Chris Turner (comedian)

Last updated
Chris Turner
Chris Turner at the 2024 Edinburgh Festival Fringe (cropped).jpg
Turner at the 2024 Edinburgh Festival Fringe
BornChristopher Peter Joseph Turner
(1989-09-12) 12 September 1989 (age 36)
Manchester, England
Citizenship
  • United Kingdom (by birthplace)
  • United States (naturalized)
Alma mater St Hugh's College, Oxford
Years active2009–present
Spouse(s) Alice Winn
Children1
Website www.christurnercomedy.com   OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg

Christopher Peter Joseph Turner (born 12 September 1989) [1] is a British and American comedian known for his improvisational freestyle rapping that ties together disparate topics suggested by his audience. In 2025, Turner was featured on the twentieth season of America's Got Talent where he finished in second place. [2] [3] [4] [5]

Contents

Early life

Turner was born in Manchester. He attended Manchester Grammar School. [6] He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Archeology and Anthropology from St Hugh's College, Oxford. [7] [8]

Turner took up rapping as a teenager after he was diagnosed with Marfan syndrome, a condition of the body's connective tissue which made it hazardous for him to play sports. [2]

However, in February 2018 Turner posted a letter on Facebook that he had received from the Manchester Centre for Genomic Medicine which said "all measurements from your echocardiogram (especially looking at your aorta) are entirely normal" and "this can confidently reassure you that you are not affected by Marfan syndrome". [9]

Career

Turner is an established presence at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, [10] [11] has performed on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, [12] and worked with Cirque du Soleil in Las Vegas. [5] While a student, he made it to the finals of the BBC Radio New Comedy Awards in 2011. [7] Turner also does improv, having performed with the Oxford Imps in college and co-founding of Racing Minds, a British performance troupe. [13] He was awarded first place in the Comedy/Novelty category of the 2024 International Songwriting Competition with the song "80s Kid". [14]

America's Got Talent

In 2025, Turner auditioned for the twentieth season of the NBC talent show America's Got Talent , performing freestyle rap. All four of the show's judges (Simon Cowell, Sofía Vergara, Mel B, and Howie Mandel) voted "yes" for Turner to enter the competition. He subsequently advanced to the live shows, and, during the quarterfinals, performed his act by freestyle rapping from social media topic requests sent in shortly before his act. He advanced to the semifinals where he performed his act by rapping to random audience objects. After his performance, Cowell stated that it was "absolutely brilliant. Brilliant. Brilliant. Brilliant." [15] Turner advanced to the finale of the show where he performed a freestyle of audience and judge suggestions, with the backing track gradually speeding up as the performance went on. Mel B stated that she was "lost for words" and had "never seen such raw talent" following his performance. [16] Turner finished as the runner-up of the season, behind winner Jessica Sanchez.

Personal life

Turner is married to novelist Alice Winn, whom he met at an improv group in Britain and started comedy to impress. [17] They have one daughter and a cat named Colonel Widdershins, whose name is a reference to a term for counterclockwise. [4]

During his America's Got Talent audition in 2025, Turner revealed that he had recently acquired American citizenship. He is currently residing in New York City. [18]

References

  1. ↑ "Christopher Peter Joseph Turner". University of Oxford. 13 March 2009. Retrieved 24 August 2024.
  2. 1 2 Logan, Brian (2015-08-12). "Straight outta Edinburgh: a rap guide to the fringe's freestyling standups". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2024-08-24.
  3. ↑ "Cirque scales back the spectacle in 'Mad Apple' premiere". Las Vegas Review-Journal. 2022-05-29. Retrieved 2024-08-24.
  4. 1 2 Harris, Elizabeth A. (2023-03-05). "A Debut Novel Creates a World From Pages Taken From the Past". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2024-08-24.
  5. 1 2 Morin, Stéphanie (2022-05-27). "Mad Apple du Cirque du Soleil: New York est en fête !". La Presse (in Canadian French). Retrieved 2024-08-24.
  6. ↑ "The biggest ever reunion in the history of The Manchester Grammar School". MGS Today. 21 Nov 2015.
  7. 1 2 "BBC Three - BBC New Comedy Awards - Chris Turner on his BBC New Comedy Award experience". BBC. Retrieved 2024-08-24.
  8. ↑ "BBC New Comedy Award: Meet the finalists". Chortle. 17 June 2011. Retrieved 24 August 2024.
  9. ↑ https://www.facebook.com/christurnercomedy/photos/not-only-is-it-great-to-be-reassured-you-dont-have-marfan-syndrome-see-my-2015-s/10156294443179789/?_rdr
  10. ↑ "BBC Radio 4 - Tweet of the Day, Chris Turner's Fringe Tweet". BBC. Retrieved 2024-08-24.
  11. ↑ "Chris Turner". British Comedy Guide. Retrieved 24 August 2024.
  12. ↑ "Chris Turner on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert : Video 2021 : Chortle : The UK Comedy Guide". www.chortle.co.uk. Retrieved 2024-08-24.
  13. ↑ Wild, Stephi. "Musical Comedian and Freestyle Rap Sensation Chris Turner Returns To Edinburgh Fringe Next Month". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved 2024-08-25.
  14. ↑ "Chris Turner - 80s Kid (Live)". YouTube . 21 November 2024.
  15. ↑ "Freestyle rapper cracks up Simon Cowell in America's Got Talent semifinals: 'That's gonna get you in the finals'". entertainment weekly . 16 September 2025.
  16. ↑ "Chris Turner on the America's Got Talent final : Video 2025 : Chortle : The UK Comedy Guide". www.chortle.co.uk. Retrieved 2025-09-24.
  17. ↑ "BBC Three - BBC New Comedy Awards - Chris Turner on his BBC New Comedy Award experience". BBC. Retrieved 2025-01-15.
  18. ↑ "Fringe performer discovers he made US talent show while walking on Salisbury Crags". The Scotsman. 2025-08-06. Retrieved 2025-09-24.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.