Influential Scot who nurtured future stars at the Comedy Store

Born: December 6, 1943;

Died: February 11, 2018

KIM Kinnie, who has died of cancer in his native Glasgow aged 74, was an influential figure in modern British comedy, giving early breaks to comedians such as David Baddiel, Frank Skinner, Phill Jupitus, Julian Clary, Harry Enfield, Lee Evans, Jo Brand, Kevin Day and Mike (Wayne's World and Austin Powers) Myers. As booker of acts at the fledgling Comedy Store in Soho, London, he became known as a "spiritual godfather" and a "comedy Svengali" to these now-famous names.

Other comedians who had already been noticed on the comedy scene but not as "alternative comedians, also credit the diminutive Mr Kinnie with furthering their careers, including Paul Merton, Jack Dee and Ben Elton. Not a bad list for a little Glaswegian who had started out teaching Soho strippers how to dance.

Mr Kinnie later went on to have an illustrious career at STV, remaining there for more than 20 years. He had a range of roles, mostly as a producer, often on comedy and children's programming and latterly with the STV drama team. He co-produced many episodes of the Fun House children's game show, hosted by Pat Sharp. He was also co-producer of Funny Farm, an STV series of stand-up comedy and Scottish musicians, and Butterfingers, a comedy drama for children, which was first aired in 2004. His other producing credits included the Club Cupid dating show in 2006, Win, Lose or Draw and Twister, the 2001 game show.

Thomas Anthony Kinnie, always known as Kim, was born in Glasgow on December 6, 1943, although colleagues said he had an endearing tendency to cut a year or two off his age when he felt it appropriate. His varying ages became something of a standing joke at STV. "We used to say, Kim, do you get three different salaries for your three ages?" one colleague told The Herald.

One of Mr Kinnie's protegés was the comedian Kevin Day, who described the Glaswegian as his mentor. "Comedy has lost a tiny giant. Spiritual godfather to many comedians, actual godfather to one, " Mr Day tweeted after his friend's death. Mr Day was referring to the fact that Mr Kinnie was godfather of his son Ed, himself now a full-time comedian with the stage name Ed Night.

The Comedy Store had been founded in 1979 in the private-member Gargoyle Club, above the Nell Gwynn strip club on Dean Street, Soho. Don Ward, one of its visionary co-founders, had based the idea on the Comedy Store on Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, whose comics included future TV talk-show greats such as Johnny Carson, Jay Leno and David Letterman. The idea of the London club was to promote new-wave comedians, a wave which became known as alternative comedy. Mr Kinnie admitted that he wasn't an immediate convert to the new form. "What is this s***?" was his first reaction. "It's the future, man," replied Mr Ward, who had realized the days of the older generation of comedians were over.

"The heads of TV wouldn't touch us," Mr Ward told The Herald. But when the Comedy Store moved to a new location in London's bustling Leicester Square, he had a brainwave. He persuaded his old friend Mr Kinnie away from his (Mr Ward's) strip club and hired him as act-booker for the Comedy Store, a decision which changed the Glaswegian's life, the impact of the Comedy Store and the careers of many of the above-named comedians.

Mr Kinnie came to love "his" comedians and they loved him back, even though he became known for greeting them with an enormous glass of red wine in his hand and a cheery "p*** off!" It was just his way of saying hello.

Comedians recalled first arriving outside the original Comedy Store on Dean Street, where Mr Kinnie was a "choreographer" for strippers, and being hustled by prostitutes. English comedian Steve Steen said: "I remember being propositioned by some woman hanging out of a window, shouting down 'Do you want anything for three quid?' I wondered 'What could she possibly have for three quid that's worth having?"

"For a shy twenty-four-year-old, it was a bit of an eye opener," Paul Merton remembered. "There was a stripper doing an exotic act in the lounge area and I thought to myself, at last I know I'm in show business. It was either The Comedy Store or becoming a Redcoat at Butlin's. I felt as though my heart rate had trebled and that I was the only three-dimensional person in a roomful of cut outs.'

At the 1987 Edinburgh Festival, Mr Merton tripped over his trousers while playing football, broke his leg in three places, developed a blood clot that nearly killed him, and caught Hepatitis A in hospital. Mr Kinnie was one of the first to visit him, although delivering more laughs than sympathy.

In recent years, Mr Kinnie was asked about the comedy scene at the Edinburgh Fringe, with which he was always connected. He said the scene was still relatively healthy, even though it had become something of a "casting couch" for TV. "Nobody should do more than half an hour, unless they are top drawer. Very few stand-up comics have more than 20 minutes of material, which they spin out to an hour. But it's very healthy now. The Fringe gives stand-ups the unusual task of playing every night, instead of every weekend. It's the discipline of playing 16 nights on the trot. You come out of it learning what works and what doesn't."

Mike Myers was a struggling Canadian-American comic - his parents were Liverpudlian emigrants - when he came to Britain to hone his craft and Mr Kinnie took him under his wing. At the 1985 Edinburgh Fringe, the two men shared a flat. "Mike came to us with the suggestion that we did improvised comedy, which was big in America. No-one was doing it here," Mr Kinnie recalled. "He was a unique comedy talent, maybe earning £50 a gig and, unlike today, there wasn't a lot of telly work around. Mike used to wax lyrical about Scotland - he does a very good Scots accent" - which he put to good use as the voice of Shrek. Mr Myers is, in fact, of part-Scottish origin.

Kim Kinnie's longtime partner and great love Michael Burrell predeceased him.

PHIL DAVISON