John Kearns (born 10 April 1987) is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national id ...

comedian. He was awarded the Fosters Edinburgh Comedy Award in 2014, following on from winning the Best Newcomer Award in 2013. He is the first and only comedian to have done this in the history of the Edinburgh Comedy Awards. Kearns' wins were also notable as both shows appeared on PBH's Free Fringe, making his 2013 win the first ever for a free show. In 2014 he was nominated for three Chortle Awards and was nominated in 2014 and 2015 for the Melbourne Barry Award.

Early life

Having grown up in

Tooting Tooting is a district in South London, forming part of the London Borough of Wandsworth and partly in the London Borough of Merton. It is located south south-west of Charing Cross. History Tooting has been settled since pre-Saxon times. ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, Kearns attended the

University of East Anglia The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and 26 schools of study. The annual income of the institution f ...

. In 2006, while at the university, he performed at

Tom Moran Tom Moran is a British screenwriter. Career Moran attended the University of East Anglia. While studying for a degree in Scriptwriting and Performance, he set up Laugh Out Loud comedy club. He subsequently performed a 21-night show at the Edi ...

's Laugh Out Loud comedy nights with fellow young student comedians

Pat Cahill Pat Cahill is a British comedian and Chortle Best Newcomer winner 2012. Early life He was educated at the University of East Anglia. He began performing in 2009. At university he lived with fellow comedian John Kearns and radio DJ Greg James. ...

Jon Brittain Jon Brittain (born May 1987) is an Olivier Award-winning playwright, comedy writer and director who was born in Chester in the northwest of England and grew up in the Netherlands. He graduated from the University of East Anglia with a BA in 2008 ...

and Joz Norris. Kearns, Norris and Cahill returned to the university as part of its 50th anniversary celebrations in September 2013. With Cahill, Kearns performed in the Edinburgh Fringe show 'Dinner Party' (which was produced by Fringe stalwart Harry Deansway) and again at the 2012 Fringe as part of the Pleasance Reserve, going on to take the lead role of Peter in the Weirdos Comedy Club reproduction of ''

Hook A hook is a tool consisting of a length of material, typically metal, that contains a portion that is curved or indented, such that it can be used to grab onto, connect, or otherwise attach itself onto another object. In a number of uses, one e ...

'' in December 2012. At university he lived with fellow comedian Cahil and radio DJ

Greg James Gregory James Alan Milward (born 17 December 1985) is an English radio and television presenter, comedian and author. He is the host of BBC Radio 1's breakfast show, co-presenter on the cricket podcast ''Tailenders'' alongside Felix White and ...

. From 2010 until 2013, he worked as a tour guide at the

Houses of Parliament The Palace of Westminster serves as the meeting place for both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Informally known as the Houses of Parliament, the Palace lies on the north bank ...

Career

''Sight Gags for Perverts''

Taking its name from a list that film director

Stanley Kubrick Stanley Kubrick (; July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and photographer. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, his films, almost all of which are adaptations of nove ...

kept of titles in search of a script, the show was apparently written while on a solitary visit to

Berlin Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...

, with the trip itself providing a narrative backbone. This, his first solo hour-long show, was directed by his friend the playwright

and made its debut at

Leicester Comedy Festival The Leicester Comedy Festival is an annual comedy festival held in a number of venues across Leicester, England early in the year. History The festival started in 1994 with 40 events in 23 venues over 7 days throughout Leicestershire, attracti ...

in February 2013, receiving positive notices. The show was performed again at the Machynlleth Comedy Festival in May to a sell-out crowd. Kearns then took the show to the Edinburgh Fringe in August 2013. Performing as part of the PBH Free Fringe, the show was very well received, culminating in a five-star review from Chortle's Steve Bennett and a nomination as Best Newcomer in the Fosters Comedy Awards. On Saturday 24 August 2013 he won the award, with Bridget Christie winning the main award.

''Shtick''

Kearns' follow up, appearing at the

as ''No More Mr. Niche Guy'', later becoming ''Shtick'', acknowledges the impact of his previous show's success on himself and his career. Directed again by Brittain and returning to the same venue that had hosted his 2013

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 ...

run, The Voodoo Rooms, the show saw positive reactions from audiences and press, as well as another Fosters Comedy Awards nomination, this time for Best Show. On 23 August 2014, he won the award, becoming the first act to win Best Newcomer and Best Show in consecutive years.

Television

Kearns starred in

BBC Three BBC Three is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes targeting 16 to 34-year-olds, cov ...

's '' Top Coppers'' alongside Steen Raskopoulos. Kearns is the assistant host of

Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy program ...

panel show '' Guessable''. Kearns appeared in comedy panel show 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Coundown as guest in dictionary corner Jun 08, 2017. In 2022 Kearns was a contestant on the 14th series of ''

Taskmaster A taskmaster is a supervisor who imposes hard or burdensome work. Taskmaster may also refer to: * ''Taskmaster'' (TV series), a British comedy panel show ** ''Taskmaster'' (American TV series), an American version of the British show ** ''Taskm ...

'' on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

References

External links

John KearnsJohn Kearns at ComedyBlogedyJohn Kearns
on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kearns, John 1987 births Living people Alumni of the University of East Anglia English male comedians