Red Richardson is an English

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 ...

, actor and podcaster.

Early life

Richardson was born in

Camberwell Camberwell ( ) is an List of areas of London, area of South London, England, in the London Borough of Southwark, southeast of Charing Cross. Camberwell was first a village associated with the church of St Giles' Church, Camberwell, St Giles ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and attended Lyndhurst Primary school. He then moved to

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

at the age of ten where he attended

King Edward VI Community College King Edward VI Community College (KEVICC) is a coeducational secondary school and sixth form located in Totnes, Devon, England. It is located in the Dart Valley on the A385 Ashburton Road and serves Totnes and the surrounding area. It has a la ...

. Richardson has explained on stage that 'Red' is not a

stage name A stage name or professional name is a pseudonym used by performers, authors, and entertainers—such as actors, comedians, singers, and musicians. The equivalent concept among writers is called a ''nom de plume'' (pen name). Some performers ...

but a consequence of his parents watching

Clint Eastwood Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western (genre), Western TV series ''Rawhide (TV series), Rawhide'', Eastwood rose to international fame with his role as the "Ma ...

in ''

For a Few Dollars More ''For a Few Dollars More'' () is a 1965 Spaghetti Western film directed by Sergio Leone. It stars Clint Eastwood and Lee Van Cleef as bounty hunters and Gian Maria Volonté as the primary villain. Klaus Kinski plays a supporting role as a se ...

'' shortly after his birth.

Career

Stand up

Red performed his first stand up gig in 2014 and rapidly rose up the ranks of the UK comedy circuit. In 2015 he was a finalist in the prestigous So You Think You're Funny? competition. Richardson made his

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 ...

one-man show debut in 2018 with the show ''Seeing Red'', which he described as largely autobiographical and about growing up in a small “hippy town”. Richardson returned to the Edinburgh Festival with his show ''Shots Fired'' in 2022. The show, in part, detailed his involvement in the 2017 Oxford Circus panic. In 2023 he started putting out his 'Stay Toxic' sketches on

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

which in under a year gained 100 million views. His Instagram success saw him perform a US tour in June 2024, and embark on his debut UK tour in September 2024.

Podcast

In February 2021, Richardson launched comedy news podcast ''Laughable'' with

Jayde Adams Jayde Pricilla Gail Adams (born 26 November 1984) is a British comedian, actress, writer and opera singer from Bristol. She is the winner of the 2014 Funny Women Award. Early life Born in Bedminster, Bristol, Adams attended her aunt's freestyl ...

and Garrett Millerick. It was described by Sarah Keyworth in ''

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 ...

'' as “great comedy minds telling bizarre tales, sprinkled with just the right amount of sweary bickering”. In December 2021, he started co-hosting comedy-history podcast ''The Year Is'' alongside

Bobby Mair Bobby Mair is a Canadian stand-up comedian based in London, England. Mair has appeared on '' The Hour'', ''Russell Howard's Good News'', '' Sweat the Small Stuff'', ''Virtually Famous'', ''Never Mind the Buzzcocks'', ''Sam Delaney's News Thing'', ...

Acting

Richardson has said in interviews and on stage that as a child he auditioned for the role of

Harry Potter ''Harry Potter'' is a series of seven Fantasy literature, fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young Magician (fantasy), wizard, Harry Potter (character), Harry Potter, and his friends ...

, reaching far enough along in the process to be included in one-on-one auditions with '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'' director Chris Columbus, with the role ultimately going to

Daniel Radcliffe Daniel Jacob Radcliffe (born 23 July 1989) is an English actor. Radcliffe rose to fame at age twelve for portraying the title character in the ''Harry Potter'' film series. He starred in all eight films in the series, from '' Harry Potter a ...

Personal life

Richardson is the son of director and screenwriter Peter Richardson. In his teenage years when he lived in Devon, Richardson's family's neighbours included comedian

Rik Mayall Richard Michael Mayall (; 7 March 1958 – 9 June 2014) was an English actor, comedian and writer. He formed a close partnership with Adrian Edmondson while they were students at Manchester University, and was a pioneer of alternative come ...

, who was a family friend. In 2021, Richardson married Rosie Mayall, Rik's daughter. They live in London, where she works as a manager at a

Soho SoHo, short for "South of Houston Street, Houston Street", is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Since the 1970s, the neighborhood has been the location of many artists' lofts and art galleries, art installations such as The Wall ...

restaurant after choosing not to follow her father into comedy.

References

External links

* Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Comedians from London Male actors from London People from Camberwell English male comedians English stand-up comedians Actors from Totnes Comedians from Devon 21st-century English comedians Male actors from Devon {{UK-comedian-stub