Patrick Kielty
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Patrick Kielty (born 31 January 1971) is an Irish television personality. He was born in Dundrum, County Down, Northern Ireland and raised a Roman Catholic. He is also known as Paddy.[1]
He was affected by the Troubles in Northern Ireland. His father, businessman Jack Kielty, was murdered by the Ulster Freedom Fighters, a loyalist paramilitary group. He had no ties to any republican militant group.[2]
Kielty formerly dated Amanda Byram, who has worked for the Irish TV channel TV3 and Channel 4 in the UK. He joked that due to the fact that she was from the Republic of Ireland their relationship received cross-border funding.[3]
Patrick's career started while he was still a student at Queen's University of Belfast. He become well known locally for his stand-up comedy routines at The Empire pub comedy nights - The Empire Laughs Back). One of his regular routines involved donning a balaclava and making spoof paramilitary pronouncements.[4]
In 1993 Patrick Kielty presented the show SUS on UTV. He later became the warm-up act for a BBC Northern Ireland programme Anderson on the Box presented by local personality Gerry Anderson. When this show was axed, he presented its replacement, PK Tonight.
Although this ran for only a year and was only shown in Northern Ireland, it did attract the attention of London-based broadcasters and he graduated to presenting programmes such as Last Chance Lottery and Patrick Kielty Almost Live which were shown throughout the UK. He did an impersonation of Martin McGuinness singing the Simon and Garfunkel song, "Bridge over Troubled Water". McGuinness and Art Garfunkel are said to have similar features.
He continues to appear on national television, although he has left much of his political comedy background behind, tending to favour light-entertainment shows such as the BBC's Fame Academy, Comic Relief does Fame Academy and Love Island for ITV in both 2005 and 2006. Also in 2006, Kielty hosted a segment on ITV's coverage of The Prince's Trust 30th Birthday LIVE, along side Kate Thornton.
In 2006 Patrick returned to the stand-up scene with a brand new UK tour. A DVD, filmed at Belfast's Waterfront Hall was later released.
Kielty received some criticism in March 2007 when presenting a live episode of Comic Relief does Fame Academy when he referred to Radio 1 DJ contestant Colin Murray as a "big gayer."[5] Several complaints were made to Ofcom and the BBC as the comments were perceived by some as homophobic and offensive. The BBC responded saying that the line was unscripted and "spur of the moment" but that Kielty had been reminded "to be more careful during the remaining live shows."
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[edit] Trivia
- Owns a De Lorean DMC-12.[6]
- Kielty also hosted the original pilot of the American version of Deal or No Deal for ABC in early 2004. However, ABC decided against airing the series, which ended up on NBC, with Canadian comedian Howie Mandel as host.[7]
- Kielty played for The Rest Of The World XI against an England XI at Old Trafford for Soccer Aid last summer. He played as goalkeeper, replacing Peter Schmeichel at half-time. England won 2-1 but Kielty kept a clean sheet.
[edit] Filmography
- Get Up, Stand Up, released in 1998
- Patrick Kielty Live, released in 2006
