Sanderson Jones

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Sanderson Jones
Born1981 (age 42–43)
NationalityBritish
Occupation(s)Comedian
Broadcaster
Social entrepreneur
Years active2008–present
OrganizationSunday Assembly
Websitesandersonjones.co

Sanderson Jones (born 1981) is a British stand-up comedian, broadcaster and social entrepreneur based in London.[1] He co-founded Sunday Assembly, a worldwide movement of non-religious congregations, with Pippa Evans in 2013.[2] Jones was nominated for Malcolm Hardee Awards in 2011 and for Chortle Awards in 2012.[3][4]

Biography[edit]

Jones was born in 1981 in London. He started his professional comedy career in 2008. He is known for his conceptual performances with the Skinny saying "Sanderson creates genres at the same rate other comedians write shows".[5] Between 2009 and 2011, Jones also worked as a film critic for The Lady, Britain's longest-running weekly women's magazine.[6]

In 2010, Jones performed for the first time at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. His show Taking Liberties challenged the legal definition of art and received positive reviews from several newspapers including The Guardian.[7] In April 2011, Jones took his show Taking Liberties to Melbourne International Comedy Festival where it received favourable reviews from The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald.[8]

In August 2011, Jones created the show Comedy Sale where every single ticket was sold in person.[9] The show had a sold-out run and was one of the best-reviewed shows of the 2011 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.[10] In every show of Comedy Sale, Jones would research the audience and include their social media into the performance.[11] In October 2011, the show went to the Union Chapel, Islington where it played to 700 people, who he had all met previously.[12] The show was nominated for a Malcolm Hardee Awards in 2011, and for a Chortle Award in 2012.[4][3] In 2012, Jones took Comedy Sale to Australia where he played shows at the Adelaide Town Hall, The National Theatre, and the Sydney Opera House.[13][14] In January 2013, he was a part of Mark Watson’s 24 Hour Comedy Show for Comic Relief and broke the world record for the world's longest hug.[15][16]

In 2013, Jones co-founded Sunday Assembly with Pippa Evans.[17] Sunday Assembly is a non-religious gathering headquartered in London, England.[18] Sunday Assembly has been widely studied and spread rapidly with The Daily Beast calling it "the world's fastest growing church".[19] In 2015 researchers from Oxford University and Brunel University completed a 6-month longitudinal survey of Sunday Assembly participants, and found that attending was correlated to improved wellbeing in a significant way.[20][21] For his work on Sunday Assembly, Jones was elected to the Ashoka Fellowship which recognises leading social entrepreneurs with solutions to social problems who seek to make large-scale changes to society.[22] He has also received awards and recognition from Nesta and UnLtd.[23]

In 2018 Jones left Sunday Assembly to develop the practice of Lifefulness, a secular and scientific approach that adapts the best parts of spiritual communities.[24]

In September 2018, Jones wrote and presented Meet The Unbelievers & A History of Unbelief, a three-part series that investigated how unbelievers create meaning and belonging.[25] The show was produced by Dan Snow's History Hit and funded by Understanding Unbelief, the world's largest study of atheists and agnostics.[26] In May 2020, Jones contributed to two BBC World Service programmes on community and prayer.[27][28]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Boorstein, Michelle (7 November 2013). "Nonbelievers take Sunday Assembly for a spin". The Washington Post. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
  2. ^ Pigott, Robert (1 November 2013). "Doing church without God". bbc.com. BBC. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
  3. ^ a b "Cunning stunts up for Edinburgh Fringe award". www.bbc.com. BBC. 23 August 2011. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
  4. ^ a b "Chortle Awards 2012 nominees announced". comedy.co.uk. British Comedy Guide. 22 February 2012. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
  5. ^ O'Leary, Bernard (13 March 2013). "Sanderson Jones: "We will celebrate the hell out of life"". www.theskinny.co.uk. The Skinny. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
  6. ^ Milazzo, Franco (13 June 2011). "Comedian Interview: Sanderson Jones". londonist.com. Londonist. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
  7. ^ Richardson, Jay (16 August 2010). "Sanderson Jones offers us a picture of ourselves offended". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
  8. ^ Richards, Tim (15 April 2011). "Taking Liberties". www.theage.com.au. The Age. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
  9. ^ Northover, Kylie (10 April 2012). "Pounding the pavement to peddle laughs - but not to just anyone". www.smh.com.au. The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
  10. ^ "Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2011: Shows With Best Reviews". www.comedy.co.uk. British Comedy Guide. 5 September 2011. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
  11. ^ Morton, Alasdair (4 November 2012). "Be very afraid of comedian Sanderson Jones and his new stand-up show Comedy Sale". www.tntmagazine.com. TNT. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
  12. ^ "Sanderson Jones, the face-to-face funnyman". www.standard.co.uk. Evening Standard. 14 October 2011. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
  13. ^ Ortberg, Mallory (5 January 2013). "London's First Atheist Church Opens Tomorrow". gawker.com. Gawker. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
  14. ^ "Sanderson Jones is an award-winning social entrepreneur". designmcr.com. Design Manchester. 21 November 2019. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
  15. ^ Thornley, Andy (20 January 2012). "Epic Hug In St Pancras Breaks World Record". londonist.com. Londonist. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
  16. ^ Fresneda, Carlos (21 January 2012). "El abrazo más largo del mundo". www.elmundo.e. El Mundo (Spain). Retrieved 10 August 2021.
  17. ^ Luhrmann, T.M. (24 December 2014). "Religion Without God". The New York Times. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
  18. ^ Wheeler, Brian (4 February 2013). "What happens at an atheist church?". www.bbc.com. BBC. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
  19. ^ Hines, Nico (11 June 2017). "Sunday Assembly Is the Hot New Atheist Church". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
  20. ^ Price, Michael E.; Launay, Jacques (8 August 2018). "Increased Wellbeing from Social Interaction in a Secular Congregation". Secularism & Nonreligion. 7 (1): 6. doi:10.5334/snr.102.
  21. ^ Charles, Sarah J.; van Mulukom, Valerie; Brown, Jennifer E.; Dunbar, Robin I. M.; Watts, Fraser; Farias, Miguel (27 January 2021). "United on Sunday: The effects of secular rituals on social bonding and affect". PLOS One. 16 (1): e0242546. Bibcode:2021PLoSO..1642546C. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0242546. PMC 7840012. PMID 33503054.
  22. ^ "Sanderson Jones - Ashoka Fellow". www.ashoka.org. Ashoka. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
  23. ^ "TEDxBrighton - Speakers". www.ted.com. TED (conference). 20 October 2017. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
  24. ^ Geall, Lauren (29 March 2020). "The psychology of singing: why music is the perfect antidote to coronavirus anxiety". www.stylist.co.uk. Stylist. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
  25. ^ "Meet the Unbelievers & A History of Unbelief". research.kent.ac.uk. University of Kent. 1 September 2018. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
  26. ^ Lanman, Jonathan. "Atheists do not feel life is devoid of any meaning". www.issuesonline.co.uk. Issues Online. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
  27. ^ "Community: Heart and Soul Reflections on Faith in a Global Crisis". www.bbc.co.uk. BBC. 1 June 2020. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
  28. ^ "Prayer: Heart and Soul Reflections on Faith in a Global Crisis". www.bbc.co.uk. BBC. 8 June 2020. Retrieved 10 August 2021.

External links[edit]

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