Adam Riches
- 51 years old
- British
- Actor and stand-up comedian
Adam Riches is a British comedian and 2011 winner of the Foster's Edinburgh Comedy Award. Known for his immensely interactive, full-throttle shows that involves audiences playing Swingball and using skateboards, he often impersonates characters such as Sean Bean and Ryan Gosling, and has transferred these comic creations to television shows such as 8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown. A seasoned Edinburgh Fringe performer, he also starred in BBC Radio 4's sitcom The Cold Swedish Winter, in which he played a struggling stand-up comedian from London forced to adapt to life in an unpronounceable, harsh, and bitterly cold village in Sweden.
Non-comedy TV and film credits may be found here:
Adam Riches on IMDb
- Born
- Thursday 29th March 1973 (51 years-old)
- Nationality
- British
Adam Riches is a British comedian born in Cambridge and raised in Glasgow and London. After working briefly at Disneyland Paris, he studied media and performance at Salford University and took his first show to the Edinburgh Fringe in 2003. This first full show, entitled Plat Du Nuit featured Riches and Jim Johnson playing a lounge music act, attempting an unlikely comeback. In Victor (2007), Riches played Victor Legit, a surveillance officer tasked with the job of stamping out the violation of copyright.
During one show in 2008 named Alpha Males, which saw the return of popular character Victor, Riches slipped on some yoghurt and broke his leg, only to return five days later to give a full performance, this time in a wheelchair.
Another highlight includes his 2011 show Bring Me The Head Of Adam Riches, which won him the Foster's Edinburgh Comedy Award and later transferred to the Soho Theatre in London. In the 2012 Chortle Awards he was nominated for Breakthrough act, character and sketch, and best show. Such triumphs led to a BBC Radio 4 show entitled The Guns Of Adam Riches, which ran for two series and featured the characters he had made famous onstage at various Edinburgh shows.
His live, loose acts frequently involve heavy audience participation, such as inviting the assembled viewers to jump on skateboards and even play Swingball.
In 2014 he played the role of Tony, the boyfriend of Lance's ex-wife Maggie, in the BBC television comedy Detectorists, created and written by Mackenzie Crook.
His 2018 show gave birth to the character of a faux-woke pick-up artist known only as The Guy Who You met After Coming Out of a Long-Term Relationship. Riches has even written columns, such as for The Guardian, in the guise of this comic creation.
He has built up quite the cult following with his many appearances in Dictionary Corner on 8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown, in which he plays an exaggerated version of the popular actor Sean Bena. Main host Jimmy Carr introduced him as "Sean" during each episode, playing up to the act.
One tour in 2019 saw him impersonate an inspired, exaggerated triptych of Hollywood heartthrobs: Sean Bean, Gerard Butler, and Ryan Gosling.
From 2014 to 2018 he starred in The Cold Swedish Winter, a BBC Radio 4 sitcom about a London expat and stand-up comedian struggling to adapt to life in a cold and unpronounceable village in Sweden: Yxsjö.
A character comedian best known for his off-the-wall, unpredictable, so-stupid-it's-funny brand of humour, no two shows are a like in the world of Adam Riches. He has been nominated for The Times South Bank Show Breakthrough award, three Chortle Awards to date and also named Time Out Comedy's Person of the Year.
- Chortle Awards 2018
- Best Character, Improv or Sketch Act (Nominee)
- Chortle Awards 2012
- Breakthrough Act (Nominee)
Best Sketch or Character Act (Nominee)
Best Full-Length Solo Show (Nominee) - Chortle Awards 2011
- Best Sketch or Character Act (Nominee)
- Edinburgh Comedy Awards 2011
- Best Comedy Show (Winner)