Comic Stewart Lee once called '‘the funniest stand-up I’ve ever seen'

Kevin McAleer is to retire from stand-up after 40 years.

The Northern Irish comic – who also plays the tedious Uncle Colm in Derry Girls – is to perform two farewell gigs in April

Speaking to the Belfast Telegraph, the 67-year-old said: ‘It feels like a natural ending. I’ve been doing stand-up for over 40 years. It’s time for something new.

Born in Omagh, County Tyrone, McAleer first came to fame in Ireland on the 1980s   RTÉ show Nighthawks, where he would spin surreal yarns in a very laid-back style.

Stewart Lee once called McAleer as ‘the funniest stand-up I’ve ever seen,’  explaining: ‘In the late 80s his slide show, mainly of owls, during which he describes inaccurately a succession of bland images, reduced me to tears.’

McAleer appeared on an episode of Channel 4’s Friday Night Live in 1987 with that routine:

And here he is in Derry Girls

His farewell gigs, ‘where he’ll try and cram his best moments from his extensive career into 90 minutes’, are at  Vicar Street in Dublin on April 11 and Belfast’s Mandela Hall on April 21.

Published: 12 Feb 2024