Joshua Howie (born 22 February 1976) is an English political commentator. He currently features as a broadcaster for

GB News GB News is a British free-to-air, editorial, opinion-orientated television and radio news channel. The channel is available on Freeview (UK), Freeview, Freesat, Sky UK, Sky, YouView, Virgin Media and via the internet on Samsung TV Plus, LG web ...

. Howie is also a

stand-up comedian Stand-up comedy is a performance directed to a live audience, where the performer stands on a stage and delivers humorous and satirical monologues sometimes incorporating physical acts. These performances are typically composed of rehear ...

screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

, and

actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

Early life

Although

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

, Howie grew up in London in the Buddhist household of his mother Lynne Franks and his father Paul Howie. He was a weekly boarder at

Mill Hill School Mill Hill School is a 13–18 co-educational Private schools in the United Kingdom, private, Day school, day and boarding school in Mill Hill, London, England that was established in 1807. It is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' ...

Career

Howie started performing comedy on the London comedy circuit in 2002. For years he performed on the London comedy circuit, gradually working his way through the ranks. He presented 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, ''Chosen'', in

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

; it received considerable critical acclaim. He appeared in series three of the

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

stand up show ''

4 Stands Up ''4 Stands Up'' is a BBC radio comedy show which first aired December 2007. The programme, which was broadcast on Thursdays at 6:30 pm on BBC Radio 4, contains stand up material from three comedy acts each show, with additional material from th ...

'' in April 2009. He was the presenter for the

Sky Movies Sky Cinema is a British subscription film service owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). In the United Kingdom, Sky Cinema channels currently broadcast on the Sky satellite and Virgin Media cable platforms, and in addition Sky Cinema on ...

show, ''The Movie Geek''. Howie wrote and starred in two series of the

sitcom ''Josh Howie's Losing It''. He is the weekday host on the

comedy paper review show, ''Headliners''. He has also been the host of the show ''Free Speech Nation'' for the channel since December 2024. Howie began contributing to online men's lifestyle magazine '' Blokely'' in 2011, and has written multiple articles for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

''. He also writes for ''

The Jewish Chronicle ''The Jewish Chronicle'' (''The JC'') is a London-based Jewish weekly newspaper. Founded in 1841, it is the oldest continuously published Jewish newspaper in the world. Its editor () is Daniel Schwammenthal. The newspaper is published every Fri ...

''.

Controversies

On 22 January 2025, during a

comedy show, Howie made a joke conflating the church and the full inclusion of

LGBTQ+ LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The group i ...

with paedophilia. Following this incident,

Good Law Project The Good Law Project is a United Kingdom-based political non-profit company. Founded by Jolyon Maugham, the Good Law Project states that its mission is to achieve change and government accountability through the law. History The Good Law Projec ...

began a campaign asking broadcasting regulatory body

OFCOM The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, internet, telecommunications and mail, postal industries of the United Kingdom. Ofcom has wide-rang ...

to take action against GBN.

References

External links

* *
CV at management

Chortle biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Howie, Josh 1976 births English male comedians Living people Comedians from London People educated at Mill Hill School English stand-up comedians Jewish English writers Jewish English comedians Jewish male comedians