Tim Renkow (born 1989,

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

) is an American actor, writer and comedian. He plays the leading role of Tim in the British

black comedy Black comedy, also known as black humor, bleak comedy, dark comedy, dark humor, gallows humor or morbid humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally ...

television series '' Jerk'' (2019–2023), which he also co-wrote.

Early life

Renkow was born in

, and grew up in

Chapel Hill, North Carolina Chapel Hill is a town in Orange County, North Carolina, Orange and Durham County, North Carolina, Durham counties, North Carolina, United States. Its population was 61,960 in the 2020 United States census, making Chapel Hill the List of municipa ...

. He later attended art school in

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. Situated along the Mississippi River, it had a population of 633,104 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in Tenne ...

Career

Pre-2019

In Memphis, at age nineteen, Renkow began performing stand-up comedy. He continued in this activity in

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 ...

, before moving to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

to study creative writing in 2012. He participated in the ''

Chortle Chortle is a British comedy website launched in 2000 by Steve Bennett. The site is a major source of comedy news in the UK. It also reviews comedy shows nationwide, including extensively at the annual Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and presents the C ...

'' Student Comedy Award Final at 2013's

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 ...

. In 2014, Renkow performed his debut show, ''At Least Hell Has Ramps'', and was nominated for ''Chortle'''s Best Newcomer Award. Renkow's first television appearance was in 2016, in an episode of the

BBC Three BBC Three is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes for a 16 to 34-year-old target aud ...

sketch show ''

Comedy Feeds ''Comedy Feeds'' is a sitcom / sketch show featured on BBC Three since 2014. Each Comedy Feed showcases emerging new talent by making their pilot shows available exclusively on BBC iPlayer BBC iPlayer (stylised as iPLAYER or BBC iPLAYER) is ...

'', "A Brief History of Tim". In 2017, Renkow appeared in four episodes of ''Bobby & Harriet Get Married'',

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'', ...

and Harriet Kemsley's comedic television series about their wedding.

Since 2019

In February 2019, Series 1 of Renkow's comedy television series, '' Jerk'', was released by

. It was subsequently replayed on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

, and its approval for a second series was announced in September 2019. The series is largely built on the characters established in ''A Brief History of Tim''. The show's second series aired in 2021. In April 2019, Renkow performed a one-man show at London's

Soho Theatre Soho Theatre is a theatre and registered charity in the Soho district of the City of Westminster, and Soho Theatre Walthamstow in north-east London. It produces and presents new works of theatre, together with comedy and cabaret, across three pe ...

entitled ''Tim Renkow Tries to Punch Down''. In 2021, Renkow was announced as a member of the U.K. jury for the

British Academy of Film and Television Arts The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA, ) is an independent trade association and charity that supports, develops, and promotes the arts of film, television and video games in the United Kingdom. In addition to its annual awa ...

's BAFTA Breakthrough Initiative. Renkow appears in two episodes of BBC's ''Live at the Apollo'', in series 16 and as host in series 19.

Personal life

Renkow has

cerebral palsy Cerebral palsy (CP) is a group of movement disorders that appear in early childhood. Signs and symptoms vary among people and over time, but include poor coordination, spasticity, stiff muscles, Paresis, weak muscles, and tremors. There may b ...

. In September 2020, he married fellow comedian

Spring Day Spring Day is a holiday marking the coming of the spring season, which takes place in different countries, on varying dates. Northern Hemisphere Albania Albanians celebrates the Spring Day, in "Summer Day", on 14 March, and in 2004 it becam ...

Filmography

Television

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Renkow, Tim 1989 births Living people 21st-century American comedians 21st-century American male actors 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American screenwriters Actors from Orange County, North Carolina American actors with disabilities American comedy writers American expatriates in England American male comedians American male television actors American male television writers American stand-up comedians American writers with disabilities BBC One BBC people Comedians from Memphis, Tennessee Comedians from Mexico City Comedians from New York City Comedians from North Carolina Edinburgh Festival Fringe Male actors from Memphis, Tennessee Male actors from Mexico City Male actors from New York City Male actors from North Carolina People with cerebral palsy Screenwriters from New York City Screenwriters from North Carolina Writers from Chapel Hill, North Carolina Writers from Memphis, Tennessee Writers from Mexico City