John Smith, born in Newcastle, is a British comedian, actor and performer.

At the age of 3 years old, John contracted meningitis which caused him to become profoundly deaf. The same as over 80, 000 deaf people in the UK, John’s preferred language is BSL. As well as being a passionate BSL Teacher and Deaf rights activist, John is also a professional actor and comedian who has performed for deaf and hearing audiences. He is also a 3rd Dan black belt in Karate Wado which is his hobby

John’s first stand-up appearance was in 2005 and since this hugely successful performance, he has continued to entertain progressively larger audiences locally and around the world.

Since 2005, John has gained international recognition performing to audiences throughout Europe and the world. He has performed and toured in; UK, Ireland Czechia, Holland, France, Germany, Norway, Demark, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Italy, Switzerland, Finland, Iceland, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Israel, Turkey, Cyprus, United Arab Emirates, Latvia, Lithuania, Australia, New Zealand, USA, Florida Miami, Canada.

John draws on his personal experiences of being deaf to inspire his work, covering topics such as Deaf issues, Deaf politics and school life. John offers an amusing and fascinating insight into being Deaf and the world of British Sign Language. By using real-life observation in his performances John engages and entertains his audiences, many of whom share a lived experience of being deaf in a ‘hearing world’. John’s popularity speaks volumes, most of his UK performances are a sell-out and like many of his shows, leave people wanting more.

As well as his live shows, John has appeared on many TV programmes such as the BBC’s SeeHear, the Irish TV show The Afternoon Show (RTE), Doctors and more recently John Bishop’s Life After Deaf documentary where we see comedian John Bishop and his son Joe, who lost most of his hearing at the age of 15, embark upon a journey to understand more about the Deaf community.

In 2008, John performed at the Bulmer’s International Comedy Festival. This was a sell-out and Ireland’s first-ever ‘Signing Week’.