Tony Cowards
"The Punosaurus" - List magazine, Edinburgh
"A beaut of a one-liner merchant" - www.londonisfunny.com
"The best joke writer around" - James Mullinger, Comedy Editor, GQ Magazine
Tony is a rapidfire gag merchant with an arsenal full of one-liners, for laughs-per-minute he"s a tough act to beat!
His quick wit has made him a sought after act and compere by comedy clubs and promoters across the UK and even for gigs worldwide. Something of a Twitter sensation, Tony"s jokes turn up in all sorts of places, from greetings cards to The Times newspaper, even if you"ve never heard of him there"s a good chance that you"ll have laughed at one of his gags.
Tony’s likable ‘everyman’ character and wide ranging humour (mostly clean) means he is comfortable in front of any audience and is regularly booked to host comedy nights for the military (from the Irish Guards to the Royal Army Dental Corps to top brass at Norwood HQ), universities, football, rugby, golf and cricket clubs, festivals and for corporate and after dinner work.
Tony is also an accomplished MC and has had residencies at several clubs in London, Essex and the South-West, he expertly warms up audiences and sets up rooms so that everyone has a great night.
As well as performing, Tony is also a prolific writer; his radio credits include “Watson’s Wind Up” for BBC Radio Scotland, “Newsjack” for BBC7 and he is also the chief comedy writer for Bristol based Jack FM.
In 2008 he co-scripted a series of popular Christmas podcasts featuring Tony Blackburn, Christopher Biggins and Lesley Joseph and he regularly contributes to satirical news website “The Daily Mash” and TV comedian, Mark Watson’s football site, “Back of the Net”.
Tony has taken his hour-long shows, “Festival of Football 1 & 2 and ‘Everyman’” to the Edinburgh Fringe, which were well received by critics and audiences alike. He has since performed them at many different festivals and football clubs and continues to tour with them across the country.
Some more quotes;
"Tony Cowards is a great new MC who sets the audience up perfectly, with a nice self deprecating manner" - Jo Caulfield, Radio 4 and ‘Mock the Week’
“Tony Cowards makes stupid jokes that are funny” – Ava Vidal, BBC1’s ‘Michael McIntyre’s Comedy Roadshow’
“Tony Cowards is an easy going MC who puts the audience at ease and then hits them with killer punchlines” – Richard Minnis, Out of Bounds Comedy.
“My favourite joke of the Festival so far was told to me by a Suffolk stand-up comedian and die-hard Ipswich fan Tony Cowards’ – Hardeep Singh Kohli, The Scotsman on Sunday (and BBC1’s “The ONE Show”)
“Tony Cowards as the MC skilfully whipped the full house into a state of rapture in anticipation of the evening"s special guest”’ – Three Weeks review, Edinburgh Festival 2009