Kev Orkian (born Kevork Kapikyan; 13 February 1974) is a British-Armenian comedian. He has performed around the world from

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

and

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

Dubai Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...

, Oman and Australia. Orkian has been compared to the likes of

Victor Borge Børge Rosenbaum (; 3 January 1909 – 23 December 2000), known professionally as Victor Borge ( ), was a Danish and American actor, comedian, and pianist who achieved great popularity in radio and television in both North America and Europe. Hi ...

, Les Dawson and

Dudley Moore Dudley Stuart John Moore (19 April 193527 March 2002) was an English actor, comedian, musician and composer. He first came to prominence in the UK as a leading figure in the British satire boom of the 1960s. He was one of the four writer-perf ...

Early life

Orkian was born in

Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

, North London to Armenian parents. He attended Barnet College. He went on to study at

Brunel University Brunel University of London (BUL) is a public research university located in the Uxbridge area of London, England. It is named after Isambard Kingdom Brunel, a Victorian engineer and pioneer of the Industrial Revolution. It became a university ...

Career

Between 2003 and 2009, Orkian spent time touring the UK as the support act for some of the biggest names in British comedy and has previously starred in West-End London musicals including '' Fame'', ''

Happy Days ''Happy Days'' is an American television sitcom that aired first-run on the American Broadcasting Company, ABC network from January 15, 1974, to July 19, 1984, with a total of 255 half-hour episodes spanning 11 seasons. Created by Garry Marsha ...

'' and ''

Boogie Nights ''Boogie Nights'' is a 1997 American drama film written, directed, and co-produced by Paul Thomas Anderson. It is set in Los Angeles's San Fernando Valley and focuses on a young nightclub dishwasher who becomes a popular star of pornographic ...

'' alongside ''Dancing on Ice'' winner and ''

Emmerdale ''Emmerdale'' (known as ''Emmerdale Farm'' until 1989) is a British television soap opera that is broadcast on ITV (TV network), ITV. The show is set in Emmerdale (known as Beckindale until 1994), a List of fictional towns and villages, fict ...

'' actress

Hayley Tamaddon Hayley Soraya Tamaddon (born 24 January 1977) is a British actress. She is known for her roles in the ITV (TV network), ITV soap operas as Del Dingle in ''Emmerdale'' and Andrea Beckett in ''Coronation Street''. Tamaddon won the Dancing on Ice ...

. In 2009 Kev Orkian became a regular on the UK comedy circuit performing at well-known clubs such as Jongleurs where his comedy rendition of

Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, songwriter and pianist. His music and showmanship have had a significant, lasting impact on the music industry, and his songwriting partnership with l ...

's 'I'm Still Standing' has been described as Comedy Gold, and has generated standing ovations. On 23 September 2009 ''Event Magazine'' reported that Orkian won the final of ''The Next Big Thing'' - the event industry's version of ''

The X Factor ''The X Factor'' is a television music competition franchise created by British producer Simon Cowell and his company Syco Entertainment. It originated in the United Kingdom, where it was devised as a replacement for '' Pop Idol'' (2001–200 ...

'', which was held at Event UK in

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 ...

. On 10 June 2010, Orkian performed for

Prince Philip Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, later Philip Mountbatten; 10 June 19219 April 2021), was the husband of Queen Elizabeth II. As such, he was the consort of the British monarch from h ...

, celebrating his 89th birthday at the Guards Polo Club. The event fell behind schedule and Prince Philip was set to leave – before Kev got on stage – to get to another engagement. But as soon as Orkian started his sketch the Prince decided to sit back down and watch the full act. So impressed was he that instead of rushing off at the end he stayed even longer to congratulate Orkian in person. Prince Philip was quoted as saying "It’s a wonderful show. I thoroughly enjoyed your performance". Also in June 2010 Orkian performed a live comedy 'sketch' with

Katherine Jenkins Katherine Jenkins (born 29 June 1980) is a Welsh singer. She is a mezzo-soprano and performs operatic arias, popular songs, musical theatre, and hymns.Lionel Richie Lionel Brockman Richie Jr. (born June 20, 1949) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and television personality. He rose to fame in the 1970s as a songwriter and the co-lead singer of the Motown group Commodores; writing and recor ...

also performed, along with the NSO (National Symphony Orchestra) and comedians Bobby Davro and Jethro. The comedy routine was an updated version of an old

sketch which Orkian had developed with Jenkins, which both artists performed again on an ITV show called '' Stepping Out with Katherine Jenkins''.

''Britain's Got Talent''

In May 2010 Orkian took part in series 4 of ITV's flagship entertainment show '' Britain's Got Talent'', with his first appearance on Saturday 29 May, the last show of the first round auditions. In this appearance, during which Orkian performed his trademark

scratchy CD version of 'I'm Still Standing', he gained three YES votes from judges

Simon Cowell Simon Phillip Cowell (; born 7 October 1959) is an English television personality and businessman. He has judged on the British television talent competition shows ''Pop Idol'' (2001–2003), ''The X Factor (British TV series), The X Factor UK ...

Amanda Holden Amanda Louise Holden (born 16 February 1971) is an English media personality, actress and singer. Since 2007, she has been a judge on the television talent competition show '' Britain's Got Talent'' on ITV. She also co-hosts the national ''H ...

and

Piers Morgan Piers Stefan Pughe-Morgan (; O'Meara, born 30 March 1965) is an English journalist and media personality. He began his career in 1988 at the tabloid ''The Sun (United Kingdom), The Sun''. In 1994, at the age of 29, he was appointed editor of ...

, the latter of whom commented "That is one of the smartest things I've seen", winning himself a place in the live semi-final on Tuesday 1 June. High-street bookmakers Coral reported one of the biggest gambles in reality TV history on piano playing funny man Orkian to win the talent show stating "With the semi-finals of Britain’s Got Talent set to get underway in just a few hours, Coral are reporting one of the biggest gambles in reality TV history on piano playing funny man Kev Orkian to win the talent show. Orkian has been cut from 100/1 to 9/1 with the firm, and he is now the fourth favourite behind Spellbound, who are 2/1 favourites, Olivia Archbold (7/2) and Liam McNally, at 13/2. Coral spokesman Gary Burton told Bettingpro: "The few pounds we saw first thing this morning at 100/1 and 80/1 quickly turned into three figure bets at shorter prices, he will cost us a fortune if he wins. It's been an incredible punt!"". Despite missing out on a place in the ''Britain's Got Talent'' final (getting buzzed by both Cowell and Morgan in his semi-final performance) and losing the chance to perform at the Royal Variety Show, Orkian nevertheless beat winners

Spelbound Spelbound are a Gymnastics, gymnastic troupe from the United Kingdom who rose to fame in 2010, winning Britain's Got Talent (series 4), the fourth series of ''Britain's Got Talent''. The prize was £100,000 and the opportunity to appear at the 20 ...

and the other finalists to the post of performing for royalty. Orkian entertained Prince Philip less than two weeks after being booted off the show and had already performed for several other members of the royal family including Prince Charles, Prince Edward and Princess Michael of Kent. Orkian was invited to perform for Prince Charles at

Windsor Castle Windsor Castle is a List of British royal residences, royal residence at Windsor, Berkshire, Windsor in the English county of Berkshire, about west of central London. It is strongly associated with the Kingdom of England, English and succee ...

in 2009 for the

British Forces Foundation The British Forces Foundation is a British charitable foundation, launched in May 1999 by comedian Jim Davidson OBE to support the well-being of the members of Britain's armed forces through the provision of high quality entertainment. The Prince ...

10th Gala Dinner. Classical singer

Katherine Jenkins Katherine Jenkins (born 29 June 1980) is a Welsh singer. She is a mezzo-soprano and performs operatic arias, popular songs, musical theatre, and hymns.David Walliams David Edward Williams (born 20 August 1971), known professionally as David Walliams (), is an English actor, comedian, writer, and television personality. He is best known for his work with Matt Lucas on the BBC sketch comedy series '' Little ...

also attended. Orkian was granted access to one of the castle's bedrooms to prepare for the comedy piano sketch and he recalls the moment he turned to see Prince Charles turn bright red with laughter during his act: "I was amazed". After the sketch, Prince Charles congratulated him and said he was an "absolute genius".

Pantomime

Since 1999 Orkian has starred in 27 British Pantomimes alongside a plethora of British stars including

Leslie Grantham Leslie Michael Grantham (30 April 1947 – 15 June 2018) was an English actor who played "Dirty" Den Watts in the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders''. He was a convicted murderer, having served 10 years for the killing of a West Germany, West German ...

, Julian Clary, husband and wife team Linda Lusardi and Sam Kane, Warwick Davis,

Dame Edna Everage Dame Edna Everage, often known simply as Dame Edna, is a character created and portrayed by Australian comedian Barry Humphries, known for her lilac-coloured ("wisteria hue") hair and cat eye glasses ("face furniture"); her favourite flower, ...

, Stacey Solomon,

Sam Bailey Samantha Florence Bailey (born 29 June 1977) is an English Pop music, pop singer who won the The X Factor (British series 10), tenth series of ''The X Factor (British TV series), The X Factor'' in 2013. Following her win, her debut single, a c ...

, John Inman and

Claire Sweeney Claire Jane Sweeney (born 17 April 1971) is an English actress, singer, and television personality. Known for her portrayal of Lindsey Corkhill on Channel 4's '' Brookside'' (1991–2003), she also played Roxie Hart in ''Chicago'' ( West End, ...

. In December 2009 he starred as Chester The Jester in ''Sleeping Beauty'' alongside singer/actress

at The Churchill Theatre, Bromley.

Edinburgh Fringe Festival

In August 2010 Orkian made his debut appearance at the

Edinburgh Fringe Festival 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 ...

, taking his full one-man show, 'Kev Orkian - The Illegal Tour', to the Underbelly on Cowgate. Trystan Davies, of Fringe Guru awarded the show five stars, stating "Kev Orkian is an acknowledged rising star, and has been rightfully compared to

and

." Liz, of LoveFringe.com, also awarded the show a full score of five stars, saying: "This show is one of the few which had us laughing all the way through and received a standing ovation, which is rare for Fringe shows." The show received similar reviews from the British comedy guide, awarding the show four and a half out of five; and ThreeWeeks magazine, who gave it four out of five stars.

Current

Kev Orkian booked an arena tour in South Africa in April performing to 6000 people per night, followed by a tour of the Middle East in late April. Orkian headlined the South African Vodacom Funny Festival from 10 June to 7 July; he is the first British comedian to headline 7 times. Kev Orkian was featured in the ''Dead Air Show''

podcast A podcast is a Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or str ...

. David Baddiel's stage version of '' The Infidel'' has cast Orkian as its star.David Baddiel's musical version of The Infidel to star Kev Orkian
/ref> In December 2021 and 2022 Orkian compered and performed in the Thursford Christmas show in Norfolk. Thursford Collection

References

External links

Official websiteKev Orkian on FacebookKev Orkian on Twitter
{{DEFAULTSORT:Orkian, Kev 1974 births Alumni of Brunel University London Britain's Got Talent contestants Comedians from Essex Comedians from the London Borough of Enfield English male comedians English people of Armenian descent Living people People from Edmonton, London