Kevin McAleer

Kevin McAleer (born 1956) is an Irish^[1] stand-up comedian. He came to prominence on the RTÉ television show Nighthawks which began broadcasting in the late 1980s. McAleer became known for his three-minute sketches^[3] of surreal rustic tales told in his slow County Tyrone drawl. One critic said that McAleer "put the dead back into deadpan".^[4] In 2022 he toured his one-man show entitled Why am I Here and played the part of boring Uncle Colm in Derry Girls on Channel 4.^[5] In 2024 he announced his retirement from stand-up comedy, with final shows in Dublin and Belfast.

Kevin McAleer
Born	1956 (age 68–69) Omagh, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland
Nationality	Irish[1]
Years active	1980s – present
Notable works and roles	Nighthawks Derry Girls[2]

Personal life and writing

McAleer lives in Omagh, County Tyrone; he believes his comic talents blossomed in the classroom and he lived in Barcelona, Spain, for a period.^[6]

In July 2009, McAleer stated that he has completed a first draft of a book about John F. Kennedy.^[7] The book remains unfinished.^[8] He writes in his office in Omagh and cites Flann O'Brien, James Joyce, Don DeLillo, Umberto Eco and Nikolai Gogol as influences.^[9]

McAleer writes occasional comic pieces for the Irish Times, responding to current events such as Brexit.^[10]