| Biography | Jarlath Regan (born 1980) is an Irish stand-up comedian and podcaster based in London. A former graphic design consultant, Regan began his stand-up comedy career in 2003 and by the end of 2004 was a finalist for three major UK comedy newcomer awards: So You Think You're Funny, BBC New Comedy Awards and the Chortle Student Comedian Of The Year. While attending University College Dublin, he was auditor of the Literary and Historical Society.
Shortly after this he began writing sketches, and material for other comedians and TV shows and established himself as a regular face on the Irish stand-up comedy circuit.
In 2006, he performed as part of the first ever Irish gala at Montreal Just for Laughs.
Regan is known as one of the most prolific Irish humourists of the past ten years. Producing 5 one man shows for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, publishing 2 illustrated books, appearing as a regular contributor on radio and television while also performing at comedy festivals worldwide, he is recognised as the leader of a new generation of talented comics emerging from Ireland.
Regan wrote and performed sketches on Scope (2007), an Irish science television programme for teenagers and was a regular panellist during the 2008-2009 season of The Panel.
In 2010, Regan co-presented The Rumour Room, a teen entertainment series part of TRTÉ on RTÉ Two television. Some highlights from the series included his interview with Chris Rock and Adam Sandler, a series of comedy sketches in which Regan beat toddlers at physical tests of strength and an in-studio game called "The 21 Challenge" in which Regan forced a child to gamble their pocket money in an unusual game of blackjack.
In 2013 Regan began An Irishman Abroad, a series of weekly podcasts interviewing Irish (first and second generation) people about their lives and insights into the experiences of Irish people abroad in both success and failure. Most of the guests of the more than 100 episodes have been celebrities from the worlds of comedy (Dara Ó Briain, Jason Byrne, Deirdre O'Kane), sport (Sonia O'Sullivan, Richard Hughes), and the big and small screens (Jack Reynor, Aidan Gillen).Some of the guests are successful but not particularly famous, but have a story to tell. In 2014, The Daily Telegraph included the podcast amongst the "best comedy podcasts", and Niall Byrne of the Irish Independent included it in a list of "world's greatest podcasts". In 2014, Paul Campbell of The Guardian's Talking Sport blog wrote of the Jerry Flannery edition that "every single young person reading this should go download this podcast and listen to it every week for the rest of time".[1 |