Jon Richardson (entertainer)

Jon Richardson
Born	26 September 1982 (1982-09-26) Lancaster, England
Nationality	British

Jon Joel Richardson (born 26 September 1982) is a British comedian. He is best known for his career on 8 Out of 10 Cats, and co-hosting a radio show alongside Russell Howard.

Career

Richardson started out in comedy after dropping out of Hispanic Studies at Bristol University. After a year working as a chef, he realised that he wanted to do stand-up, and entered and won his heat of the BBC New Talent Comedy Search in May 2003. He reached the semi-finals of the Laughing Horse New Act of The Year competition in 2004.

Quickly developing throughout 2004, he was one of six acts to reach the final of the J20 Last Laugh Comedy Search.

Having impressed a sell-out crowd in Bristol he marked the end of his first year in comedy with a performance at the Criterion Theatre in London's West End. Judges Jasper Carrott and Dave Spikey were both "extremely impressed" with Richardson's performance.

In 2006 he appeared on the Comedy Zone at the Edinburgh Festival, completed a 60-date UK and Irish tour with Alan Carr and made an appearance on Paramount's The Comedy Store.

In 2007 "Spatula Pad", Richardson's first solo show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, earned him a Best Newcomer nomination for the if.comedy Awards (formerly the Perrier, now known as the Edinburgh Comedy Awards). In 2008 he was a winner at the 2008 Chortle Awards as Best Breakthrough Act, and he performed his second solo show, called "Dogmatic", at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and later took this show up and down the country in his first solo tour.

Jon co-hosted a Sunday morning radio show on BBC 6 Music with fellow comedian and friend Russell Howard, and continued to present the show himself after Howard left, until 7 March 2010. He was nominated for Best Newcomer at the 2007 if.comedy awards for his first full-length solo show 'Spatula Pad' which he performed at the Pleasance Courtyard. He won the award for Best Breakthrough Act at the 2008 Chortle Awards and was nominated for the main Edinburgh Comedy Award in 2009 for 'This Guy At Night'. He has since become a regular panelist on the Channel 4 television show 8 Out of 10 Cats.

In early 2009, Richardson's show "This Guy at Night" was nominated for the Edinburgh Comedy Awards main prize. That year, he appeared on the BBC music quiz show Never Mind The Buzzcocks. He also appeared on Have I Got News For You in December 2009 and October 2010. He was a guest on David Mitchell's The Bubble.

On March 21, 2010 he presented a thirty-minute long BBC Three programme about compulsions and weird habits, entitled 'Different Like Me'.

Richardson made his debut appearance on BBC Radio 5 Live show Fighting Talk in February 2010. He has been appointed curator of The Museum of Curiosity for its third series. He also appeared as a team captain, in a series hosted by Simon Mayo in 2008 called Act Your Age on BBC radio 4; he appeared in every episode.

He now works regularly at Brighton Komedia, Just The Tonic Nottingham, The Glee Club and Bristol's Comedy Box and Jesters. He has performed at festivals in Leeds, Guildford and Bristol and has headlined university gigs for Off The Kerb and Avalon. Abroad he has compered in the French Alps, headlined in Barcelona and performed a one-man show in Greece.

In May 2011, it was announced that Richardson would take over from Jason Manford as captain of the Channel 4 panel show 8 out of 10 Cats for the programme's 11th series. He was said to be 'delighted' to be given the chance to work with Jimmy Carr and Sean Lock on the show. Filming for the series began in June.

In June 2011, Richardson's first book, entitled It's Not Me, It's You!, was published.

In 2011 Jon became a regular comic on the Channel 4 TV show Stand Up For The Week, which in the second series was hosted by Glasgow comic Kevin Bridges. From the third series of the show, Jon took over as the host.

Personal life

Jon was born in Lancaster and attended Lancaster Royal Grammar School. He is now based in London. He lived alone in Swindon for five years, and before shared a home with fellow comedians Russell Howard, John Robins and Mark Olver for a year in Bristol. He is a huge fan of the 1980s movie Labyrinth. Jon supports Leeds United Football Club. Jon is a dog lover, which is also joked about on his 6Music show. His mother is called Elaine and he has a sister called Tamsin.

Edinburgh credits

• 2005: Compere - Big Value Early Show
• 2006: The Comedy Zone
• 2007: Spatula Pad (Nominated for if.comedy award Best Newcomer award).
• 2008: Dogmatic
• 2009: This Guy at Night (Nominated for Edinburgh Comedy Award)
• 2010: Don't Happy, Be Worry
• 2010: GIT (With Dan Atkinson and Lloyd Langford)
• 2011: It's Not Me, It's You

TV and radio

• The Russell Howard & Jon Richardson Show - Jon co-presented this BBC 6 Music show every week on Sunday from 10:00am - 1.00pm
• The Jon Richardson Show - Took over the slot of the The Russell Howard Show on BBC 6 Music
• After Hours - HTV - Documentary featuring comics Jon Richardson, Mark Olver and Richard Kilby
• The Henry Kelly Show - BBC Radio - regular guest covering topical issues
• 28 Acts In 28 Minutes - BBC Radio 4
• Live at the Comedy Store - recorded for Paramount Television
• Steve Lamacq's Roundtable - BBC 6 Music
• Most Annoying Pop Moments: We Hate To Love - BBC Three
• Comedy Shuffle - BBC Three
• Act Your Age - BBC Radio 4 (team captain, on every episode of the series)
• The Vote Now Show - BBC Radio 4 (2010)
• 4 Stands Up - BBC Radio 4
• Out To Lunch - BBC Radio 2
• Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow - BBC One (2009)
• Walk on the Wild Side (Voice) - BBC One (2009)
• It's Debatable (Pilot) - BBC Radio 4
• Never Mind the Buzzcocks - BBC Two (2009 & 2010)
• Have I Got News for You - BBC One (2009) - Series 38
• The Bubble - BBC Two (2010)
• Grouchy Young Men - Comedy Central (2010)
• Different Like Me - BBC Three (2010)
• Richard Bacon's Beer & Pizza Club - ITV4 (2010)
• Fighting Talk - BBC Radio 5live (2010) - Series 7
• The Museum of Curiosity - BBC Radio 4
• Never Write Off the Germans - BBC Radio 2
• Spicks and Specks - ABC
• 8 Out of 10 Cats - Channel 4 (2010)
• Have I Got News for You - BBC One (2010) - Series 39
• Have I Got News for You - BBC One (2010) - Series 40
• Stand Up for the Week - Channel 4 (2011) - Series 2
• Have I Got News for You - BBC One (2011) - Series 41, Episode 1
• The Graham Norton Show - BBC One (2011) - Series 9, Episode 1
• 8 out of 10 Cats - Channel 4 (2011 - Team Captain)
• Fighting Talk - BBC Radio 5live (2011) - Series 8

References

http://dave.uktv.co.uk/library/interviews/jon-richardson/

External links

• Official website
• Jon Richardson at the Internet Movie Database