Ivan Kirkov is a Bulgarian stand-up comedian, producer and founder of Comedy Club Sofia. Born on 30 August 1983 in Stara Zagora, he graduated from the Romain Rolland Foreign Language High School, studying English and French. After studying at the University of National and World Economy and the Vienna University of Economics and Business, he began pursuing stand-up comedy professionally in Vienna in 2011.
In 2012, he founded Comedy.bg, and in 2014 created the Sofia Comedy Festival. That same year, he received a comedy award for the Adria region at a comedy awards ceremony in Skopje and began developing the Open Mic format in Bulgaria. In 2015, he founded Comedy Club Sofia, which became a platform for the development of a new generation of Bulgarian stand-up comedians.
As a producer, Kirkov has worked with numerous Bulgarian and international comedians and organized performances in Bulgaria by names including Dylan Moran, Jimmy Carr, Eddie Izzard, John Cleese, Daniel Sloss, Stephen K. Amos and Louis C.K. In 2016, he also launched the Comedy Club Podcast, which later expanded into a network of shows. Over the years, he has managed and supported the careers of Bulgarian comedians including Nikolaos Tsitiridis, Petya Kyupova, Alexander Deyanski, Niki Bankov and Hristo Radoev.
Comedy Club Sofia expanded with a new venue in Plovdiv in 2022, followed by a larger stage in Sofia in 2023. Kirkov continues to combine his work as a stand-up comedian with producing and event-organizing activities focused on the development of Bulgaria's comedy scene.
Online, the Comedy Club Podcast has become one of his major projects. Over several years, Kirkov and his team produced more than 1,600 episodes featuring guests from comedy, entertainment and public life. In 2020, Kirkov set a record for the longest talk-show broadcast in Bulgaria with a 30-hour live conversation on YouTube. In 2022, the Comedy Club Podcast received the "Podcast of the Year" award at the annual Grazia magazine awards.
Note: This biography was created with the assistance of AI and has been editorially reviewed.
Sources: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0) and official artist information.
