Paul Tonkinson

Paul Tonkinson, born Scarborough (nicknamed Tonky), is a radio presenter and television personality from Yorkshire, England. He is perhaps best known for his work presenting on the "Big Breakfast" and "The Sunday Show" and his appearances on list programmes where he comments on popular culture. He was winner of the 1992 Time Out New Act of the Year Award and was Time Out Stand Up Comic of the Year in 1997. He is an avid supporter of Manchester United F.C..

Comedy

Tonkinson has been a regular on the UK comedy circuit for over fifteen years, playing both public gigs and corporate events, and regularly taking shows to the Edinburgh Festival.

Paul is also regularly booked by the UK armed forces, and was the first comic to perform in Iraq after the war officially ended.Fact|date=August 2007

He's won two Time Out Comedy Awards.

Television

Television credits include:

For BBC: Stand Up For The Homeless, The Stand Up Show, The Sunday Show, "Comic Relief does Fame Academy", "EastEnders Revealed", "Liquid News", "Good Evening Rockall".

For Channel 4: The Big Breakfast, Take The Mike, Pop Gun, Top Ten, Dicing With Debt.

For ITV: Stand Up, Live at Jongleurs, Raw Soap & Raw Soap II.

For Sky: The Film Show, Lorraine, Spend It Like Beckham

Others: Live from the Comedy Store (five), MTV Hot (MTV), Hey DJ (UK Play)

Radio

His early radio career included "The Paul Tonkinson Show" on London Live, as well as contributions to various Radio 4 comedy programmes, including Loose Ends and Week Ending. He was also featured on Radio 4's "Live From the Comedy Store".

He became the inaugural Breakfast Show presenter on Xfm Manchester upon launch on 15 March 2006, before moving to Xfm London in 2007. There he initially presented a variety of daytime shows, presumably to become familiar to listeners, before taking over the Drivetime slot from Richard Bacon. Following the sudden departure of Lauren Laverne from the Breakfast Show in April 2007, producers called on his experience in Manchester and asked him to step in. This was only a stop-gap solution, however, as he decided to focus more on returning to the London stand-up circuit.

He most recently presented the syndicated Saturday lunchtime show, a slot previously occupied by Lauren Laverne, Adam & Joe, and Ricky Gervais/Stephen Merchant, before leaving radio work completely to focus on stand-up comedy.

Accolades

Personal

Tonkinson lives in North London with his wife and three children. As well as supporting Manchester United, he has also run the London Marathon and enjoys sport.

He is a former pupil of Scalby School.