Patrick Kielty
Speaker
Patrick Kielty began his stand up career in the summer of 1992 after graduating from Queen’s University. A finalist on the Late Late Show New Comedy Act of the Year, he went on to co-found and host one of Ireland’s first comedy clubs at the Belfast Empire. It was here that he was discovered by UTV for the youth series SUS.
His stand up material began to draw the most attention with the first serious satire to be attempted on the situation in Northern Ireland winning widespread critical acclaim. This led to him hosting the BBC2 comedy special, The Empire Laughs Back, which scooped awards from both the Celtic Film Festival and the prestigious Royal Television Society.
March 1995 saw Patrick’s first major network breakthrough when he stole the show alongside Jo Brand, Julian Clary and Ben Elton on the St Patrick’s Night Comic Relief. Recognising his success, BBC Northern Ireland rewarded him with his own prime time show, PK Tonight, which ran live from October 1995 to March 1996. The show was the region’s most successful entertainment series in it’s history and his performance in PK Tonight led him to a second Royal Television Award, this time for Best Newcomer.
Patrick’s 1996 network debut series, After the Break, for BBC1 had regular audiences of over 6 million, leading Channel 4 to sign him for the hugely popular Last Chance Lottery. This show proved to be one of Channel 4’s most successful series of 1997, finishing ahead of TFI Friday in the channel’s top ten as well as being shortlisted for both the Broadcast and British Comedy Awards.
1998 saw Patrick’s return to the BBC with the offer to co-host The National Lottery Big Ticket on prime time Saturday night. Despite its controversy, the show quickly became the BBC’s most watched new Saturday show in five years and established Patrick as a mainstream performer.
He successfully completed his first UK network comedy show, Patrick Kielty Almost Live, for BBC1 in 1999 and a second series followed.
As a live performer, Patrick completed 3 sell out Irish tours in 3 years. His first video, “Sir it Up” went platinum and his second, “Get Up Stand Up”, became the highest selling video of 1998, reaching triple platinum status in Ireland. The recording of the video at Belfast’s Waterfront Hall broke box office records and he currently the only performer to sell out three consecutive nights in the venue.
Patrick is a former member of the BAFTA jury for Light Entertainment and Chairman of the jury for the 1999 BBC New Comedy Awards at the Edinburgh Festival. He was also one of the hosts of BBC1’s Millennium Show alongside Lenny Henry and Michael Parkinson.
Kielty continues to appear on national television, tending to favour light-entertainment shows such as the BBC's Fame Academy, Comic Relief does Fame Academy and Love Island for ITV in both 2005 and 2006. Also in 2006 Kielty hosted a segment on ITV's coverage of The Prince's Trust 30th Birthday LIVE alongside Kate Thornton.
Kielty hosted the original pilot of the American version of Deal or No Deal for ABC in early 2004. However, ABC decided against airing the series, which ended up on NBC, with Canadian comedian Howie Mandel as host.
In 2006 Kielty returned to the stand-up scene with a brand new UK tour. A DVD, filmed at Belfast's Grand Opera House, was later released.
In 2007 Kielty began work on the UK production of A Night in November, a comedy play written by Marie Jones, author of Stones in His Pockets.
The same year he also was a guest on the BBC's third series of Live at the Apollo.
Kielty sits in for Alan Carr on his BBC Radio 2 show when Alan is on holidays.
Patrick hosted the Saturday morning show on BBC Radio 2 which started on the 24 July 2010 and it ran for 10 weeks.
Kielty presented Sport Relief 2010 alongside Fearne Cotton and others.
In 2010, Kielty took part in Channel 4's Comedy Gala, a benefit show held in aid of Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital, filmed live at the O2 Arena in London on 30 March.
Kielty is the host of Channel 4's Stand Up for the Week, which began in June 2010.
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