Edition
The polished, arena-filling observational comic whose Big Show made Saturday night mainstream comedy feel event television again.
VIDEO INTRODUCTION
Short Introduction Video - Coming Soon
Biography
Michael Hazen James McIntyre was born on 21 February 1976 in Merton, south London, the son of the Canadian-born comedy writer Thomas Cameron McIntyre, known professionally as Ray Cameron — a long-time collaborator of Kenny Everett — and Kati, a former Hungarian model. Comedy was quite literally the family business: McIntyre grew up around scripts, punch-ups and after-dinner anecdotes, and as a child he would fall asleep to the sound of writers' rooms working out sketches downstairs. His father's suicide when Michael was seventeen cast a long shadow over his teenage years, and he has spoken openly about how the loss shaped both his drive and his warmth on stage.
He was educated at Arnold House, Merchant Taylors' and then briefly at the University of Edinburgh, where he read Biological Sciences before dropping out to pursue comedy. His early years on the circuit were famously lean — a decade of unpaid open-mic spots, half-empty pub back rooms, borrowed money and near-bankruptcy — during which he refined the bouncy, self-deprecating middle-class persona that would eventually make him a superstar. He married Kitty McIntyre in 2003 and they have two sons, Lucas and Ossie, both of whom feature regularly in his material.
The breakthrough came in 2007 with a barnstorming set on Live at the Apollo, following a triumphant appearance on the 2006 Royal Variety Performance. Within three years he had gone from unknown club comic to the biggest live comedy act in Britain: his 2009 tour Michael McIntyre Live & Laughing broke box-office records, and his 2012 arena tour Showtime became one of the fastest-selling British stand-up tours of its era. From 2009 to 2011 he hosted Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow on BBC One, curating and topping bills across the country and giving a national platform to a generation of new club comics.
In 2015 he launched Michael McIntyre's Big Show on BBC One, a Saturday-night entertainment format built around stand-up, celebrity guests, hidden-camera pranks and the now-famous 'Send to All' and 'Midnight Gameshow' segments. It helped re-establish large-scale BBC One variety comedy, and turned McIntyre into a genuine family-television star. Alongside the Big Show he has continued to tour globally, publishing two best-selling memoirs — Life & Laughing (2010) and A Funny Life (2021) — and quietly becoming one of the highest-earning comedians in the world.
Comedy Style
Style
Observational stand-up drawn from the domestic middle-class world of school runs, family holidays, dinner parties and text-message etiquette. McIntyre's material is rarely political and never confrontational; his subject is the small, universally recognised absurdity — the way we all pack a suitcase, the way we all pretend to enjoy a barbecue — polished until every beat lands.
Delivery
Bouncy, physical, and relentlessly energetic. He paces, mimes, acts out both sides of every conversation and lets the punchline arrive through performance as much as through the joke. His trademark is an almost childlike delight in his own material — a giggle just before the payoff that pulls the room in with him.
Influences
Billy Connolly's storytelling stamina, Peter Kay's warm domestic observation, the American club precision of Jerry Seinfeld, and the anecdotal charm of Bob Monkhouse — whom he cites as the single greatest technical influence on his craft.
Legacy
McIntyre proved that mainstream, family-safe observational comedy could still fill arenas in the 21st century, and that a BBC One Saturday-night variety format could work again if built around the right host. The Comedy Roadshow gave breaks to Sarah Millican, Jason Manford, Micky Flanagan and Kevin Bridges, and his commercial success reshaped the touring economics of British stand-up.
Greatest Moments
The routine about the household drawer full of batteries, keys and takeaway menus that became a national in-joke.
They have no idea.
The Big Show segment in which a celebrity guest sends an outrageous text to every contact in their phone, live on air.
The set that took him from circuit comic to national name in one evening.
Television & Film Credits
Start with the landmark works, then explore the wider archive.
Major Awards
For Michael McIntyre's Big Show.
For Michael McIntyre's Big Show.
For Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow.
Won for his live tour.
Won for his television work.
Won at the British Comedy Awards.
Won at the GQ Men of the Year Awards.
Won for his live stand-up work.
Fun Facts
01
His 2012 Showtime tour was one of the fastest-selling British stand-up tours of its era, shifting hundreds of thousands of tickets in a single day.
02
He read Biological Sciences at Edinburgh but dropped out in his first year to pursue stand-up.
03
His father, Thomas Cameron McIntyre (Ray Cameron), co-wrote The Kenny Everett Video Show and Bloodbath at the House of Death.
04
He spent nearly a decade on the circuit before his Live at the Apollo breakthrough, at times unable to pay his rent.
05
The 'Send to All' segment on Big Show has produced viral moments with Rob Brydon, Lewis Capaldi and members of Take That.
06
His first memoir, Life & Laughing, was the fastest-selling autobiography of 2010 in the UK.
07
He owns and produces The Wheel through his own company, Hungry McBear.
08
He is a lifelong Tottenham Hotspur supporter and often works football references into his set.
09
In 2018 he and his wife Kitty were the victims of a moped-gang robbery outside a London restaurant, an incident he later worked into his stand-up.
10
He was named the highest-grossing stand-up comedian of 2012 by Pollstar, topping that year's global touring rankings.
Merchandise
Laugh along with Michael McIntyre as he lifts the curtain on his life in his revealing autobiography.
![The Complete Live Collection [DVD]](/__l5e/assets-v1/680843d6-e4a2-4550-8e6e-f883039dc0ce/mm-product2.jpg)
Collection of four live stage performances by British comedian Michael McIntyre.
Michael McIntyre's The Wheel is a party game adaptation of the hit BBC One show.
![Showtime Live [DVD]](/__l5e/assets-v1/485726eb-8d78-43e6-a9f1-7a1c28717e7d/mm-product4.jpg)
The award-winning comedian and 'Britain's Got Talent' judge recorded live on his sell-out 2012 live arena tour.
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