 Kiwi comedian
Kevin McCarron started performing in the UK in 1997, and soon established himself as a
regular headlining act on the London Circuit, as well as taking on the role of resident
compere for several comedy clubs in the Laughing Horse Comedy chain, a comedy company he
also co-promotes.
Specialising in compering, Kevin
has fast become recognised as one of the best comperes on the circuit. The skills that
make him a natural performer have been developed over a number of years as a comedian, and
he is one of the few acts that is truly at ease when warming up a room, or controlling an
evening of comedy. Kevin can create an atmosphere and energy in a room out of nowhere,
effortlessly being able to build up enthusiasm from the most despondent of crowds - he
relaxes the crowd, making the lives of the audience a part of the show and making sure
everyone in the room is involved and ready for a night of comedy. Kevin continues to
compere at all levels of comedy, from the hard work of keeping a new act competition
running, to compering shows with the likes of Mark Thomas and Rob Newman.
 Kevin's professionalism means that his
priorities are always that of the shows success - his style complements the other
performers, and this enables him to lift a show that's loosing energy, maintain momentum
in a show that is going well and kick-start a low-energy crowd, while always leaving them
wanting more.
As well as a compere Kevin
performs widely as a headline act, and has also performed for several years at the
Edinburgh Fringe Festival Festival. His solo shows have included "A Joke to
Far", "Just Joking", "Jestation" and "Nuclear
War: Followed by the complete extermination of every living organism on the planet"
- a show made up entirely of suggestions from the audience, of which the title was one. In
2009 Kevin has created a completely new hour show based on the separation from his wife
"Life after Divorce: The Truth", which was performed at the Brighton
Fringe and will be performed at the Edinburgh Fringe in August 2009 -
click here for more information. Kevin has also performed shows at the London Comedy
Festival, The Leicester Comedy Festival, The London Free Festival and on tours in
France, Spain and Monaco.
 When Kevin is performing his set he creates a rich tapestry
of tales woven from his life experiences, his energetic and animated performances always
delivers results from the vast amount of material he has written, and as such he will
always be able to tailor his set to the audience - His subjects are as diverse as
Shakespearean Literature, Pornography and Pingu, and as an older comedian he also
concentrates on the frustrations of marriage, children and their effects on his previously
robust drugs consumption.
As well as appearing at comedy
clubs, Kevin has also performed corporate comedy shows and compering for British Gas,
Disney, Woolworth's, Nestle, Sainsbury's, Lever Faberge, McDonald's, The National Housing
Association, Index on Censorship and South London Storm amongst many others.
 Kevin was also course co-ordinator
for the WebUni comedy and performance courses, and currently teaches comedy with About Comedy in London an at the
Edinburgh Fringe. He is also a reader in American Literature at Roehampton
University and he has published books relating to his interests in nineteenth and
twentieth-century American literature, addiction, popular music, adolescent writing and
Dystopian and Utopian literature.
Kevin has also found time to
make regular appearances on London's Liberty radio in a regular comedy spot, and has
featured on ABC radio and Television in Australia in shows about Antipodean comedy in the
UK.
Quotes
"Brilliantly Quick
Witted" - Time Out Comics Choice
"Top London Comic"
- Liberty Radio
"Great Comedy"
- Evening Standard
 "Good
Timing" – Arnold Brown
"I always know the
crowd'll be warm when Kevin's the compere... A remarkably bald chap, very funny!"
- Dan Willis, Comedian
"Must
be the best compere around, certainly the best compere I've seen" - Audience
Member
"The
best compare on the London circuit, by an absolute mile and I'm including D.K [Daniel
Kitson] at The Cafe (one of my favourite acts), in that statement" - Audience
Member.
"Extremely quick and
witty and has a knack for making the audience feel part of something special" -
Audience Member.
"I Just wanted to get
back to you after Saturday night, Kevin McCarron was superb, went down a storm with the
crowd and did a fantastic job both as MC and with his act. There was an ovation at the end
and he got dragged back on stage a couple of times before finally managing to escape from
the mic! It was the first event of this sort I'd organised and I would also like to thank
Kevin for his patience as we came up with the running order for the evening and changed
things about more than a couple of times! Even the owner of the venue wanted details of
how we'd booked him!" ‘South London Storm’ event to raise
funds for promoting South London Rugby League, at the Battersea Barge |
