Rhod Gilbert

PERRIER NEWCOMER NOMINEE - EDINBURGH 2005
THE LIST / WRITERS GUILD AWARD NOMINEE - EDINBURGH 2005
WINNER - CHORTLE BEST BREAKTHROUGH ACT 2005

Rhod Gilbert started stand up in early 2002. In his first eighteen months, he reached the finals of every major new talent competition in the UK and has now emerged as one of the most promising and exciting talents on the UK and international comedy scene. After being singled out by the Sunday Times as "One to watch" in 2005 Rhod went on to scoop the Chortle Award for Best Breakthrough Act and then made a huge splash at the Edinburgh Festival with his hotly anticipated debut show 'Rhod Gilbert's 1984' which earned him a nomination for the prestigious Perrier Newcomer Award and The List Festival Writers Guild Award.

Rhod is now in tremendous demand on the live comedy circuit and headlines regularly in the UK and around the world. He has supported Lee Mack on a nationwide tour, and has been a regular TV warm-up for both BBC Wales and Objective Comedy.

Further a field, his international profile continues to soar; in 2004 he was invited to perform at the Adelaide Fringe Festival in 'Best of the Edinburgh Fest', a show which subsequently toured Australia, finishing with a sell out week at the Sydney Comedy Store. He was invited back to Australia again to perform at the 2005 Melbourne International Comedy Festival and invitations swiftly followed to the prestigious Kilkenny Cat Laughs Festival, where he performed in June 2005, and the Montreal Just for Laughs Comedy Festival, in July 2005. He was selected to perform at the esteemed televised Britcom Gala in Montreal, performing to a sell-out audience in a star studded salute to British Comedy. He was singled out by all the major press including the Hollywood Reporter, the New York Daily News, The Montreal Gazette and LA's Variety as one of the most promising talents of the festival. He heads back down under in February to perform by invitation, at the 2006 Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and New Zealand Comedy Festivals.

Rhod has also taken his inimitable stand-up to Ireland, Brussels, Paris and to the Middle and Far East where he performed in Dubai, Doha, Bahrain, Hong Kong and Thailand as well as being the first comedian ever to perform in Taiwan.

A 30 minute documentary profile entitled 'Rhod Gilbert Stands Up For Wales' was transmitted on BBC 1, Wales in the autumn of 2005. Exploring Rhod's comedy roots, the documentary followed Rhod on his route to the Edinburgh festival to perform his debut solo show. Other recent TV appearances include 'The Comedy Store' for Paramount and Scottish TV and Paramount's 'Live at the Fringe'. He also appeared at the Bloomsbury Theatre as part of Paramount's impressive 'Edinburgh & Beyond' show.

Following this success as a stand-up, TV and radio personality, he was chosen as the 'Voice of Wales'. Following in the footsteps of Tom Jones, Shirley Bassey, Aled Jones and Charlotte Church, he represented his country in the Welsh Tourist Board's national television advertising campaign.