#mark olver

[unquietspiritao3]

I saw the host of that podcast about SA in standup saying on Bluesky that the story includes James, so I’ve been too scared to listen 😣

oh no! 🫂 i promise if i hear of any sexual misconduct allegations against james, i will mention them straight out. 💜

using james to promote the episode is mildly clickbaity, imo. he’s mentioned twice:

the host makes a good point that james created an entire tour show about heckling while there are much bigger problems in standup that don’t get discussed enough. the old observation ‘a women’s greatest fear is being murdered, while a man’s greatest fear is being laughed at’ definitely applies here.

the host named james, among several other comics, as participants in the taskmaster charity football match where one of the other players was mark olver. i’d never heard of this guy but apparently he has multiple allegations against him going back years. now, i see why the host did this, and ideally james and the other comics would’ve refused to play in that match—even if it was for charity—with olver. but you’d be surprised how many good people are unwilling to speak out against problematic behavior in a group setting. it goes against our survival instincts, which tell us that being ostracized by a group is life-threateningly dangerous. and unfortunately, being ostracized by the group is often the result of speaking out. however, i’m pretty sure mark olver’s participation in that match is ultimately down to alex horne, who certainly gave the impression at the time that he was solely responsible for organizing the comedians. also apparently mark olver has worked (works?) as the warm-up act for taskmaster. ew.

anyway, the podcast ep as a whole is very good! the host talks about protections against sexual harassment that are in place for volunteers of crisis helplines and contrasts that with standup. the overall point is that there’s a better way to do things and the system needs to be changed rather than focusing on each individual predator separately. i agree!

[panelshowsource]

8 Out of 10 Cats Does Deal or No Deal (2013)

ft. Jimmy Carr, Sean Lock, Jon Richardson, Nicola Adams, Rob Beckett, Gemma Collins, Mia Cross, Corinne Davies, Susie Dent, Matt Forde, John Fothergill, Stephen Frost, Nick Helm, Elis James, Dave Johns, Tony Law, Alice Levine, Mark Olver, Rachel Riley, John Robins, Katherine Ryan, Nong Skett, Andy Smart and Holly Walsh

[fuckyeahehc]

DEL (14. März 2018) Eisbären Berlin - Grizzlys Wolfsburg 4:1 Tore: Louis-Marc Aubry (27. & 47.) & Mark Olver (29. & 57.) Photos: Warm-Up & Spiel

[unquietspiritao3]

What can be done about Mark Olver, Taskmaster warm-up act and accused predator

(for those who haven’t heard about this, you can catch up here)

if, like me, it doesn’t sit right with you to allow the allegations against olver to go unaddressed while he continues to be the warm-up act for taskmaster, please join me in making your voice heard.

since i don’t use social media outside of tumblr, i’ve emailed avalon ([email protected]) and filled out a complaint form on the channel 4 website. you can also comment on taskmaster’s and channel 4’s posts and/or @ them. it doesn’t take that much negative sentiment to set off a social media crisis alarm at a company, i assure you.

alex is not on social media often these days, but i know some of you have other ways of contacting him. if you feel comfortable using that connection to express your concerns, that would carry a lot of weight, i’m sure.

‘but we don’t have any source for these allegations beyond a single podcast!’ you say? well, first of all, we have john robins’ chortle award acceptance speech, which was clipped in the podcast. second, it’s not necessary for us to provide proof. we’re simply telling them we’ve heard about some allegations (and, cya, don’t go beyond saying ‘alleged’). it’s on avalon to investigate.

of course, through all of this, please take care of yourself. you are only responsible for your own actions, not any predator’s or anyone else’s.

[unquietspiritao3]

Re: Mark olver. Having watched the John Robins speech, I was kind of shocked - it's super clear that it's serious and that he's really doing a call-out (even though the audience are giggling). He seems nervous and even mentions the fact that he used to live with the guy, to back up what he's saying. It's so weird that there's nothing elseweb about olver allegations - maybe it's not known much outside the industry?

yeah, after i got that anon saying the taskmaster subreddit had shut down discussion, i went and had a look at the frozen thread and saw some people saying it seemed like john was joking about rumors he didn’t believe bc the audience was laughing. which, a) is a much weirder thing to do in an acceptance speech and, b) doesn’t seem like something john robins would do anyway. plus, c) someone should issue a memo posthaste and tell everyone we’re not allowed to laugh at call-out jokes anymore. there goes james’ entire ricky gervais bit.

i don’t think it was known outside the industry at all before. which adds to my longstanding frustration about how little info is shared with fans in the majority of these situations. i know people want to protect the victims and not get sued but there’s gotta be something more that can be done? help us help you, guys!

[unquietspiritao3]

Punorama Investigates… Predatory Men in Stand-Up Comedy Part 3

Podcast Episode · Punorama Investigates... · 04/16/2025 · 13m

unexpected part 3! all about how to find out who the predatory men are, though again, aimed at people in the industry. the same methods wouldn’t work for random fans, i don’t think. but does give insight into the sources of the mark olver allegations, consistent with the anon message i got here.

[unquietspiritao3]

Punorama Investigates…Predatory Men in Stand-Up Comedy Part 2

Podcast Episode · Punorama Investigates... · 03/12/2025 · 15m

part two is out!

for those who are hesitant to listen, there’s a tldr under the cut. i’ll say here that no new names/allegations were revealed, and alex horne was not mentioned again. james acaster was.

it was a very good ep, though i did end feeling frustrated, for reasons i explain below.

predatory men continue to be active in standup “Not because other stand-ups support their behaviour, but because we don't have an effective system for getting rid of them.”

changes to be made include:

not treating gigs as a human right. being able to do a gig is a privilege. here the host gives an example of an unnamed comic in brighton who has allegations against him but still gets gigs by showing up and asking politely.

adopt the civil ‘more likely than not’ standard of proof rather than the criminal ‘beyond a reasonable doubt’ standard of proof. the host points out that russell brand has not been charged yet, but no one wants to work with him (and in case anyone was not already aware, false accusations are very rare).

refuse to work with predatory men. this is where james came up again, because he took the role in ghostbusters with bill murray on the cast. i had no idea that murray has been accused of misconduct but i would assume james was aware. side note: the host says ‘Now, I don't bring Acaster up because he's particularly bad. I bring him up because he's typical. And we need what's typical to change. I also bring him up because he's popular. And frankly, I think that mentioning him might increase my listener count.’ so i was correct about the clickbait lol. still think alex’s name would’ve gotten clicks too, though.

have a better, more joined-up system for reporting. don’t require victims to tell their story directly over and over again to multiple promoters. if you are a promoter, get trained on the law and your responsibilities, be transparent about the reporting process, and don’t book men you’ve heard are dodgy.

as a fan, the actionable point for me to take forward is to express my disapproval when comics work with people like bill murray. cool, i’ll send an email (since neither james nor i do social media) to off menu, now that i’m aware. the problem i see with this, though, is that i can’t possibly know all the people who have been accused of misconduct. never mind people like bill murray—where the info was out and i just hadn’t heard about it—but what are we supposed to do when the info is only shared privately, like with mark olver?

i don’t really have an answer here. i’m just tired of waiting for the comedy world to sort their shit out.

[unquietspiritao3]

You’re right about the allegations against Olver being shared in private women’s groups. They’re irrefutable. It’s not as well-known outside of Bristol tho.

thanks for sharing, anon! i suspected it was something like that