STEVE BEST
be inspired
ARTIST'S STATEMENT //
I am a comedian and a photographer. I am a twin. My twin brother is ten minutes older than me. Time, I'm told, for my mum to have a cup of tea in-between deliveries. One year at senior school I received an A for effort and attainment in every single subject on my end-of-year school report. I then became obsessed with magic and performing and ended up getting an O level grade for my French A level. Merde! On a positive note I was a finalist in the Young Magician of the Year in 1985. I also passed Grade 8 on the flute. My dad was mayor of Epsom & Ewell 1990/91. I started stand-up in 1992. I am conversational in the Serbian/Croatian/Bosnian/Montenegrin languages. I saved my father-in-law from drowning in the sea off the Montenegrin coast in 2007 with the help of my twin brother. I have had two operations in the last several years to combat my snoring. The first was an Uvulopalatoplasty (a surgical procedure in which a laser is used to remove most of the uvula at the rear of the mouth). I'm not a baby, but that bloody hurt. It kind of worked (but not enough according to my wife). The second was a Radio-Frequency Ablation or Somnoplasty (the inner tissue is heated to 85 degrees Celsius, resulting in the tissue beneath the skin being scarred). This operation was not as painful. It did not really work either. It does however require the patient to undergo several sessions. I never went back for more. I am still married, but tend to sleep in the lower bunk of my son's bunk bed, who on occasion is known to shout at me to stop bloody snoring (so I'm told). I have never played Candy Crush.
For the last 10 years or so I've been documenting my scene, the comedy scene: backstage and on stage, the highs and the lows, the camaraderie and the competition, the loneliness and the isolation, and the outright joy of being a stand-up comedian.