In his unprecedented first two years in comedy, Paddy established himself as one of the biggest comedians in Northern Ireland amassing a huge following across social media (currently over 250K+) which spread to the UK and beyond during the pandemic, with a string of viral hits that led to him being dubbed “the comedy star of the Coronavirus Lockdown” by The Irish Times. The pandemic paused a run of sold-out solo stand-up comedy shows that took in Belfast theatres and iconic venues like the Ulster Hall and SSE Arena.
Taking the NI live scene by storm and amassing millions of likes online culminated in Paddy having his own multi-award-winning comedy sketch series The Paddy Raff Show commissioned by BBC Northern Ireland. The BBC1 NI July 2020 pilot episode was nominated for an RTS NI award and won the Celtic Media Festival Award for Scripted Comedy. The show’s first full series, transmitted on BBC1 NI in 2021, was a ratings hit which was also nominated for a Celtic Media Award and won the RTS NI award for Scripted Comedy. BBC NI commissioned a second series which aired in 2022, bolstering his position as a household name in NI, all within 4 years of beginning stand-up.
Paddy’s stand-up tours have seen him become one of the biggest selling acts on the island of Ireland, with sold out venues across the UK and Ireland including six sold-out nights at Belfast’s SSE arena. He hosted the Belfast leg of BBC Three’s Stand-up for Live Comedy in 2020, performed on Live at the Waterfront on Sky Arts 2022 and also appeared on ITV’s Secrets of the Comedy Circuit in 2022. He is currently working on a Northern Ireland Screen sitcom pilot script commission with Nice One Productions, based on his previous job as a wedding band musician.