| Lewis Schaffer | |
| Birth Date: | 30 March 1957 |
| Birth Place: | Brooklyn, New York |
| Nationality: | American |
| Other Names: | Brian Simpson |
| Occupation: | Stand-up comedian |
Lewis Schaffer is an American comedian and broadcaster, based in Nunhead, south-east London, where he moved in 2000. He currently hosts his own weekly radio show on Resonance 104.4FM in London. He also appears regularly, as of 2023, as a pundit on GB News, and tours Britain as a stand-up comedian.
Schaffer's show "Free until Famous" ran from October 2008 until April 2014 at a venue in Soho and later at The Rancho Grill in Mayfair, London. His show was the "longest running solo stand-up show in London and perhaps all of Britain", running in excess of 400 performances.[1]
Schaffer performed his show "Lewis Schaffer: American in London" every Sunday at the Leicester Square Theatre in London for over three years until June 2014, making it the longest solo comedy residency at the theatre.
He has hosted "Nunhead American Radio with Lewis Schaffer" on Resonance 104.4FM London since 2009. The show is broadcast live every Monday at 6:30PM GMT.[2] Guests have included comedians Russell Howard, Richard Herring, and Stewart Lee.
In 2009, he won the Malcolm Hardee Cunning Stunt Award for best publicity stunt at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe for persuading the magazine The List that he would be sponsoring the Edinburgh Comedy Awards. Schaffer said he had purchased the naming rights to the awards for £99 and his mother would be on the judging panel.[3] [4]
In 2017, he won the Wee Review Fringe Experience Award for his Fringe show "Unopened Letters From My Mother", in which he opened and read a series of letters sent to him by his mother after he moved to London.
In September 2019, Schaffer was assaulted while he was cycling in south London. He received treatment for a broken nose and facial wounds at King's College Hospital in Denmark Hill.[2]