Legal Battle
Comedian wins legal battle to joke about divorce
Stephen Grant spent two years fighting for a settlement with his wife Anneliese before receiving a letter from her lawyers insisting he not refer to their break up during his routine.
Solicitors on his behalf were forced to invoke the Human Rights Act and the right to freedom of speech before the request was withdrawn.
More than a year after the divorce was finally resolved, Grant is finally using "ex-wife related red mist" as material for his work.
Grant, 37, from Brighton said last night that he was still nervous about using the material, in case he slandered his former wife.
"My solicitor said 'if you are going to say anything, make sure it's true because otherwise it is slander'.
"After 14 years of stand-up, the issue of my divorce is the most honest work I have done.
"I am quite nervous – if I get this wrong, it is not just unfunny, it might be slanderous."
Grant, who has performed alongside Alan Carr, Jonathan Ross and Harry Hill, met Anneliese Holland in 1999 while out with fellow comedian Steve Coogan in Brighton.
The couple married in September 2005 and he said they separated in April 2007 after he discovered she was having a relationship with another man.
"I was gutted that we couldn't work it out," he said.
"We were so in love and she seemed to love my sense of humour back then but she very quickly lost it in the divorce."
The couple spent two years involved in divorce proceedings before reaching a settlement.
In April 2009, Miss Holland's law firm Martin Cray & Co sent Grant's lawyers a letter demanding an undertaking not to disclose any information relating to the divorce.
It said: "Our client is concerned that your client may inadvertently include material in his routine which could cause her professional embarrassment, and this additional protection is therefore reasonably requested."
Grant's lawyers, Griffith Smith Farrington Webb, swiftly replied.
"The court has to have regard to the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and fundamental freedoms 1950 and the Human Rights Act of 1988.
"We submit at this very late stage to seek to introduce a potentially complex area of law and an entirely fresh requirement is inappropriate."
The matter was taken no further and the divorce became absolute in June 2009.
Grant said: "I've been absolutely dying to talk about the whole divorce on stage for over two years.
"It's like she took out the 10 Commandments, missed the not and took it as a 'to do' list.
"But I had to wait until a year after our divorce as she came at me with legal action.
"I think people who go out with comedians are well aware that is where a lot of material can come from.
"People who see me do stand up know that I talk about stuff that goes on in my private life all the time.
"The whole divorce procedure she put me through was so ridiculous that you have to see the funny side of it. It makes great material."
Grant, who married his second wife Lucy three weeks ago, is due to include his divorce in his performance at the Brighton Comedy Festival later this month.
Last night Miss Holland said: "It appears that this is a publicity stunt used to try to publicise his show and no more."
Jokes:
- "I'm still surprised at what she did, with her being a Christian. Maybe she didn't see the 'not' part of the 10 commandments and thought it was a to-do list."
- "This was a woman so two faced it took ages to upload Facebook pictures of her because I had to tag her twice."
- "When I finally got the house back, the only thing she left was a broomstick, which was odd, because I thought she might have needed it for transport."
(Published by The Telegraph – October 1, 2010)