Rod Woodward
ROD WOODWARD
Award-winning comedian Rod Woodward is the son of eminent Welsh sports writer Karl Woodward, who was the longest serving journalist for the national newspaper of Wales, The Western Mail.
He had planned to follow his Dad and take up a career in sports journalism but, when offered a job as a studio audience warm up man at HTV, took a year out from university to pursue his childhood ambition of becoming a professional comedian.
Soon after, he was being tipped for the comedy premiership by such luminaries as Peter Kay, Barry Cryer and the late Bob Monkhouse after winning the Best Newcomer To Variety Award.
Having performed a successful 28 night run at the Edinburgh Fringe and supported Paddy McGuinness and Russell Brand on tour, he won the BBC 1 Wales comedy competition Funny Business.
He appeared at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas ahead of Joe Calzaghe’s super fight with Bernard Hopkins and, to celebrate Cardiff City reaching the FA Cup final, Rod wrote and performed the song Do The Ayatollah, backed by more than 100 Bluebirds fans. Set to the tune of the Macarena, it was a You Tube sensation and was featured on network radio and television shows, including Soccer AM and GMTV.
Then came an invitation to perform at the London Palladium before the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on the Royal Variety Performance.
His barnstorming performance led to him returning to the iconic theatre to appear on ITV’s hit show Tonight At The London Palladium where he once again brought the house down.
This was followed by a successful debut solo tour.
He became one of the very few comedians ever to be invited back to the Royal Variety Performance, and brought the house down for a second time. Such was his success with the hat trick of Palladium appearances that he was featured in the documentary The Greatest Stage on Earth.
More recently he’s toured with Jack Whitehall, become a favourite Welsh voice on TalkSport and a regular host of the morning slot on BBC Radio Wales.
This lead to his own series of Christmas shows for the BBC and an appearance on BBC1’s Six Nations Sin Bin.
Rod was also given his own BBC TV stand-up comedy special which became a hit on both BBC 1 and iPlayer.
He is presenting The Billy Joel Songbook in May 2024 with celebrated musician Elio Pace for BBC Radio Wales to mark the legendary singer’s 75th birthday and only European tour date in Cardiff.
His debut screenplay 1966 is also currently in production.