Phil Kay (born 1969) is a Scottish stand-up comedian.

Biography

Education

Kay was educated at

Craigclowan Preparatory School Craigclowan School & Nursery is a Private schools in the United Kingdom, private day Preparatory school (United Kingdom), preparatory school for boys and girls aged 3 to 13 in Perth, Scotland, Perth, Scotland. History Craigclowan School and Nurs ...

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...

, Scotland, and at nearby

Glenalmond College Glenalmond College is a co-educational independent boarding school in Perth and Kinross, Scotland, for children aged between 12 and 18 years. It is situated on the River Almond near the village of Methven, about west of the city of Perth. ...

Early career

Kay became known to the public when he won the newcomer's competition, '

So You Think You're Funny So You Think You're Funny? (SYTYF) is an annual stand-up comedy competition for new acts. The competition began in 1988 in the United Kingdom. The finals are held every August at The Gilded Balloon during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Past ...

', at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 1989. He then went on to be nominated for the prestigious Perrier Award in 1993. He won the award for Best Stand-Up at the

British Comedy Awards The National Comedy Awards (known as the British Comedy Awards from 1990 to 2014) is an annual awards ceremony in the United Kingdom, celebrating notable comedians and entertainment performances of the previous year. The British Comedy Awards (1 ...

in 1994. Kay continued to work worldwide as a live stand-up, most notably on regular and very successful tours of the

Adelaide Festival The Adelaide Festival of Arts, also known as the Adelaide Festival, an arts festival, takes place in the South Australian capital of Adelaide in March each year. Started in 1960, it is a major celebration of the arts and a significant cultural ...

and

Melbourne International Comedy Festival The Melbourne International Comedy Festival (MICF) is the largest stand-alone comedy festival and the second-largest international comedy festival in the world. Established in 1987, it takes place annually in Melbourne over four weeks, typicall ...

in Australia.

Later career

Following his rapid rise and just as rapid fall from comedic fame, Phil has also gone on to other adventures such as selling books in

Halifax, Nova Scotia Halifax is the capital and largest municipality of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the largest municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of the 2021 Census, the municipal population was 439,819, with 348 ...

. Since 2011 he has performed sold out runs at Edinburgh Fringe Festival in various venues on Bob Slayer's Heroes of Fringe. The Hive (2011, 2012), Bob's Bookshop (2013, 2014), The BlundaBus (Since 2015), and The Magical SpiegelYurt (since 2017). He is a regular at summer festivals including Kelburn Garden Party at

Kelburn Castle Kelburn Castle is a large house near Fairlie, North Ayrshire, Scotland. It is the seat of the Earl of Glasgow. Originally built in the thirteenth century (the original keep forms the core of the house) it was remodelled in the sixteenth century. ...

, Nozstock: The Hidden Valley, Vogrie Pogrie, Shambala Festival, Machynlleth Comedy Festival,

Brighton Fringe Brighton Fringe is an open-access arts festival held annually in Brighton, England. It is the largest annual arts festival in England and one of the largest fringe festivals in the world. The programme of 2018 included 1008 events at over 166 ve ...

and Glastonbury festival. Most of Kay's appearances have since been at provincial arts venues. In 2022, he published a series of books with

Go Faster Stripe Go Faster Stripe is an independent film production and distribution company that operates out of the Chapter Arts Centre, in Cardiff, Wales. The company specialises in the recording of live shows by stand-up comedians who, while in the public ...

Television work

Kay hosted his own stand-up comedy series on

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

in the UK called ''Phil Kay Feels...'', recorded in front of a live audience in 1997. His other works on television have included ''Next Stop, Phil Kay'' (also on Channel 4), ''Edinburgh Nights'' (

BBC1 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, ...

) and ''Festival of Fun'' ( Channel 5). In conjunction with filmmaker Archie Lauchlan, he also released ''That Phil Kay Video'' onto the retail market in 2000. This unique collection of Kay's live standup gigs was re-released in 2014 via Video On Demand (se
vimeo.com/ondemand/thatphilkayvideo here
. Off camera, Kay was involved with writing credits including Jonathan Ross's ''Saturday Show'',

's '' Viva Cabaret'', '' The Smell of Reeves and Mortimer'', ''

Sean's Show ''Sean's Show'' is a British television situation comedy, first broadcast on Channel 4 between 15 April 1992 and 29 December 1993. Stand-up comedian Sean Hughes co-wrote and starred as a fictionalised version of himself, aware that he is livi ...

'',

Harry Hill Matthew Keith Hall (born 1 October 1964), known professionally as Harry Hill, is an English comedian, presenter and writer. He pursued a career in stand-up following years working as a medical doctor, developing an off-beat, energetic performan ...

's ''Pilot Show.'' As a panellist, Kay appeared on the BBC television show '' QI''. and on Nevermind the Buzzcocks. 19 November 2009, he appeared as the stand-up act on the

BBC Three BBC Three is a British free-to-air 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, covering all genres including animation, comedy, cur ...

television show ''

Russell Howard's Good News ''Russell Howard's Good News'' was a British comedy and topical news television show which was broadcast on BBC Three between 2009 and 2014, and on BBC Two between 2014 and 2015. Hosted by comedian Russell Howard, it offered his commentary on ...

''.

References

External links

official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kay, Phil Place of birth missing (living people) Living people Scottish stand-up comedians British comedy writers People educated at Glenalmond College People educated at Craigclowan Preparatory School 1969 births 20th-century Scottish comedians 21st-century Scottish comedians