Ro Campbell
You may remember Ro Campbell from his role as Darryl the nasty bully who beat up a deaf boy and stole his hearing aid in 1988 Emmy award winning film Captain Johnno, but its highly unlikely.
Following a brief spurt of child acting breaks in the 80’s Ro forgot all of his lines in a high school play and vowed never to set foot onstage ever again.
After a stint as a cook at the Ayers Rock Resort in his early 20’s he rode a Royal Enfield around India before spending 6 months in a remote village in Nepal as a completely unqualified and unorthodox English teacher before heading to the UK where he fulfilled his lifelong ambition of spending a Scottish winter standing on a street holding an enormous florescent sign that said Golf Sale.
Upon his return to Melbourne in 1999 he found work as a stagehand/roadie working behind the scenes with some of the biggest names in sports and entertainment including the Rolling Stones, Oasis, Kylie Minogue and AC/DC. In this capacity he toured Australia for 7 weeks with Little Britain Live and almost accidentally blinded David Walliams with a pea.
Eventually the UK beckoned again and in 2004 Ro found work rigging venues at the Edinburgh Fringe and for the first time found himself immersed in the world of stand up comedy. A backstage chat with Australian comedy legend Jimeoin inspired him to give it a go himself and 6 months later he did his first paid gig at The Stand comedy club in Edinburgh.
Since then the UK based Aussie has carved a reputation as one of the hardest working comedians on the International Circuit, creating waves of laughter in over 40 countries with his relentlessly entertaining brand of cheeky slightly dark humour.
In 2009 he made The Scotsman’s pick of Best Jokes of The Edinburgh Fringe and in 2010 he was crowned Scottish Comedian Of The Year (slighty controversial being Australian and all).
There have also been numerous theatre tours of the UK opening for Live at the Apollo star Tom Stade in such prestigious venues as Leicester Square Theatre in London and The Lowry in Manchester. He has also written for British TV and Radio, featured regularly on BBC Radio in topical panel shows, history shows and live stand up recordings and has made numerous solo show appearances at Edinburgh Fringe, Glasgow International Comedy Festival, NZ Comedy Festival, Adelaide Fringe, Perth Fringeworld, Melbourne International Comedy Festival and performed extensively on the club circuit in the UK, Europe, the Middle East, South East Asia and Australia. In 2019 he was invited to perform at Magners Comedy Festival Asia. He has also had 3 feature articles published in Music Republic Magazine.
From 2013 to 2015 Ro co-produced 5 Star hit show Comedian Rap Battle (commissioned by BBC Scotland) at the Edinburgh Fringe ‘***** – The most exciting late-night format since Set List’ – Bernard O’Leary – The Skinny
From 2013 to 2015 Ro co-produced 5 Star hit show Comedian Rap Battle at the Edinburgh Fringe‘***** – The most exciting late-night format since Set List’ – Bernard O’Leary – The Skinny
Campbell is the hidden gem of the Fringe … mixes all of his worldy experiences together into one hour of pure hilarity’ **** RipItUp.com.au, Adelaide Fringe
“His laugh-per-minute ratio is one of the highest I have seen this festival… and he makes it look effortless! Because Ro Campbell is really bloody funny” – NZ Theatrereview, NZ Comedy Fest
“Great Stand Up and exceptional storyteller” The Skinny, Edinburgh
