Kielty began performing regularly while a pupil at
St Patrick's Grammar School, Downpatrick. He was persuaded to participate by a Games master who spotted his impersonations of local politicians, celebrities, and sportsmen. His professional career started while he was still a
psychology student at
Queen's University Belfast. In 1991, along with his friend and fellow student Jackie Hamilton (later a BBC and independent producer), the pair visited Dublin's new stand up club The Gasworks run by performer/producer Billy Magra/McGrath. UK acts making their Irish debuts included Jo Brand, Lee Evans, Jack Dee, Stewart Lee, Mark Lamarr, Eddie Izzard and many more plus The Gasworks gave local acts like Sean Hughes, Jon Kenny/Pat Shortt and Ardal O'Hanlon their first headline shows in Dublin. After a successful opening spot (mainly doing impressions), Billy advised Kielty and Jackie to open their own comedy club in Belfast and The Empire on Botanic Avenue in Belfast was born. The following year Kielty was a finalist in a National Comedy Search organised by Billy for the Republic of Ireland's most-watched TV programme
The Late Late Show. Another finalist, also making his TV debut, was another future star, Dylan Moran. Later the experience led to a hugely successful BBC NI series
The Empire Laughs Back - also produced by Jackie. One routine performed at local gigs involved donning a
balaclava and making spoof paramilitary pronouncements. In 1993, Kielty presented the show
SUS on
UTV. He later became the warm-up act for a
BBC Northern Ireland programme,
Anderson on the Box, presented by local personality
Gerry Anderson. When this show was axed, he presented its replacement,
PK Tonight. Although this ran for only a year and was only shown in Northern Ireland, it did attract the attention of London-based broadcasters, winning him the "Best Newcomer" Award at the 1996
Royal Television Society Awards. In 1997, he set up the Belfast-based TV production company Green Inc with TV director Stephen Stewart, making shows such as
The Afternoon Show,
Patrick Kielty Almost Live, and
Ask Rhod Gilbert. It was reported in 2010 that Kielty had sold his share in the company. Kielty graduated to presenting programmes such as
Last Chance Lottery and
Patrick Kielty Almost Live, broadcast throughout the UK. Following his liver transplant, former football star
George Best later gave his first TV interview to Kielty on the same show. From 2001 to 2003, Kielty hosted 14 episodes of the comedy game show
Stupid Punts. He also presented a series of
After The Break. He did an impersonation of
Martin McGuinness (who bore some superficial visual resemblance to
Art Garfunkel) singing the
Simon and Garfunkel song, "
Bridge over Troubled Water". Kielty continued to appear on national television, mostly light-entertainment shows such as the
BBC's
Fame Academy,
Comic Relief Does Fame Academy and
Love Island for
ITV in both 2005 and 2006. On 21 June 2003 Kielty hosted the Opening Ceremony of the Special Olympics in
Croke Park,
Dublin, to a reported global audience of 800 million viewers. Other participants included Nelson Mandela, Mohammed Ali, and U2. In 2006, he hosted a segment on
ITV's coverage of ''
The Prince's Trust 30th Birthday LIVE
alongside Kate Thornton. He hosted the original pilot series of the American version of Deal or No Deal'' for
ABC in early 2004. However, ABC decided against airing the series, which ended up on
NBC, with Canadian comedian
Howie Mandel as host. In 2006, Kielty returned to the stand-up scene with a new UK tour. A DVD, filmed at
Belfast's
Grand Opera House, was later released. In 2007, he began work at the Trafalgar Theatre in London's West End on the UK production of
A Night in November, written by Northern Irish dramatist
Marie Jones (
Stones in His Pockets). He debuted in the play at the Grand Opera House in Belfast. In 2007, he also guested on the
BBC's third series of
Live at the Apollo; during this show he controversially referred to members of the Irish travelling community in derogatory terms. On 18 May 2007, Kielty was invited to conduct a joint in-depth TV interview at 10 Downing Street in London with UK Prime Minister Tony Blair and Irish Taoiseach Bertie Ahern to discuss the Northern Ireland peace process. He hosted the Saturday morning show on
BBC Radio 2 which started on 24 July 2010 and it ran for 10 weeks. Kielty presented
Sport Relief in 2010 and 2012 alongside
Fearne Cotton. Kielty was the host of the first series of Channel 4's
Stand Up for the Week, which began in June 2010 and ran for six weeks. In 2012, he co-presented
This Morning, alongside
Kate Thornton for one episode and
Emma Willis for three episodes. In 2014 and 2015, Kielty guest hosted a few episodes of
The One Show alongside Alex Jones. In 2016 Kielty returned to
BBC Northern Ireland to present programmes, including the comedy panel game show
Bad Language alongside
Susan Calman and
Paul Sinha. He then hosted television documentary ''Patrick Kielty's Mulholland Drive'' which focused on the life of
William Mullholland and the
California Water Wars. Kielty also reflected on his relatives' work in the Northern Irish water industry. In March 2016 he began hosting a chat show for BBC NI called
Delete, Delete, Delete looking at celebrities' internet history. In 2016, he presented
Debatable, a daily quiz show for
BBC Two. In 2018, Kielty presented a documentary,
My Dad, the Peace Deal and Me for
BBC Two. The programme, coinciding with the 20th anniversary of the
Good Friday Agreement, explored the state of
Northern Ireland two decades on from the Agreement. Kielty discussed the killing of his father and the effect it had on him, as well as his decision to vote Yes to the Agreement in a referendum, even though it would result in the release from
gaol of his father's killers. He also interviewed former paramilitary activists from both sides of the struggle,
DUP leader
Arlene Foster, school students at an integrated (non-denominational) school and Richard Moore, founder of
Children in Crossfire who was blinded as a small boy by a rubber bullet fired by a British soldier, whom he later befriended. The documentary saw Kielty named UK documentary host of the year at the 2018
Grierson Awards. In 2021, Kielty took part in the
RTÉ series
All the Walks of Life, where he talked about his childhood and the values he holds. He appeared in the film
Patrick Kielty: One Hundred Years of Union, for which he won a
Royal Television Society award for best presenter. After much speculation, on 20 May 2023, Kielty was confirmed as the new host of RTÉ's
The Late Late Show, taking over from
Ryan Tubridy and becoming the show's fourth permanent presenter.
Radio In January 2015, US Country star
Garth Brooks gave his first UK interview to Kielty for a
BBC Radio 2 special from
Boston,
Massachusetts. On 13 September 2019, Kielty presented
The News Quiz on
BBC Radio 4. In August 2020, Kielty co-presented
Five Live Breakfast with
Rachel Burden on
BBC Radio 5 Live, sitting in for
Nicky Campbell. Since August 2022, Kielty has presented a Saturday morning programme on
BBC Radio 5 Live.
Stand-up In 2022, he embarked on his first stand-up tour for seven years. The dad-of-two joked on motoring podcast
Fuelling Around that his Borderline show gave him the perfect opportunity to catch up on some sleep.
Acting Kielty performed in the play
A Night in November in August 2007 in the
Grand Opera House, Belfast, and also in productions in London and in 2008 in
The Olympia Theatre in Dublin. A documentary about the production of the play starring Kielty was released in 2008. In 2023, he appeared in the film
Ballywalter, playing Shane, a stand-up comic. He also appeared as himself in episode one of the
BBC One comedy
Queen of Oz. Kielty is seen and heard on his radio programme questioning the outrageous antics of spoiled spare to the British crown, Queen Georgiana, played by
Catherine Tate. In 2026, he cameoed as himself on The Late Late Show on
Netflix's
How to Get to Heaven from Belfast. == Personal life ==