Kiri Pritchard-McLean

Last updated

Kiri Pritchard-McLean
Born
Kiri Louise Pritchard-McLean

6 November 1986
Gloucester, England
NationalityWelsh
Years active2010–present

Kiri Louise Pritchard-McLean (born 1986) [1] is a Welsh comedian and writer. She has performed for several consecutive years at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and won five Chortle Awards.

Contents

Career

Pritchard-McLean is the director and writer for sketch group Gein's Family Giftshop who were nominated for Best Newcomer in 2014 for the Edinburgh Comedy Award. [2] As a sketch group they were also nominated for Chortle Awards in 2015. She took her debut show Hysterical Woman to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2016. [3] It transferred to the Soho Theatre for a run in June 2017. Her 2017 Edinburgh Fringe show was called Appropriate Adult and 2018's show was called Victim, Complex. Both shows were critically acclaimed and also transferred to Soho Theatre the following year.

Pritchard-McLean has appeared on Have I Got News for You, [4] Russell Howard's Stand Up Central on Comedy Central and ITV's Elevenish, Hypothetical , and Channel 4's 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown as well as multiple appearances on the BBC Radio 4 shows The Now Show , The News Quiz and Elis James' State of the Nation. She is also co-host of the podcast All Killa No Filla along with fellow comedian Rachel Fairburn. [5] In 2019 Pritchard-McLean became the host of the BBC Radio 4 Extra satirical sketch show Newsjack . [6] In September 2019, she presented an edition of The News Quiz . In January 2020, she appeared as a panellist on Would I Lie to You? alongside David Mitchell and Jo Brand.

Her radio comedy pilot The Learners, a sitcom set in a Welsh-for-beginners class, premiered on 4 January 2021 on BBC Radio Wales. [7] Written by Pritchard-McLean, it stars Tudur Owen, Janice Connolly, Mick Ferry, Kath Hughes, Oliver Pearce, Lisa Zahraand and Les Dennis. [8] [9] Her half-hour radio stand-up show Kiri Pritchard-McLean: Egg-sistential Crisis was released on BBC Radio 4 on 10 January 2020. [10] [9]

From June to August 2020, Pritchard-McLean presented a two-hour radio show on Saturday afternoons on BBC Radio Wales. [11] [12] She returned to the station in January 2021 to host a weekly Sunday afternoon show which she hosted until March 2024. [13] [14]

Kiri now also presents "Kiri's TV Flashback" formally "Tudur's TV Flashback" on BBC One Wales.

Comedy awards

Pritchard-McLean won Best Compere and Best Club Comedian at the Chortle Awards in 2018, [15] Best Compere and Breakthrough Act at the Chortle Awards in 2019, [16] and Best Compere at the Chortle Awards in 2020. [17] She was awarded the Caroline Aherne Bursary in 2020. The bursary, which was launched in memory of comedy star Caroline Aherne, is aimed at new writer/performers from the North of England and awards £5,000 to the successful applicant to enable them to receive support from the BBC. Kiri will also receive mentorship from a BBC Comedy Commissioning Editor to develop a comedy script. [18]

Personal life

Born in Gloucester, she was raised on a farm in Llanbedrgoch [19] on the island of Anglesey, Wales. [20]

Pritchard-McLean was previously in a relationship with comedian James Meehan from sketch group Gein's Family Gift Shop. They split up in 2017 with both using their experience of the break-up to create Edinburgh Fringe shows in 2018. Pritchard-McLean's show focused on the accusation that Meehan gaslit her during the relationship. [21]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Josie Long</span> English comedian (born 1982)

Josie Isabel Long is an English comedian. She started performing as a stand-up at the age of 14 and won the BBC New Comedy Awards at 17.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jess Robinson</span>

Jess Robinson is an English comedy actress, singer, impressionist, voice artist and comedian.

<i>Newsjack</i> Satirical sketch show on BBC Radio

Newsjack was a British satirical sketch show which was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 Extra between 2009 and 2021. It was hosted by Miles Jupp, Justin Edwards, Romesh Ranganathan (2014), Nish Kumar (2015-2016), Angela Barnes (2017-2018) and Kiri Pritchard-McLean (2019-2021). It was first broadcast on 4 June 2009. The series was notable for having an "Open door" policy on writing, advertising itself as "the scrapbook sketch show written entirely by the Great British public" meaning that unsolicited writers without contract to the BBC could send in material. The show was designed to give new writers an opportunity to get material broadcast. It was hoped by the people behind the show that it would be a modern version of Week Ending, an earlier sketch show which also accepted material the same way. Most shows were recorded in front of a live audience at the BBC Radio Theatre in Broadcasting House.

London Hughes is a British comedian, television writer and presenter. She wrote and starred in Laughter Shock, a comedy for the BBC which piloted in 2010.

Des McLean is a Scottish stand-up comedian, actor, and a presenter for radio and television from Glasgow. Billy Connolly has cited McLean as his favourite comedian.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Angela Barnes</span> English comedian

Angela Barnes is an English stand-up comedian, mostly known for her appearances on Mock the Week.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cariad Lloyd</span> British comedian, actress, writer and podcaster

Katie Cariad Lloyd is a British comedian, actress, writer, and podcaster. A member of the improvisational comedy group Austentatious, the host and creator of Griefcast, and an improv teacher, she has been performing since 2007.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Benjamin Partridge</span> Welsh comedy writer (born 1986)

Benjamin Partridge is a Welsh comedy writer, performer, actor and producer. He created the Beef And Dairy Network Podcast.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Robins (comedian)</span> English stand-up comedian and presenter

John Michael David Robins is an English stand-up comedian and radio presenter.

Barry Ferns is a British stand up comedian, writer, director, and a trained physiotherapist. Barry is also one of the founding members of Angel Comedy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nish Kumar</span> British stand-up comedian and presenter

Nishant Kumar is a British stand-up comedian, television presenter, political commentator, and podcast host. He became known as the host of satirical comedy The Mash Report, now known as Late Night Mash. He has also presented BBC Radio 4 Extra's topical comedy show Newsjack, the Comedy Central series Joel & Nish vs The World, the BBC Radio 4 programme The News Quiz and Hello America on Quibi. Since May 2023, he has been the co-host of the political podcast Pod Save the UK.

Jason Forbes is a British actor, writer, comedian, impressionist, and TV presenter. He is best known for the CITV series Horrible Science; The Mash Report on BBC Two; as PC Peasey in the Professor Branestawm television films on BBC One; and as a member of the award-winning sketch trio 'Daphne'.

Sophie Willan is an English actress, narrator, writer and comedian. She has won two BAFTAs for her television sitcom Alma's Not Normal.

Rosie Jones is a British comedian, writer and actress. After starting her career as a writer on panel shows, she went on to appear as a guest on The Last Leg, 8 Out of 10 Cats, 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown, QI and Hypothetical. She attended the 2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo as a roving reporter for The Last Leg.

Darren Harriott is a British stand-up comedian from Oldbury, West Midlands. He was nominated for the Best Newcomer Award and Best Show Award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2017 and 2019 respectively.

Rachel Fairburn is an English comedian. She was born in Harpurhey, Manchester and attended St Monica's High School. She is co-host of the hit comedy podcast All Killa No Filla along with fellow comedian Kiri Pritchard-McLean. All Killa No Filla has been named one of the top eight true crime podcasts of 2018 by The Independent, Esquire 's number two 'Best True Crime Podcast' in 2018 and one of the best podcast of 2018 by The Guardian. Time cited their podcast as an example of how female comedians are talking about their experiences in the #MeToo era. Fairburn and Pritchard-McLean launched their podcast in 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Delightful Sausage</span> Comedy double act

The Delightful Sausage are a comedy double act, created by Amy Gledhill and Christopher Cantrill. In 2019 and 2022 they were nominated for 'Best Show' at the Edinburgh Fringe.

Athena Kugblenu is a British stand-up comedian and writer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sam Campbell (comedian)</span> Australian comedian, actor and writer

Samuel George Campbell is an Australian stand-up comedian and actor. He won the Melbourne International Comedy Festival Award in 2018 and the main prize at the Edinburgh Comedy Festival in 2022.

Amy Gledhill is an English comedian. She has been nominated for Best Show at the UK National Comedy Awards and for Best Show and Best Newcomer at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. She performs solo and as half the duo The Delightful Sausage with Chris Cantrill.

References

  1. "Kiri Pritchard-McLean". British Comedy Guide. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
  2. Logan, Brian (14 August 2015). "Edinburgh comedy roundup: the best of the rest – week one". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 11 May 2017.
  3. Logan, Brian (28 April 2017). "Hysterical Woman: the standup show addressing sexism in comedy". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 11 May 2017.
  4. "Have I Got News for You - S56 - Episode 3". Radio Times. Archived from the original on 20 October 2018. Retrieved 20 October 2018.
  5. Hershon, Marc (18 March 2016). "Podcast Reviews: I Am Rapaport & All Killa No Filla". Huffington Post. Retrieved 11 May 2017.
  6. "New presenters announced for BBC Radio 4 Extra's Newsjack and Comedy Club". BBC Media Centre. 12 December 2018. Retrieved 12 December 2018.
  7. "The Learners". BBC. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
  8. "The Learners - Radio Wales Sitcom". British Comedy Guide. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
  9. 1 2 "Kiri Pritchard-McLean lands a hat-trick of BBC radio comedies". British Comedy Guide. 30 October 2020. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
  10. "Stand-Up Specials - Kiri Pritchard-McLean: Egg-sistential Crisis - BBC Sounds". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
  11. "Comedian Kiri Pritchard-McLean joins BBC Radio Wales". RadioToday. 20 June 2020. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
  12. "Kiri Pritchard-McLean". BBC. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
  13. "Kiri Pritchard-McLean to host BBC Radio Wales show". British Comedy Guide. 17 December 2020. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
  14. "Kiri Pritchard-McLean". BBC. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
  15. "Chortle Awards 2018: The results". Chortle. Chortle Awards. Retrieved 22 April 2018.
  16. "Chortle Awards 2018: The results". Chortle. Chortle Awards. Retrieved 18 March 2019.
  17. "Chortle Awards 2018: The results". Chortle. Chortle Awards. Retrieved 19 March 2020.
  18. "Kiri Pritchard-McLean: Welsh comic wins Aherne award - BBC News". BBC News. 16 March 2020. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
  19. Price, Karen (5 August 2015). "7 ways how life on a rural Welsh farm inspired a new radio comedy". WalesOnline. Media Wales. Retrieved 13 June 2020.
  20. Burgess, Marissa (25 July 2017). "Kiri Pritchard-McLean – 'I grew up on a farm where you're confronted with horrific things". The List. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
  21. Armstrong, Stephen (12 August 2018). "Edinburgh comedy reviews: Kiri Pritchard-McLean, Natalie Palamides, Elf Lyons". The Times. ISSN   0140-0460 . Retrieved 2 July 2020.