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A Comedian's Comedians by John Korn

John Korn, aka Otiz Cannelloni, creates oil paintings of comedians that he admires and who have inspired his own comedy.

I am a comedian. Some years ago, I tried to encourage my young son to use the oil paints he had been given as a present. We painted a few pictures together but he didn’t take to it. I, however, did.

I hadn’t painted since I was in junior school and certainly never with oils. I loved the vivid colours and the thick richness of the paint. It continued as a hobby for several years, and then in 2020 we had our first lockdown, and my employment disappeared.

Like most people, I cleaned the house and did DIY but then I started to concentrate on my paintings. I did a number of images of life in lockdown and then I did a painting of Tommy Cooper. I was very pleased with the outcome and it got lots of likes and comments when I posted it on Facebook. That was all the encouragement I needed.

I continued to paint comedians and comic actors that I admired from the past.  I loved working on the images and they gave my Covid days a focus which helped make everything more bearable.

All the comedians I painted have, to some degree, influenced my own comedy. They brought back all kinds of happy memories for me; I hope they do the same for you.