Addison Cresswell
Addison Cresswell (28 June 1960 – 23 December 2013) was a British comedy talent agent and producer. For about 30 years, starting in the 1980s, he discovered many stand-up comedians at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and helped them get TV and radio work.
He was known as one of the most influential people in British comedy and was sometimes called very powerful in the industry. He was born in Brighton, England. His father, Peter Cresswell, was the dean of arts at Goldsmiths College, and his younger brother Luke helped create the dance group Stomp.
Cresswell studied graphic design at Brighton Polytechnic, where he was the student entertainments officer and booked acts like U2, Killing Joke, Joy Division, New Order and Madness. He first visited the Edinburgh Fringe in 1982 with Tony Allen.
In 1987 he founded The Comedy Boom in Edinburgh with Ivor Dembina, the festival’s first stand-up venue. Their first client was John Hegley. He later started a production company, Wonderdog, with Paul Merton and Julian Clary. His other clients included Sean Lock, Jon Richardson, Jonathan Ross, Lee Evans, Michael McIntyre, Alan Carr, Kevin Bridges and Rich Hall.
Cresswell helped create Live at the Apollo and Stand Up for the Week on Channel 4. He founded the Off the Kerb talent agency in 1982 and co-founded Open Mike Productions in 1991 with Jack Dee. He also organized the Channel 4 Comedy Gala for Great Ormond Street Hospital.
As Ivor Dembina noted, Cresswell was like a Svengali figure in comedy, but not greedy, and he was also a talented designer of eye-catching posters. He helped Jonathan Ross secure a BBC contract worth about £18 million. After the Sachsgate controversy, Live at the Apollo became a key show and helped launch Michael McIntyre.
Cresswell died of a heart attack on 23 December 2013, at age 53. He is survived by his wife, Shelley.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 05:15 (CET).