Michael McIntyre - Comedy Phenomenon!

Unless you have slipped into a coma for the last two years then chances are that you will have noticed the cultural phenomenon that is Michael McIntyre! Like a snowball that gathers momentum rolling down a hill until it devours all in its path, or a rollercoaster whose track is on a neverending upward trajectory the rise and rise of McIntyre could be scary if he wasn’t so rib achingly funny!

Just four years ago Michael McIntyre was struggling to pay the bills and feed his young family, wondering whether to give up the comedy career that he had decided upon and join the 9 to 5 drudgery with everybody else. In a short space of time, however, he has gone from hero to zero, becoming the undisputed comedy king of Great Britain and surely it’s only a matter of time until he conquers the world!

McIntyre differs from the typical working class British stand up comedian, he saunters on stage with a penchant for pink shirts and sharp suits, without a hair out of place. He combines observational and physical comedy without the need to rely on vulgarity for cheap laughs. When he speaks his smooth, dulcet tones belie his solidly middle class upbringing in Merton, South London rather than belonging to traditional hotbeds of stand up comedy such as Liverpool or the East End.

It is this very difference that seems to have endeared McIntyre to the British audience. His first DVD, Live & Laughing, is the fastest selling stand-up DVD of all time in the UK and his follow up, Hello Wembley, was even more successful selling over a million copies to date; in the previous year alone this unassuming young comedian has performed to over half a million people live.

He now hosts his own show, Michael McIntyre’s Comedy Roadshow, on the BBC where he showcases up and coming comedy talent such as John Bishop and is a regular guest on shows across the spectrum. The future is bright for our favourite funny man and despite his new found wealth he has not forgotten the struggle that he had to go through: in December 2009, McIntyre cancelled a show only half an hour before he was due on stage when he learnt that he was about to perform before a group of debt collectors. A man whose principles are as solid as his jokes! Resistance is futile, join with the rest of us in applauding Michael McIntyre, the greatest stand up of the 21st Century!