Kiri Pritchard-McLean

Kiri Pritchard-McLean
Born
Kiri Louise Pritchard-McLean

(1986-11-06) 6 November 1986 (age 38)
Gloucester, England
NationalityWelsh
Years active2010–present

Kiri Louise Pritchard-McLean (born 6 November 1986) is a Welsh comedian and writer.[1] She has performed for several consecutive years at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and won five Chortle Awards.

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.[2] As a sketch group they were also nominated for Chortle Awards in 2015. She took her debut show Hysterical Woman to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2016.[3] It transferred to the Soho Theatre 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.

2024 was the Peacock Tour where she spoke about her three years of fostering[4] (here in Melrose)

Pritchard-McLean has appeared on Have I Got News for You,[5] Russell Howard's Stand Up Central on Comedy Central and ITV's Elevenish, Hypothetical, and Channel 4's 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown as well as multiple appearances on the BBC Radio 4 shows The Now Show, The News Quiz and Elis James' State of the Nation. She is also co-host of the podcast All Killa No Filla along with fellow comedian Rachel Fairburn.[6] In 2019 Pritchard-McLean became the host of the BBC Radio 4 Extra satirical sketch show Newsjack.[7] In September 2019, she presented an edition of The News Quiz. In January 2020, she appeared as a panellist on Would I Lie to You? alongside David Mitchell and Jo Brand.

Her radio comedy pilot The Learners, a sitcom set in a Welsh-for-beginners class, premiered on 4 January 2021 on BBC Radio Wales.[8] Written by Pritchard-McLean, it stars Tudur Owen, Janice Connolly, Mick Ferry, Kath Hughes, Oliver Pearce, Lisa Zahraand and Les Dennis.[9][10] Her half-hour radio stand-up show Kiri Pritchard-McLean: Egg-sistential Crisis was released on BBC Radio 4 on 10 January 2020.[11][10]

From June to August 2020, Pritchard-McLean presented a two-hour radio show on Saturday afternoons on BBC Radio Wales.[12][13] She returned to the station in January 2021 to host a weekly Sunday afternoon show which she hosted until March 2024.[14][15]

Kiri now also presents "Kiri's TV Flashback" formally "Tudur's TV Flashback" on BBC One Wales.

Comedy awards

Pritchard-McLean won Best Compere and Best Club Comedian at the Chortle Awards in 2018,[16] Best Compere and Breakthrough Act at the Chortle Awards in 2019,[17] and Best Compere at the Chortle Awards in 2020.[18] She was awarded the Caroline Aherne Bursary in 2020. The bursary, which was launched in memory of comedy star Caroline Aherne, 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.[19]

Personal life

Born in Gloucester[20] she was the first daughter and last child of three.[4] Pritchard-McLean was raised on a farm in Llanbedrgoch[20] on the island of Anglesey, Wales.[21]

Pritchard-McLean was previously in a relationship with comedian James Meehan from sketch group Gein's Family Gift Shop. Their relationship ended in 2017 with both using their experience of the break-up to create Edinburgh Fringe shows in 2018. Pritchard-McLean's show partly concerned the accusation that Meehan gaslit her during the relationship.[22]

In April 2024 it was revealed that she and her partner had been respite foster parents in Anglesey for three years. This was a central theme of her "Peacock tour" that year.[4]

References

  1. ^ "Kiri Pritchard-McLean". British Comedy Guide. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
  2. ^ Logan, Brian (14 August 2015). "Edinburgh comedy roundup: the best of the rest – week one". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 11 May 2017.
  3. ^ Logan, Brian (28 April 2017). "Hysterical Woman: the standup show addressing sexism in comedy". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 11 May 2017.
  4. ^ a b c "Kiri Pritchard-McLean: Comedian's foster role prompts new show". BBC News. 27 April 2024. Retrieved 29 November 2024.
  5. ^ "Have I Got News for You - S56 - Episode 3". Radio Times. Archived from the original on 20 October 2018. Retrieved 20 October 2018.
  6. ^ Hershon, Marc (18 March 2016). "Podcast Reviews: I Am Rapaport & All Killa No Filla". Huffington Post. Retrieved 11 May 2017.
  7. ^ "New presenters announced for BBC Radio 4 Extra's Newsjack and Comedy Club". BBC Media Centre. 12 December 2018. Retrieved 12 December 2018.
  8. ^ "The Learners". BBC. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
  9. ^ "The Learners - Radio Wales Sitcom". British Comedy Guide. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
  10. ^ a b "Kiri Pritchard-McLean lands a hat-trick of BBC radio comedies". British Comedy Guide. 30 October 2020. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
  11. ^ "Stand-Up Specials - Kiri Pritchard-McLean: Egg-sistential Crisis - BBC Sounds". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
  12. ^ "Comedian Kiri Pritchard-McLean joins BBC Radio Wales". RadioToday. 20 June 2020. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
  13. ^ "Kiri Pritchard-McLean". BBC. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
  14. ^ "Kiri Pritchard-McLean to host BBC Radio Wales show". British Comedy Guide. 17 December 2020. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
  15. ^ "Kiri Pritchard-McLean". BBC. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
  16. ^ "Chortle Awards 2018: The results". Chortle. Chortle Awards. Retrieved 22 April 2018.
  17. ^ "Chortle Awards 2018: The results". Chortle. Chortle Awards. Retrieved 18 March 2019.
  18. ^ "Chortle Awards 2018: The results". Chortle. Chortle Awards. Retrieved 19 March 2020.
  19. ^ "Kiri Pritchard-McLean: Welsh comic wins Aherne award - BBC News". BBC News. 16 March 2020. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
  20. ^ a b Price, Karen (5 August 2015). "7 ways how life on a rural Welsh farm inspired a new radio comedy". WalesOnline. Media Wales. Retrieved 13 June 2020.
  21. ^ Burgess, Marissa (25 July 2017). "Kiri Pritchard-McLean – 'I grew up on a farm where you're confronted with horrific things". The List. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
  22. ^ Armstrong, Stephen (12 August 2018). "Edinburgh comedy reviews: Kiri Pritchard-McLean, Natalie Palamides, Elf Lyons". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 2 July 2020.