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

Chortle Awards The Chortle Awards were set up in 2002 by the comedy website Chortle to honour the best of established stand-up comics currently working in the UK. A panel of reviewers draw up a shortlist, which is presented for public vote at the Chortle websit ...

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 The Dave's Edinburgh Comedy Awards (formerly the Perrier Comedy Awards, and also briefly known by other names for sponsorship reasons) are presented to the comedy shows deemed to have been the best at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland. ...

. As a sketch group they were also nominated for

in 2015. She took her debut show ''Hysterical Woman'' to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2016. It transferred to the

Soho Theatre The Soho Theatre is a theatre and registered charity in the Soho district of the City of Westminster, in London, England. It produces and presents new works of theatre, together with comedy and cabaret, across three performance spaces. The the ...

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,''

Russell Howard Russell Joseph Howard (born 23 March 1980) is an English comedian, television presenter, radio presenter, and actor. He was known for his television show ''Russell Howard's Good News'' and is currently doing ''The Russell Howard Hour'', and his ...

's '' Stand Up Central'' on

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 programmin ...

and ITV's ''Elevenish'', '' Hypothetical'', and Channel 4's ''

8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown ''8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown'' is a British comedy panel show on Channel 4. The show follows the game of ''Countdown'', but presented in a comedic panel show format seen on ''8 Out of 10 Cats'', with the show being a crossover of the two. ...

'' as well as multiple appearances on the

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

shows ''

The Now Show ''The Now Show'' is a British radio comedy broadcast on BBC Radio 4, which satirises the week's news. The show is a mixture of stand-up, sketches and songs hosted by Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis. The show used to feature regular appearances b ...

'', ''

The News Quiz ''The News Quiz'' is a British topical panel game broadcast on BBC Radio 4. History ''The News Quiz'' was first broadcast in 1977 with Barry Norman as chairman. Subsequently, it was chaired by Barry Took from 1979 to 1981, Simon Hoggart f ...

'' and

Elis James Owain Elis James (born 3 November 1980) is a Welsh comedian, broadcaster and actor originally from Haverfordwest. He grew up in Carmarthen and later lived in Cardiff. He is now based in South London. He is bilingual in Welsh and English and ha ...

' ''State of the Nation''. She is also co-host of the

podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosin ...

''All Killa No Filla'' along with fellow comedian Rachel Fairburn. In 2019 Pritchard-McLean became the host of the BBC Radio 4 Extra satirical sketch show '' Newsjack''. In September 2019, she presented an edition of ''

''. In January 2020, she appeared as a panellist on '' Would I Lie to You?'' alongside David Mitchell and

Jo Brand Josephine Grace Brand (born 23 July 1957) is an English comedian, writer, presenter and actress. Starting her entertainment career with a move from psychiatric nursing to the alternative comedy stand-up scene and early performances on '' Satu ...

. Her radio comedy pilot ''The Learners'', a sitcom set in a Welsh-for-beginners class, premiered on 4 January 2021 on

BBC Radio Wales BBC Radio Wales is a Welsh radio station owned and operated by BBC Cymru Wales, a division of the BBC. It began broadcasting on 13 November 1978, replacing the 'Radio 4 Wales' opt-out service (previously the Welsh Home Service). Radio Wales b ...

. Written by Pritchard-McLean, it stars Tudur Owen,

Janice Connolly Janice Connolly is an English actress, comedian and artistic director. She runs the Birmingham-based group Women and Theatre, and performs stand-up comedy as her character Mrs Barbara Nice. Connolly has also appeared in ''Coronation Street'', ' ...

, Mick Ferry, Kath Hughes, Oliver Pearce, Lisa Zahraand and

Les Dennis Leslie Dennis Heseltine (born 12 October 1953) is an English television presenter, actor, and comedian. He presented ''Family Fortunes'' from 1987 until 2002. Early life Dennis was born Leslie Dennis Heseltine on 12 October 1953 in the Liverpoo ...

. Her half-hour radio stand-up show ''Kiri Pritchard-McLean: Egg-sistential Crisis'' was released on BBC Radio 4 on 10 January 2020. From June to August 2020, Pritchard-McLean presented a two-hour radio show on Saturday afternoons on

. She returned to the station in January 2021 to host a weekly Sunday afternoon show. , Kiri now also presents "Kiri's TV Flashback" on

BBC One Wales BBC One Wales is a Welsh television channel owned and operated by BBC Cymru Wales. It is the Welsh variation of the UK-wide BBC One and is broadcast from Central Square in Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city ...

Comedy awards

Pritchard-McLean won Best Compere and Best Club Comedian at the

in 2018, Best Compere and Breakthrough Act at the Chortle Awards in 2019, and Best Compere at the Chortle Awards in 2020. She was awarded the Caroline Aherne Bursary in 2020. The bursary, which was launched in memory of comedy star

Caroline Aherne Caroline Mary Aherne (24 December 1963 – 2 July 2016) was an English actress, comedian and writer. She was best known for performing as the acerbic chat show host '' Mrs Merton'', in various roles in '' The Fast Show'', and as Denise in '' The ...

, 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.

Personal life

Born in

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east ...

, she was raised on a farm in

Llanbedrgoch Llanbedrgoch () is a hamlet and post town, a mile south of the town of Benllech and west of Red Wharf Bay, on the island of Anglesey ( cy, Ynys Môn), north Wales. The parish church is St Peter's Church, Llanbedrgoch, a Grade II* listed buildi ...

on the island of

Anglesey Anglesey (; cy, (Ynys) Môn ) is an island off the north-west coast of Wales. It forms a principal area known as the Isle of Anglesey, that includes Holy Island across the narrow Cymyran Strait and some islets and skerries. Anglesey island ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

. 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.

References

External links

Official Website''Kiri Pritchard-McLean''
(BBC Radio Wales)
''Best Medicine''
(BBC Radio 4) {{DEFAULTSORT:Pritchard-McLean, Kiri Living people BBC Radio Wales presenters British women comedians Welsh women comedians Welsh comedy writers Welsh stand-up comedians British stand-up comedians British women podcasters British podcasters People from Anglesey 1986 births