Patrick Kielty

Patrick Kielty (born 31 January 1971) is a comedian, presenter and actor from Northern Ireland.

He is the host of The Late Late Show on RTÉ One and presents a Saturday morning programme on BBC Radio 5 Live.

His television credits include the BBC's Patrick Kielty Almost Live and Channel 4's Last Chance Lottery.

He has also presented ITV's Love Island and This Morning.

Kielty has appeared in several award-winning documentaries and films, including the BAFTA nominated My Dad, The Peace Deal and Me, Patrick Kielty: 100 Years of Union and Ballywalter.

Kielty was born, and grew up, in the village of Dundrum, County Down, Northern Ireland.

Kielty as a teenager was a talented Gaelic footballer, and was a member of the Down GAA minor football team for three years, between 1987 and 1989.

He was the substitute goalkeeper for the team when they won the 1987 All Ireland Minor Football Championship.

Kielty began performing regularly while a pupil at St Patrick's Grammar School, Downpatrick.

Kielty was persuaded to take part by a Games master who spotted his impersonations of local politicians, celebrities, and sportsmen.

His professional career started while he was still a psychology student at Queen's University Belfast.

He is one of three sons born to the businessman John "Jack" Kielty, who was shot dead on 25 January 1988 by the Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF), a cover name used by loyalist paramilitary group the Ulster Defence Association (UDA).

John Kielty was to have been a key witness in Central Television's defence of a libel action brought by Jim Craig, who was suing the television company over a broadcast of The Cook Report which connected him to racketeering, and is said to have ordered John Kielty's murder.

In 1991, along with his friend and fellow student Jackie Hamilton (later a BBC and independent producer), the pair visited Dublin's new stand up club The Gasworks run by performer/producer Billy Magra/McGrath.

UK acts making their Irish debuts included Jo Brand, Lee Evans, Jack Dee, Stewart Lee, Mark Lamarr, Eddie Izzard and many more plus The Gasworks gave local acts like Sean Hughes, Jon Kenny/Pat Shortt and Ardal O'Hanlon their first headline shows in Dublin.

After a successful opening spot (mainly doing impressions), Billy advised Kielty and Jackie to open their own comedy club in Belfast and The Empire on Botanic Avenue in Belfast was born.

The following year Kielty was a finalist in a National Comedy Search organised by Billy for Ireland's most-watched TV programme The Late Late Show.

Another finalist, also making his TV debut, was another future star, Dylan Moran.

Later the experience led to a hugely successful BBC NI series The Empire Laughs Back - also produced by Jackie.

One routine performed at local gigs involved donning a balaclava and making spoof paramilitary pronouncements.

In 1993, Kielty presented the show SUS on UTV.

He later became the warm-up act for a BBC Northern Ireland programme, Anderson on the Box, presented by local personality Gerry Anderson.

When this show was axed, he presented its replacement, PK Tonight.

Although this ran for only a year and was only shown in Northern Ireland, it did attract the attention of London-based broadcasters, winning him the "Best Newcomer" Award at the 1996 Royal Television Society Awards.

In 1997, he set up the Belfast-based TV production company Green Inc with TV director Stephen Stewart, making shows such as The Afternoon Show, Patrick Kielty Almost Live, and Ask Rhod Gilbert.

From 2001 to 2003, Kielty hosted 14 episodes of the comedy game show Stupid Punts.

He also presented a series of After The Break.

He did an impersonation of Martin McGuinness (who bore some superficial visual resemblance to Art Garfunkel) singing the Simon and Garfunkel song, "Bridge over Troubled Water".

On 21 June 2003 Kielty hosted the Opening Ceremony of the Special Olympics in Croke Park, Dublin, to a reported global audience of 800 million viewers.

Other participants included Nelson Mandela, Mohammed Ali, and U2.

He hosted the original pilot series of the American version of Deal or No Deal for ABC in early 2004.

However, ABC decided against airing the series, which ended up on NBC, with Canadian comedian Howie Mandel as host.

Kielty continued to appear on national television, mostly light-entertainment shows such as the BBC's Fame Academy, Comic Relief Does Fame Academy and Love Island for ITV in both 2005 and 2006.

In 2006, he hosted a segment on ITV's coverage of The Prince's Trust 30th Birthday LIVE alongside Kate Thornton.

In 2006, Kielty returned to the stand-up scene with a new UK tour.

A DVD, filmed at Belfast's Grand Opera House, was later released.

In 2007, he began work at the Trafalgar Theatre in London's West End on the UK production of A Night in November, written by Northern Irish dramatist Marie Jones (Stones in His Pockets).

It was reported in 2010 that Kielty had sold his share in the company.

Kielty graduated to presenting programmes such as Last Chance Lottery and Patrick Kielty Almost Live, broadcast throughout the UK.

Following his liver transplant, former football star George Best later gave his first TV interview to Kielty on the same show.