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 Cameron '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 2006 with a barnstorming set on Live at the Apollo, followed by 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 the fastest-selling stand-up tour in British history at the time. 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 restored primetime BBC variety to a scale not seen since the era of Morecambe and Wise, 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 Credits
| Programme | Channel | Years | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Michael McIntyre's Big Christmas Show | BBC One | 2022–present | — |
| The Wheel | BBC One | 2020–present | His own celebrity-panel gameshow. |
| Michael McIntyre's Big Show | BBC One | 2015–present | — |
| Michael McIntyre's Very Christmassy Christmas Show | BBC One | 2014 | — |
| Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow | BBC One | 2009–2011 | — |
| Britain's Got Talent | ITV | 2011 | One series on the judging panel. |
| Live at the Apollo | BBC One | 2006–present | Regular performer and later host of the flagship stand-up showcase. |
| Royal Variety Performance | ITV | 2006 | The star-making set. |
Major Awards
Michael McIntyre's Big Show.
Michael McIntyre's Big Show.
Life & Laughing sold over a million copies in the UK.
For Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow and touring work.
Voted by the public as favourite comedian of the year.
Fun Facts
01
His 2012 Showtime tour was, at the time, the fastest-selling comedy tour in British history, shifting over 400,000 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 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 Media.
08
He is a lifelong Chelsea supporter and often works football references into his set.
09
In 2020 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-earning comedian in the world by Forbes in 2012, ahead of Jerry Seinfeld and Chris Rock.
Merchandise
The record-breaking 2012 arena tour, filmed at The O2 in London.
McIntyre's million-selling first memoir, from childhood to Live at the Apollo.
The follow-up memoir covering the arena years and the making of Big Show.
The official souvenir programme from his current world tour.
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