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Ken Cheng

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Kenneth Yuan-Ke Cheng (born 1988/1989) is a British-Chinese professional poker player and comedian noted for reaching the final of the 2015 BBC New Comedy Awards.[1][2]

Cheng studied mathematics at Homerton College, Cambridge,[3] but dropped out to become a professional poker player.

He wrote and performed for the Cambridge Footlights, often known to refer to himself as a 'footlights regular', and he has also taken his stand-up performances to the Edinburgh Festival. Cheng directed The Footlights International Tour Show 2015: Love Handles, which toured the UK, Paris and North America.[4][5]

Reviewing the 2015 BBC New Comedy Awards for the comedy news, reviews and listings site Chortle, Steve Bennett stated that Cheng "deserved to win".[6]

In 2017 Cheng won "Joke of the Fringe" at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.[7]

In September 2017 a Twitter thread insulting the national flag of every country in the world received national media coverage.[8]

Early life

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Cheng was born in Cambridge to mother Xin, a Mandarin interpreter, and father Jen, who works in software and whose parents were from Hong Kong.[9] His great-grandfather on his mother's side was academic and playwright Hsiung Shih-I.[10]

References

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  1. ^ "Meet The Winner Of This Year's BBC Radio New Comedy Award". bbc.co.uk. BBC. 2015. Retrieved 2 December 2015.
  2. ^ "Ken Cheng: Chinese Comedian". camdram.net. Camdram. 2015. Retrieved 2 December 2015.
  3. ^ "Cambridge Fresher looking to meet likeminded people VLOG". youtube.com/user/supermarkliu. YouTube. 2010. Retrieved 2 December 2015.
  4. ^ "Footlights Tour 2015". footlightsontour.co.uk. Footlights. 2015. Retrieved 2 December 2015.
  5. ^ "Footlights Tour 2015". camdram.net. Camdram. 2015. Retrieved 2 December 2015.
  6. ^ "BBC Radio New Comedy Awards 2015". chortle.co.uk. Chortle. 2015. Retrieved 2 December 2015.
  7. ^ Ellis-Petersen, Hannah (22 August 2017). "Ken Cheng's pound coin gag voted Edinburgh fringe's funniest joke". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 August 2017.
  8. ^ Withey, Josh (26 September 2017). "This man just set about insulting every flag in the world and the results were hilarious". indy100.
  9. ^ Smallman, Etan (2 June 2018). "Why British-born Chinese comedian swapped poker for writing jokes". Post Magazine. Retrieved 27 May 2024.
  10. ^ "Twitter". mobile.twitter.com. Retrieved 2020-10-07.
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