 Arena, he broke the record for biggest audience at a UK comedy gig with a whopping 17,257 tickets sold for a single night.
B is for Best-selling
Flanagan was the best-selling comic in the UK in 2016 even though he didn’t do any shows – it was purely because of advance sales for his tour the following year, for which he sold over 600,000 tickets.
C is for Cockney
Raised in Bethnal Green in the East End, Flanagan is a true Cockney, a fact which makes up the basis of much of his stand-up. He’s even nailed the walk.
D is for Detour De France
In 2014, Flanagan and his bricklayer mate Noel Lynch starred in the travel-comedy programme Detour De France, in which they cycled around France, encountering everything from unexploded bombs to nudist campsites.
E is for Education
Flanagan left school at 15, but at the age of 25 he went back into education to get an English GCSE. He went on to get a degree at City University and trained as a teacher, before eventually going into comedy.
F is for Fish
Fish is a generational affair in the Flanagan family. Micky’s dad Jim worked as a fish porter, and as a teenager, Micky took a job at Billingsgate Fish Market. Some slippery characters there.
G is for Graham Norton
Flanagan once appeared on the Graham Norton show alongside Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway and Lena Dunham — and he didn’t reckon McConaughey was best pleased with his Magic Mike jokes.
H is for Hampshire
The East End it ain’t – Micky and his family now reside in the Hampshire countryside, and the middle-class life he’s stumbled into is a frequent fixture in his routine.
I is for If Ever We Needed It…
Micky Flanagan’s first tour in six years began in 2023 and was so much of a smash hit that he added loads of extra dates for autumn 2024. The show was praised as “irresistibly unreconstructed” by The Guardian and delivering “precision-tooled laughs” by The Evening Standard, so it’s not one to miss.
J is for Jacksons Lane
This is the Highgate creative hub where Flanagan took his first-ever comedy class at the age of 34. He’s in good company, as fellow comedians who were associated with the space in their early days include Eddie Izzard, The Mighty Boosh, and Matt Lucas and David Walliams.
K is for Ketchup
While Micky may reside in a higher tax bracket than he once did, it won’t stop him from asking for red sauce at a fancy restaurant, as he explained in one of his funniest stand-up segments.
L is for A League of Their Own
Flanagan appeared on the sports panel show in 2015 alongside fellow guests Kevin Nolan and Gabby Logan. He ended up changing into skimpy shorts and getting into the ring with wrestling team The Blossom Twins.
M is for The Mad Bad Ad Show
Flanagan was a team captain on this advertising-themed Channel 4 show; participants were quizzed on famous ads, then challenged to make their own ad at the end of each episode. Unfortunately, Micky is no Don Draper, and the series was short-lived.
N is for Best Newcomer
Micky Flanagan became the oldest comedian to be nominated for The Edinburgh Fringe Comedy Awards’ Best Newcomer Award in 2007, at the age of 42.
O is for Out Out
Flanagan’s most well-known joke has since entered the nation’s lexicon. Are you going out, or are you going out out? It was also the title of his 2010 stand-up tour, and not to mention controversially referenced in a 118 118 advert.
P is for Pub
Flanagan isn’t shy about liking a drink, and the pub is a regular fixture in his standup routine. He also once sat for an interview in his old Bethnal Green local, the Birdcage, which is a fun little watch.
Q is for Big Fat Quiz Of The Year
Micky appeared on this quiz show in 2014, in which he was paired up with Mel B. Luckily none of his jokes made her say “stop right now, thank you very much”.
R is for Raunchy
Some of Flanagan’s funniest jokes can’t be printed here, but you should look up the one about his pronunciation of “house” causing some confusion in America…
S is for Spurs
Despite hailing from East London, Flanagan is a fan of North London’s Tottenham Hotspur — he even was pictured appearing at White Hart Lane with a great big smile on the official Spurs Twitter account.
T is for Thinking Aloud
This 2017 documentary series saw Flanagan explore big topics ranging from class to gender to patriotism. Louis Theroux eat your heart out!
U is for the United States
He’s never cracked America as a comedian, but in his younger years, Flanagan spent a summer in Fire Island, New York, working as a dishwasher.
V is for Vest
Micky detailed his “return to the vest” in a hysterical segment on Mock The Week. May it inspire you, too, to leave the house in your vest without shame next time you’re popping to the offy.
W is for Was It Something I Said?
Micky was a team captain on this quote-themed panel show, appearing alongside David Mitchell and Richard Ayoade. Despite the star-studded line-up, it only lasted one series.
X is for Foxageddon
Flanagan wrote and starred in this BBC iPlayer exclusive short (sadly no longer online), in which a man faces a press onslaught after accidentally killing a neighbour’s beloved pet fox.
Y is for Young Socialists
Micky was an intelligent and politically-engaged teenager, who became a member of the Labour Party Young Socialists at the age of 13, and took part in Anti Nazi League marches in the late 70s.
Z is for Zinfandel
“The issue of teenage pregnancy has come up, and I’ve had nearly a whole bottle of Zinfandel,” is how Flanagan begins one of his most memorable bits – the contents of which we, again, can’t print here…
