SUNDAY Night Comedy in Weymouth is back for the new season with comedian Sean Hughes headlining.

Voted one of Channel 4’s 100 Greatest Stand-Ups Of All Time and best known to TV audiences for his long running stint as team captain on Never Mind The Buzzcocks, Sean burst onto the standup scene to become the youngest ever winner of the prestigious Perrier Award at the Edinburgh Festival.

Alongside hugely acclaimed forays into acting and writing Sean continues to be a wildly successful stand-up delighting fans the world over.

Sean was born in London. His parents moved back to Ireland when he was around school-going age.

He has an interesting mix of republican and loyalist roots. His grandfather on his father’s side fought with the Black and Tans. His grandfather on his mother’s side — who is from Rathcormac, Co Cork, close to Fermoy — was part of Tom Barry’s Flying Column during the War of Independence, which landed him in prison.

As a 16-year-old Sean realised he had a talent for comedy.

Watching a live Richard Pryor comedy video had piqued his interest, putting in mind the possibility of a career as a comic.

He said: “We did a Christmas show at the school when I was in fifth year in secondary school.

“At the time, Bob Monkhouse used to do a show where he always had American comics on as guests. I heard a brilliant joke from one of them. I said it to my mate, Morgan: ‘You should do this joke.’ I didn’t tell him I’d seen it on television the night before. He gets on stage and does it, and someone from the audience goes: ‘Heard that on telly last night!’

Hughes moved to London in the mid-1980s, bunking down in a one-bed apartment with fellow Irish comic Michael Redmond, while they both did the live comedy circuit in the city. In 1990, Hughes won the Perrier Comedy Award at the Edinburgh Fringe, while still only 24 years of age, and is still the youngest winner of the prestigious gong

Within a couple of years, the acclaimed Sean’s Show on Channel 4 catapulted him into a rock’n’roll lifestyle.

He spent several years as a team captain on panel show Never Mind the Buzzcocks. Sean now likes to concentrate on stand-up and last year took part in the All Star Stand-Up Tour with Pete Firman, Jarred Christmas and Gary Delaney.

*Sean Hughes is at Sunday Night Comedy at Weymouth Pavilion on Sunday at 7.30pm. Regular MC Tom Glover will be hosting.

Contact the box office for tickets.

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