Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/John Dowie (humourist)


 * The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review).  No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was keep. (non-admin closure) Extraordinary Writ (talk) 05:58, 9 July 2021 (UTC)

John Dowie (humourist)

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I think the article should be deleted. It is heavily outdated, and has been tagged as needing more sources since 2015. Since it was recently brought over to Simple English Wikipedia, I did a quick search on google, and didn't find any meaningful sources, so I nominated it for deletion there as well (request here). Therefore, I propose deleting it.Eptalon (talk) 17:17, 19 June 2021 (UTC)
 * Automated comment: This AfD was not correctly transcluded to the log (step 3). I have transcluded it to Articles for deletion/Log/2021 July 2.  —cyberbot I   Talk to my owner :Online 02:59, 2 July 2021 (UTC)
 * Note: This discussion has been included in the list of People-related deletion discussions. Aranya (talk) 03:00, 2 July 2021 (UTC)
 * Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Authors-related deletion discussions. Aranya (talk) 03:01, 2 July 2021 (UTC)
 * Note: This discussion has been included in the list of United Kingdom-related deletion discussions. Aranya (talk) 03:02, 2 July 2021 (UTC)


 * Weak keep - I found some comedy news articles describing his career. Chortle calls Dowie a "pioneering comic" and "alternative comedy forerunner" in this 2016 article. This 2012 article by the same publication also describes his career as a comedian. The Skinny, in this article, talks about his appearance at the 1972 Edinburgh Fringe, calling him the "first solo comedian in Edinburgh". Each article also talks about his career after stand-up, e.g. writing Dogman and later Jesus My Boy (see this review by The Guardian). Aranya (talk) 04:03, 2 July 2021 (UTC)
 * Some additional sources include a 1991 article in The Guardian (which can be accessed via Newspaper.com at this link) and mentions in this book on alternative comedy. Aranya (talk) 04:03, 2 July 2021 (UTC)
 * Strong keep This is a poorly sourced article of a clearly notable subject. I've already added a couple of sources. (There's material on google books). Dowie was not only "there at the beginning" of alternative comedy, lots of people have said he was.OsFish (talk) 04:32, 6 July 2021 (UTC)
 * Note I've added 6 published references establishing his notability. There's a lot more work to be done on clearing up the page, but I hope other editors can see that he's not obscure at all within the history of British comedy.OsFish (talk) 05:20, 6 July 2021 (UTC)


 * Keep per WP:HEY. Geschichte (talk) 04:10, 7 July 2021 (UTC)
 * Keep. Based on all the sources, in their totality, the subject without doubt an individual who is a forerunner and/or one of the first representatives of Alternative comedy which is a culturally significant and notable field. This gives the article a decently strong run at WP:ANYBIO #2. In addition to this, the subject weakly passes WP:SIGCOV. Adding the two together, there is just enough for me to find that the subject is notable. — Alalch Emis (talk) 16:52, 7 July 2021 (UTC)


 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.