Rob Delaney

Rob Delaney (born January 19, 1977) is an American comedian, actor, and writer. He is widely known as the co-star and co-writer of the TV show Catastrophe, as well as for minor roles in blockbuster action-comedy films like Deadpool 2 (2018), and The Fast and the Furious spin-off Hobbs & Shaw (2019).

Early life and education
Delaney was raised in Marblehead, Massachusetts. He attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and graduated with a degree in musical theater in 1999.

Twitter
Delaney first came to the attention of the public via Twitter, on which he started posting in 2009. By 2016, Delaney had over 1.2 million followers. While other comics were hesitant to share their material on social media, Delaney is considered one of the first comedians to use social media to publish jokes. Delaney credits comedy writer and director Graham Linehan with his rise in popularity after Linehan began responding to Delaney's tweets.

In 2010, Paste magazine named Delaney one of the ten funniest people on Twitter. In May 2012, he became the first comedian to win the 'Funniest Person on Twitter Award' at The Comedy Awards hosted by Comedy Central.

Writing
Delaney has written several articles for Vice as well as The Guardian.

His book ''Rob Delaney: Mother. Wife. Sister. Human. Warrior. Falcon. Yardstick. Turban. Cabbage.'' was published by Spiegel & Grau in November 2013.

Acting


In December 2011, Comedy Central announced that Delaney would shoot a pilot for a variety show, called "@RobDelaney". However, the series was never picked up by them.

Instead, Delaney moved on to co-write and co-star with Sharon Horgan in Catastrophe, that began airing in the UK on January 19, 2015 on Channel 4. The show follows them after they get together following a brief affair while he is in the UK on business, and then moves there permanently after he learns that she has become pregnant. It debuted in the United States on Amazon in June 2015. There are now three seasons on Amazon and the show has been renewed for a fourth. The fourth season is confirmed to be the final of series. Channel 4 aired the concluding episode on February 12, 2019, while Amazon announced the US release date to be March 15, the same year. The series earned him his sole Emmy nomination, for "Outstanding Comedy Writing"

Since moving to the UK in 2014, Delaney has appeared on several British panel shows, including Have I Got News for You, Would I Lie to You?, 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown, The Big Fat Quiz of the Year and Room 101. In the film Deadpool 2, Delaney played Peter, an average middle-aged man, who has no powers and joins Deadpool's X-Force. As part of the film's promotion, a Twitter account was launched in Peter's name.

Personal life
Delaney is an Irish American. Delaney is married; he and his wife, Leah Delaney, have four sons, one of whom died in January 2018. In February 2018, Delaney publicly shared that their son Henry had died, age two and a half, the month before, after having been diagnosed with a brain tumor in 2016 and receiving extensive treatment. The couple's fourth son was born in August 2018. Delaney and his family live in London.

Delaney has publicly shared his experience with depression and alcoholism. In 2002, Delaney blacked out while driving and drove his car into a building owned by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. In the wreck, he broke his left wrist and right arm, and had both of his knees scratched to the bone. This prompted Delaney to stop drinking.

Delaney is a democratic socialist and often writes about political issues. He has said that he chooses presidential candidates based mostly on their policies regarding education and health care, reasoning: "Make it easier for your citizens to be healthy and smart and they will save you in ways you have yet to imagine." He supported Bernie Sanders in the 2016 Democratic primary and voted for Hillary Clinton in the subsequent general election. After Donald Trump was elected president, Delaney joined the Democratic Socialists of America, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and the American Civil Liberties Union.

In June 2017, Delaney endorsed the Labour Party in the 2017 UK general election. In November 2018 he supported a petition organised by Labour campaign group Momentum calling on Labour MPs to vote against the EU withdrawal agreement which had been negotiated by Theresa May's government.

Delaney was the first presenter on the CBeebies Bed Time Stories programme to tell a story in Makaton, which he used to use to communicate with his late son Henry.

In February 2019, Delaney endorsed Senator Bernie Sanders in his second presidential campaign.

Delaney is an atheist.