Micky Flanagan

Michael John Flanagan (born 7 October 1962 ) is an English comedian. Flanagan has performed at the Edinburgh Fringe and toured Britain with stand-up shows. He presented Micky Flanagan: What Chance Change? for Radio 4 and has appeared on various TV shows including Mock the Week, A League of Their Own, 8 Out of 10 Cats, Was It Something I Said?, Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow and I Love My Country.

Early life and career Flanagan was born on 7 October 1962 in Whitechapel, East London, and grew up in Bethnal Green. His father, Jim, who worked as a welder and latterly as a fish porter, came from County Donegal in Ulster, the northern province in Ireland. His father was involved in petty crime, and served a short prison sentence as a result.

Through his father, he got his first job as a fish porter at Billingsgate Fish Market. His business failed and he returned to Fire Island for another summer. and going on to a foundation course in Arts and Social Sciences and a degree at City University, which he began aged 29. but decided not to pursue teaching as a career, later describing the experience as "the unhappiest year of my life ... everything that was wrong about the school system when I was young was still the same". after attending a comedy course at Jacksons Lane, north London, in 1996. and in 2003 co-headlined a show with Nina Conti. In January 2003 he was performing at Balham's Banana Cabaret, alongside Jimmy Carr, and The Bearcat Comedy Club, alongside Stephen K. Amos.

He performed his first full-length solo show, What Chance Change? in 2006, He toured Great Britain with The Out Out Tour in 2010/2011.

Flanagan was a regular performer on Out to Lunch on Radio 2 in 2008, and appeared on Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow in 2009. In 2010 he presented a four-part series for Radio 4 entitled Micky Flanagan: What Chance Change?, and performed on Live at the Apollo, Stand Up for the Week and the Royal Variety Performance. He appeared on Mock the Week in 2010 and made further appearances in 2011. He was a panellist on the BBC1 game show Epic Win, which was broadcast in August and September 2011.

In 2009, Flanagan's agent lodged a complaint with the Advertising Standards Authority claiming that a television commercial for directory enquiries service 118 118 was using his "out out" catchphrase and skit. He appeared in a celebrity version of The Chase, hosted by Bradley Walsh.

In 2012, Flanagan starred alongside Mark Watson and host Mark Dolan as a captain on the Channel 4 advertising-based comedy panel programme The Mad Bad Ad Show. On 7 June 2013, he appeared on The Graham Norton Show alongside Dan Stevens, Hayden Panettiere, Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams. He was a team captain, alongside Frank Skinner on the BBC One comedy series I Love My Country, which is hosted by Gabby Logan. Additionally, he was a team captain on Channel 4 comedy panel show Was It Something I Said?.

In 2015, he took a year's sabbatical, citing work-related stress and a need to relax.

He retains a London base in East Dulwich but lives primarily in the Hampshire countryside.

Stand-up tours Year Title DVD Release Filming Location Tour Dates 2010–2011 Live: The Out Out Tour 14 November 2011 Live at Southend's Cliffs Pavilion 82 dates 2013 Back in the Game Live 18 November 2013 Live at London's Hackney Empire 58 dates 2017 An' Another Fing Live 20 November 2017 Live at London's O2 Arena 43 dates 2023–2024 If Ever We Needed It... 17 November 2025 Live at Cardiff International Arena