Patrick Monahan

Patrick Monahan (born 23 June 1976) is an Irish-Iranian comedian who won the television competition series Take the Mike in 2001 and Show Me the Funny in 2011. He has performed regularly at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Monahan also holds the world record for "Longest Hug", at 25 hours and 25 minutes, set alongside fellow comedian Bob Slayer at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2013.

Monahan was born in Ahvaz, Iran, where his Irish welder father met his mother before the Iranian Revolution. When he was three, he and his family had to leave the country during the 1979 revolution, posing as his grandparents' son because only one boy per couple could leave. He holds two passports, one Iranian and one Irish. He has performed solo shows in cities including Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Manchester, and has appeared across the globe in Dubai, Luxembourg, and Germany, often referring to the racism he encountered growing up in Middlesbrough.

After winning ITV's Show Me the Funny in August 2011, Monahan performed on The Comedy Annual and released his winner's DVD, Patrick Monahan Live, on 28 November 2011. He took part in Let's Dance for Sport Relief in 2012 and the ITV celebrity diving show Splash! in 2014. He became a patron of Zoe's Place Baby Hospice in Middlesbrough after fundraising for the charity, and in 2016 toured the UK to support Jeremy Corbyn's bid to become Prime Minister.