Kevin Cooney is a writer, comedian and performer born and raised in New York but currently residing in Tokyo, Japan.  He graduated with a degree in Writing for Television, Radio and Film from one of America’s top programs, the Newhouse School at Syracuse University.   His professional work covers various fields including broadcast, print and live performance.

As head writer and co-creator of an independently produced sit-com style comedy TV show called “The Loop” he oversaw the writing of twelve scripts about a group of foreigners living in Tokyo.  Later he was hired by NHK to assist in the development of a similar sit-com style comedy meant for broadcast on NHK channel 1, titled “Shibuya Shichimi.”  Though neither project has made it to air he penned the comedy program “Personal Comedy: Ibu Masatou” which aired on NHK channel 1 in December 2006.  Future episodes are currently in pre-production.  Most recently he was a writer and consulting producer on a series of web shorts made for the web site Spinshell.tv.  He also just finished developing story lines for a yet to be released cartoon series about a British slug in the  world of Japanese ants called “Tokyo Punch.”

His print work includes a monthly news satire piece called “The Negi” which he created and has written for 3 years.  It is distributed nationally as part of Metropolis Magazine.  He also contributes as a freelance writer to other publications.

On stage he can be found performing live comedy in both English and Japanese.  He performed in Japanese in Yoshimoto Kogyo’s R-1 competition passing the first round and being invited to audition for the famed TV show “Enta no Kamisama” at his first ever Japanese language performance.  He also performs his unique style of stand-up comedy for private and corporate events for such clients as Yamaha Motors, The Yokohama Country Club and The Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan among other prominent companies.  Currently he can be seen as a regular reporter on NHK World Channel TV program Tokyo Eye introducing various aspects of Japanese life to an international audience.  In addition, he coaches the English language drama team at Rikkyo University, helping the students put on two English language plays each year.

          He has also appeared twice on the Travel Channel’s new show “What’s Your Trip” eating all kinds of horrific things like stir fried grasshoppers and octopus ice cream.  Clearly he will do anything to be on TV.

In his free time he enjoys cooking, hiking, camping and photography.  He also films, edits and stars in his own short video series titled “Life in Tokyo” which webcast on the popular site YouTube has been viewed nearly 2 million times making him one of the site's most viewed comedians of all time he is also the ranked #6 most popular user on YouTube Japan (#1 most subscribed comedian). He has lived in New York, London, Los Angeles and Tokyo.  He is 185 centimeters tall, and hopes this is the only way in which he has stopped growing.

日本語