Having worked as an illustrator, animator and short-film maker, life-long Monty Python nerd and official giant, Darren Walsh decided to try his hand at Stand-up in 2010, using props and and strange sound effects he’d made in his bedroom.
Singing in an Arnold Schwarzenegger voice and playing on a miniature keyboard (or Arnieoke), he would fill the gaps in between songs with a 1-liner here and there. This opened the floodgates and 6 years on Darren has written 3192 more.
A year after starting, Darren received the bronze medal at the Laughing Horse New Act new act of the year. In 2012 he was listed in Timeout’s printed edition as “One to Watch”, later that year going on to win the 2012 Luton Comedian of the year.
In 2013, Darren was again awarded a bronze medal at the NATYs, and then later that year won the very first Comedy Knights Fresh Comedian of the year.
In 2014, Darren became the UK’s first Pun Champion, which led to book deal with the UK’s biggest publisher, Random house/Penguin. Cheep Laughs features over 1000 of his cartoons and gags.
Later that year Darren flew to Texas to compete in the World Pun Championships, dressed as a chicken and baffling the locals with his strange British accent.
In 2015, Darren took his debut hour show to the Fringe and was listed by Timeout as their Top 12 Newcomers to see that year. He was also invited by the BBC to perform as part of their BBC Presents… showcase. His show, PUNDERBOLT made the top 10 joke list’s of the Guardian, Telegraph, Mirror and Independent before finally going on to win Dave’s Funniest Joke of the fringe.
After the Fringe, Darren was invited by the BBC once more to appear in their iWonder series for iPlayer.
Later that year, on Seafood Week asked him to represent them as their official ambassador for Fish Pun Day, appearing on dozens of local BBC radio stations. But due to miscommunication, the radio DJs thought he was a ‘Fish’ expert, soon realising he wasn’t after listening to him speak in fish puns…
Towards the end of 2015, Darren created the London Punderground which went viral on social media, he was also asked by the Metro to review Gold’s cracker joke entries.
In 2016 he was asked by Dave’s Leicester Comedy Festival to help them promote their new Uk Pun Day initiative, appearing on various BBC Radio stations, expect this time the Djs were fully briefed!
This year Darren will be bringing his 2nd show, S’PUN, to the Fringe
