Desmond Martin Clarke (born 13 January 1981) is a Scottish

stand-up comedian Stand-up comedy is a comedy, comedic performance to a live audience in which the performer addresses the audience directly from the stage. The performer is known as a comedian, a comic or a stand-up. Stand-up comedy consists of One-line joke ...

and television/radio presenter. Clarke currently presents ''Heart Drivetime'' on

Heart Scotland Heart Scotland is a regional radio station owned and operated by Global Radio as part of the Heart network. The station relaunched as Heart on 6 May 2014, serving Central and Southern Scotland from studios in Glasgow city centre. Heart Scotl ...

(weekdays from 4pm-7pm with co-host Jennifer Reoch from STV), and writes a weekly column in the '' Daily Record'', and also presents the

BBC Radio Scotland BBC Radio Scotland is a Scottish radio network owned and operated by BBC Scotland, a division of the BBC. It broadcasts a wide variety of programmes. It replaced the Scottish BBC Radio 4 opt-out service of the same name from 23 November 197 ...

topical quiz show ''Breaking the News''.

Early life

Clarke was raised in the

Gorbals The Gorbals is an area in the city of Glasgow, Scotland, on the south bank of the River Clyde. By the late 19th century, it had become densely populated; rural migrants and immigrants were attracted by the new industries and employment opportun ...

district of

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

and attended

Holyrood Secondary School ("By this conquer!") , established = 1936 , closed = , type = Comprehensive , religious_affiliation = Roman Catholic , president = , head_name = , head ...

Career

Television

Clarke presented

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

's long running children's television show ''

SMTV Live ''SMTV Live'' (an abbreviation of ''Saturday Morning Television Live'', and also stylised as ''SM: LIVE'') was a British Saturday morning children's television programme, produced by Blaze Television for ITV. Operating on a similar format to o ...

'' from March to December 2003, following the departure of

Ant & Dec Ant & Dec are a British television presenter, television presenting duo, consisting of Anthony McPartlin (born 18 November 1975) and Declan Donnelly (born 25 September 1975), from Newcastle upon Tyne, England. Formed after their meeting as chil ...

. He has hosted ''Whatever'' on

Sky 1 Sky One was a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). Originally launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, it was Europe's first satellite and non-terrestrial channel. From 31 July 1989, ...

Discovery Discovery may refer to: * Discovery (observation), observing or finding something unknown * Discovery (fiction), a character's learning something unknown * Discovery (law), a process in courts of law relating to evidence Discovery, The Discovery ...

's ''Invention SOS'' and '' Club Cupid'', the adult dating show on STV as well as fronting the Scottish coverage of Children in Need. Clarke has also been involved in sports broadcasting, appearing regularly on

BBC One Scotland BBC One Scotland is a Scottish free-to-air television channel owned and operated by BBC Scotland and is a Scottish variation of the UK-wide BBC One. For all of the time the channel is referred to on screen as ''BBC One Scotland'', sometimes us ...

’s flagship football programmes, '' Offside'' and ''

Sportscene ''Sportscene'' is the name of a range of Scottish sports television programmes produced by BBC Scotland. History ''Sportscenes predecessors were ''Sports Special from Scotland'' and ''Sportsreel'', which was broadcast every Saturday at around 5 ...

'' as well as ''

Sportsround ''Sportsround'' is a weekly spin-off from CBBC children's news programme ''Newsround''. The sports magazine show was broadcast between 2005 and 2010, on Friday evenings at 6:30pm on CBBC Channel and on Saturday mornings on BBC Two at 7.25am. '' ...

'' on

CBBC Channel CBBC (initialised as Children's BBC and also known as the CBBC Channel) is a British free-to-air public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the brand used for all BBC content for children aged 7– ...

. At the end of 2007, Clarke hosted ''From SR to Lavvie Heid - How We Made the Break'', an affectionate look at the top 50 adverts shown in Scotland since 1957 as part of the celebrations for STV's 50th birthday. Clarke has also appeared in

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, p ...

's ''Live Floor Show'' and

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...

's ''World Cup's Most Shocking Moments''. In 2014, Clarke was a panelist on

CBBC CBBC (initialised as Children's BBC and also known as the CBBC Channel) is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the bran ...

's ''

The Dog Ate My Homework "The dog ate my homework" (or "My dog ate my homework") is an English expression which carries the suggestion of being a common, poorly fabricated excuse made by schoolchildren to explain their failure to turn in an assignment on time. The phras ...

''. He is also a regular warm-up comedian for

BBC Scotland BBC Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: ''BBC Alba'') is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Scotland. It is one of the four BBC national regions, together with the BBC English Regions, BBC Cymru Wales and BBC Northern Ireland. I ...

. Clarke hosted the

closing ceremony An opening ceremony, grand opening, or ribbon-cutting ceremony marks the official opening of a newly-constructed location or the start of an event.

of the

2014 Commonwealth Games The 2014 Commonwealth Games ( gd, Geamannan a' Cho-fhlaitheis 2014), officially known as the XX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Glasgow 2014, ( sco, Glesca 2014 or Glesga 2014; gd, Glaschu 2014), was an international multi-sport ev ...

. In 2019, Clarke made a guest appearance in the first episode of the ninth series of ''

Still Game ''Still Game'' is a Scottish sitcom, produced by The Comedy Unit with BBC Scotland. It was created by Ford Kiernan and Greg Hemphill, who played the lead characters, Jack Jarvis, Esq and Victor McDade, two Glaswegian pensioners. The characte ...

''.

Radio

Clarke spent three years as a DJ on Scottish radio station Beat 106, fronting the ''Breakfast Show'' and winning the Presenter of the Year at the British Radio Awards in 2004. Clarke later returned to Beat 106 under its new name of

Xfm Scotland Nation Radio Scotland (formerly ''XFM Scotland (2014), 96.3 Rock Radio'' ''Real XS,'' ''Q96'' and ''96.3QFM'') is a Scottish independent local radio station for Renfrewshire, Glasgow and West Central Scotland, owned by Nation Broadcasting. ...

. On 7 November 2008, Xfm Scotland became

Galaxy Scotland Capital Scotland (formerly known as Beat 106, XFM Scotland, and later Galaxy Scotland) is a regional radio station owned by Communicorp UK and operated by Global. It broadcasts to Scotland's Central Belt, an area surrounding the two cities o ...

and on 10 November 2008, Clarke began hosting a weekday breakfast show with Vanessa Motion, ''Des & Vanessa @ Breakfast''. On 3 January 2011, Galaxy Scotland was renamed and rebranded as

Capital Scotland Capital Scotland (formerly known as Beat 106, XFM Scotland, and later Galaxy Scotland) is a regional radio station owned by Communicorp UK and operated by Global. It broadcasts to Scotland's Central Belt, an area surrounding the two citie ...

, where he became a breakfast co-presenter alongside Jennie Cook. He now presents with Steven Mill and Amy Irons. He left Capital Breakfast after Global Radio announced that Heart, Capital, and Smooth would be moving to all National Breakfast shows. In 2015, Clarke began presenting the topical quiz show ''Breaking the News'' on

Radio Scotland Radio Scotland was an offshore pirate radio station broadcasting on 1241 kHz mediumwave (242 metres), created by Tommy Shields in 1965. The station was on the former lightship L.V. ''Comet'', which had been fitted out as a radio station in ...

. In March 2019, it was announced that Clarke would be moving to

as part of a reshuffle at

Global Radio Global Media & Entertainment Limited, trading as Global, is a British media company formed in 2007. It is the owner of the largest commercial radio company in Europe having expanded through a number of historical acquisitions, including Chrysa ...

. Des Clarke presents the Heart Scotland Drivetime Show weekdays from 4pm-7pm after leaving Capital Breakfast.

Comedy

Clarke is a regular performer on the comedy circuit, playing venues such as

The Stand ''The Stand'' is a post-apocalyptic dark fantasy novel written by American author Stephen King and first published in 1978 by Doubleday. The plot centers on a deadly pandemic of weaponized influenza and its aftermath, in which the few surv ...

The Comedy Store The Comedy Store is an American comedy club opened in April 1972. It is located in West Hollywood, California, at 8433 Sunset Boulevard on the Sunset Strip. An associated club is located in La Jolla, San Diego, California. History The Comedy ...

and Jongleurs. Clarke has performed at the

Edinburgh Festival Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...

since 2001 and the

Glasgow International Comedy Festival Glasgow International Comedy Festival is a comedy festival in Glasgow, Scotland. The comedy festival started in 2002 and is held annually in March in venues across the city. The festival is supported financially by Glasgow City Council and sinc ...

. Clarke has also made appearances at the New York, Adelaide, Dubai and Dublin Comedy Festivals.

Theatre

In 2012, Clarke starred as the lead comic role, Buttons, in

Cinderella "Cinderella",; french: link=no, Cendrillon; german: link=no, Aschenputtel) or "The Little Glass Slipper", is a folk tale with thousands of variants throughout the world.Dundes, Alan. Cinderella, a Casebook. Madison, Wis: University of Wisconsi ...

, at the King's Theatre in Glasgow. He starred alongside

Karen Dunbar Karen Dunbar (born 1 April 1971) is a Scottish comedian, actress and writer. She first appeared on television on the BBC Scotland sketch comedy series ''Chewin' the Fat'' (1999–2002), and was subsequently given her own show by the channel ti ...

as The Fairy Godmother and Gavin Mitchell as an Ugly Sister. He has been a regular Panto veteran at the King's Theatre starring alongside the likes of

Gregor Fisher Gregor Fisher (born 22 December 1953) is a Scottish comedian and actor. He is best known for his portrayal of the title character in the comedy series ''Rab C. Nesbitt'', a role he has played since the show's first episode in 1988. He has also ...

, Tony Roper,

Greg McHugh Greg McHugh (born 5 January 1980) is a Scottish actor. He is the creator, writer and star of the BBC1 comedy series '' Gary: Tank Commander''. He also played Howard in the Channel 4 comedy '' Fresh Meat''. Early life and education Greg McHugh ...

and

Juliet Cadzow Juliet Cadzow is a Scottish film and television actress. She played Edie McCredie in the children's television series ''Balamory'', Suzie Fraser in BBC series ''River City'' and various roles in BBC series '' Still Game''. In '' Still Game' ...

References

External links

Official siteDes & Vanessa @ Breakfast
at

Galaxy Radio Galaxy was a radio network owned by Global Radio and broadcast across the British Isles on FM in regional areas of England and Scotland, through the digital platform with Sky and DAB and online respectively. Stations included stations: Galaxy ...

Des Clarke
at RDF Management
''Capital Breakfast''
at capitalfm.com * {{DEFAULTSORT:Clarke, Des Living people 1981 births Comedians from Glasgow BBC Radio Scotland presenters Scottish television presenters Scottish stand-up comedians Capital (radio network) People from Gorbals People educated at Holyrood Secondary School Scottish radio presenters