Gary Delaney (born 16 April 1973) is an English writer and stand-up comedian. His style of humour is one-liners involving puns delivered in a deadpan manner.

Early life

Gary Delaney received a degree in Economics from the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...

, owing to his childhood desire to be a bond trader.

Career

Before his comedy career, Delaney fixed photocopiers, worked at banks, and did custodian work at garages. He writes for

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

-based FM radio station Kerrang! 105.2 and also appeared in the horror-comedy film '' Trash House''. A lot of his material was allegedly plagiarised on the humour website Sickipedia. When Delaney complained, the site removed the material and replaced it with a notice saying "joke removed due to a copyright complaint by Gary Delaney" and a link to his website. He received abuse and death threats from the site's users. However, his actions led the website to begin to attribute authorship of the jokes appearing on its site. In 2003, Delaney toured the UK supporting Jerry Sadowitz, performing at venues including Manchester University and Shepherd's Bush Empire, London. His first

Edinburgh Festival Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as the Edinburgh Fringe, the Fringe or the Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest performance arts festival, which in 2024 spanned 25 days, sold more than 2.6 million tickets and featur ...

show, ''Purist'', won generally positive reviews, including four stars from comedy website Chortle, and ''The Independent'' newspaper. Delaney had two of his gags included in the top ten of the third annual Dave Award for the Funniest Joke Of The Fringe, the first comedian to do so. Following an increased profile due to appearances on ''

Mock the Week ''Mock the Week'' is a topical satirical celebrity panel show, created by Dan Patterson and Mark Leveson. It was produced by Angst Productions for BBC Two, and was broadcast from 5 June 2005 to 4 November 2022. Presenter Dara Ó Briain and pan ...

'' and Dave's ''One Night Stand'', Delaney toured ''Purist'' in 2013. In July 2012, Delaney appeared on ''

''. Some residents of

Jersey Jersey ( ; ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey, is an autonomous and self-governing island territory of the British Islands. Although as a British Crown Dependency it is not a sovereign state, it has its own distinguishing civil and gov ...

were offended when he joked that people from Jersey were "trying to shake off their tax avoidance tag and get back to their traditional reputation as Nazi sympathisers." The BBC, however, reiterated that ''Mock the Week'' contains irreverent humour and that the comment was "obviously tongue-in-cheek". Delaney went on to make a total of 18 appearances on the show. Contributing to the topical podcast ''No Pressure to be Funny'', in May 2013, he described himself as a "

right-wing libertarian Right-libertarianism,Rothbard, Murray (1 March 1971)"The Left and Right Within Libertarianism". ''WIN: Peace and Freedom Through Nonviolent Action''. 7 (4): 6–10. Retrieved 14 January 2020.Goodway, David (2006). '' Anarchist Seeds Beneath the ...

Personal life

Delaney began a relationship with fellow stand-up comedian

Sarah Millican Sarah Jane Millican (' King; born 29 May 1975) is an English comedian. Millican won the Edinburgh Comedy Awards, comedy award for Best Newcomer at the 2008 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. In February 2013 she was listed as one of the 100 most powerf ...

in 2006. The couple moved in together in 2013 and married in December 2013. As of February 2015, Delaney lived in

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

. He is a fan of the premiership club, Aston Villa.

References

External links

*
Interview with Gary Delaney (2011)
at Giggle Beats * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Delaney, Gary 1973 births Living people English male comedians English libertarians Comedians from Birmingham, West Midlands 21st-century British comedians Alumni of the London School of Economics