Ryan Gleeson
Ryan Gleeson (born 11th January 1981) is a comedian, actor, television presenter and business owner, from Blackpool, Lancashire, in North West England.
In 2003, he was featured, amongst other famous Northern English comedians, in the Lancashire County Council’s museum experience Grin Up North.[1] who described him as “The Bruce Lee of comedy. Sharp one-liners, deadly quips...and rather thin”. Reaching success throughout his career, Ryan has reached the finals[2] of the prestigious City Life Comedian of the Year Awards three times, and the semi-finals of Channel 4’s So, You Think You’re Funny? competition, which saw him perform at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
In 2015, Ryan was asked to create a new chat show, Talk Lancashire[3], for the brand new hyper-local T.V. station, That’s Lancashire, operated by That’s TV and later in the same year, he was chosen to become one of the first hosts of the brand new Crystal Maze live experience, in Manchester, England[4]
Career
Ryan started performing stand-up comedy in 1997, at the age of 16[4], mainly performing at comedy clubs in the North of England. In the first few years of his career, he won awards such as the J2O Jongluers new comedian award and in 2007, reached the finals of the prestigious City Life Comedian of the Year for the first time.
City Life Comedian of the Year launched the careers of comedians such as Peter Kay, Jason Manford, Johnny Vegas, Steve Coogan and John Bishop, however Ryan didn’t exactly do well in the finals, receiving quite a poor (yet honest) review from comedy critic Steve Bennett, of leading British comedy news website Chortle[2]
In 2002, Ryan started running Blackpool’s first ever comedy night, The Comedy Station Comedy Club, in a room above the West Coast Rock Cafe, in the town centre.[4], which has run ever since, at various venues across the Fylde Coast. In 2019, the Comedy Station moved into its own premises, opposite Blackpool Tower, becoming the only designated comedy venue in the entire county of Lancashire and Blackpool’s first ever purpose built comedy venue. During this move, Ryan was threatened with legal action by the venue in which the Comedy Station Comedy Club had previously put on shows[4]
In 2015, Ryan was asked to create a new chat show for the hyper-local TV station, That’s Lancashire[2], where he would interview comedians about the more odd stories in the day’s news. The show ran for a year, with hour-long, live broadcasts five days per week. In 2016, Ryan left the station after being made to broadcast a full hour’s show without any guests. Frustrated by this, he took with him a packet of custard creams and proceeded to interview the biscuits throughout the show.
In the same year, he appeared as Alex in the sitcom My Reluctant Friend and as Wesley Monk in the pilot of the sitcom, Cafe Society, based in an Internet cafe in Wigan.
In 2017, Ryan was chosen to become one of the first hosts of the new interactive, live experience of 1990s TV show, The Crystal Maze[4], in which members of the public compete to win crystals in the four zones, Medieval, Industrial, Aztec and Future and in 2018, he was asked to host the second largest facial hair competition in the world, the British Beard and Moustache Championships[5]
In 2020, Ryan was asked onto a number of national news stations to discuss the impact of Coronavirus on the entertainment industry across England. He first appeared on Sky News[6], when Blackpool first entered the newly designated Tier 3, which closed licensed premises across the U.K. during the pandemic.
In 2020, Ryan also joined the Board of the Live Comedy Association[7], as the North of England representative, in order to assist and guide the comedy community through the fast changing and often confusing guidelines and law regarding the COVID-19 restrictions.
References
- ↑ "From George Formby To Peter Kay - It's Grin Up North! | Culture24". www.culture24.org.uk. Retrieved 2021-06-13.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Bennett, Steve. "City Life Comedian Of The Year Final 2007 : Reviews 2007 : Chortle : The UK Comedy Guide". www.chortle.co.uk. Retrieved 2021-06-13.
- ↑ Talk Lancashire with Ryan Gleeson - Part One, retrieved 2021-06-13
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 "Blackpool's Ryan still playing it for laughs after 15 years". www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk. Retrieved 2021-06-13.
- ↑ "Blackpool Attracts International Beard Community . ." Visit Blackpool. 7 August 2018. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "Coronavirus: No laughing matter for Blackpool as tourist mecca adapts to Tier 3 lockdown". Sky News. Retrieved 2021-06-13.
- ↑ "Steering Group". Live Comedy Association. Retrieved 2021-06-13.
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