John Kearns stand-up special coming to Sky
August 9, 2024
The winner of Edinburgh Comedy Award for Best Show and Best Newcomer, 2024 Chortle Award winner and Taskmaster Season 14 star, John Kearns’ debut special, The Varnishing Days, will land on Sky Comedy and streaming service NOW on August 31st.
Recorded at London’s Royal Court Theatre, The Varnishing Days is the new show from the stand up comedian. Ten years on since he first debuted at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Kearns is still the only comedian to have ever won the Edinburgh Comedy Award for Best Show (Shtick) and Best Newcomer (Sight Gags for Perverts) in the awards forty-year history.
The forthcoming special comes off the back of Kearns’ largest, international and critically-acclaimed tour with his latest and fifth solo show, The Varnishing Days, which was twice-extended due to demand with over 100 tour shows, including 17 sold-out London shows with two sold-out Soho Theatre runs and multiple sell-out dates at Bloomsbury Theatre. The Varnishing Days saw Kearns win at the Chortle Awards 2024 for Best Show, nominated at Melbourne Comedy Festival 2024 for Most Outstanding Show and made numerous ‘best of the year’ lists including The Guardian, The Times and Chortle.
On television, Kearns was a breakout star of season 14 of Taskmaster (Channel 4) and was the co-host of Guessable on Comedy Central alongside Sara Pascoe and team captain Alan Davies. John was the lead role in cult BBC Three sitcom Top Coppers and has also appeared on shows including 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown (Channel 4) and House of Games (BBC Two).
The Varnishing Days has been commissioned by Sky. The 60” special is produced by Avalon and Executive Produced by Jon Thoday, Richard Allen-Turner, and Julien Matthews.