Comic turned writer was 51

Comic turned writer Pete McCarthy has died of cancer at the age of 51 at The Royal Sussex Hospital, Brighton.

McCarthy found major fame in 2000 when he published McCarthy’s Bar; one of the new breed of books that combine personal odyssey with travelogue. The book, which became a bestseller, told of his exploits as he travelled around Ireland stopping off at pubs that  bore his name.

He followed it up last year with The Road To McCarthy traced the roots of his family name.

But McCarthy first came to prominence as a comic, playing such venues as The Comedy Store and making his first TV appearance in an odd 1984 Channel 4 sitcom titled They Came From Somewhere Else.

In 1990 he scored a hit at the Edinburgh Fringe with The Hangover Show, about the ups and downs of drink. It won the critics’ award and  was later made into a BBC2 special.

He also wrote a number of sketches for Mel Smith and Griff Rhys Jones, and contributed to Saturday Live, The News Quiz and Just A Minute.

Since reinventing himself as a travel expert, he fronted Channel 4’s Travelogue. He was planning a third book to be released in September next year.

His tour manager Adrian Mealing said: "Many will remember Pete's early Seventies adventures in cabaret and community drama in Brighton and Hove.

"In the late Eighties and Nineties, Pete went on to enjoy a wider audience through travel related programmes such as Travelog, Breakaway and Desperately Seeking Something, to which he lent his irrepressible good humour, skilled observation and playfulness.

"Pete's books caused seismic public laughter on suburban trains, transatlantic planes, storm tossed ferries, in cheap student accommodation and very definitely on the Underground.

Published: 8 Oct 2004