Danny Lenihan is a British author, former international press photographer, and stand-up comedian. After a near-fatal motorcycle accident in 1993, he rebuilt his life on grit, wit, and storytelling—touring globally for over a decade, appearing on BBC radio, television, and in multiple films, and contributing to publications from national newspapers to Rufus Hound’s hilarious anthology of live comedy; Stand Up Put Downs.
Danny is the founder of the design brand 3 Legged Thing, and currently splits his time between writing speculative and science fiction novels, designing creative tools, and hosting the comedy podcast "Faces for Radio".
He composed the original score for British director Pat Higgins’ debut horror film TrashHouse, and continues to write across multiple formats including novels, short stories, film, and television. His debut novel Rogue (2021) and its follow-up Enemy (2024) have both seen strong critical and commercial success.
He lives in Northamptonshire with his partner, four children, two dogs, one cat, and two vacuum cleaners.
Writing has been part of Danny's life since the early 90s, when working as a journalist in London. He progressed from small excerpts of copy to writing features for a number of lifestyle magazines. He really came into his element during his time in comedy, writing for stage, screen, radio and news, and contributing to panel shows on both television and radio. Danny had his own monthly feature page in Amateur Photographer where he reminisced about amusing happenings during his time as a photojournalist, and continued to write for various industry magazines around the world as his brand, 3 Legged Thing grew in popularity. His first book contribution was in Rufus Hound's hilarious anthology; Stand Up Put Downs, and after several stalled attempts finally penned his own debut novel, Rogue in 2020, releasing it in 2021.
This was followed in 2024 by Enemy, the second book in the Rogue series, and Danny has since gone on to write two new novels. Ashes Through The Hourglass is penned for release early summer 2026.
Danny's first foray into stand-up comedy happened in 1996 when working as an entertainer at Haven's popular Weymouth Bay holiday park. Owned by the Rank Organisation, Haven formed a formidable alliance with Rank's other famous entertainment brand, Butlin's, and under the early guidance of comedy legend, Mick Miller, Danny took his first tentative steps in entertainment. He went on to build a hugely successful career in stand up comedy, touring the world and appearing regularly at The Comedy Store and Jongleurs venues across the UK. During this time he appeared on TV shows either side of the Atlantic, six movies, hosted his own radio show and was a frequent panelist on BBC Television and Radio.
He hung his comedy cape up in 2010 after nearly 15 years of laughter, and continued to write for stage and screen for a further decade.
In 2007 Danny became frustrated with the equipment available to him as a (now) hobbyist photographer. He'd grown an eBay business dealing in used and new photographic equipment, and had started to work with factories in China to design and manufacture products that were uniquely his.
In 2010 Danny launched his own brand, 3 Legged Thing, which has grown to become a household name for photographers all over the world. With innovation, design and engineering as the core attributes of his success, Danny went on to lift the prestigious Lucie Technical Award for design in 2017, collecting his trophy in front of a star-studded audience at the Javitz Centre in New York City.
Music has always been a huge part of Danny's life, from receiving his first guitar at the tender age of nine, to signing his first record contract in 2001 with N2 Records, presenting a show on MTV, and working A&R for various labels in London, including One Little Indian, Virgin and Polydor.
In 2002 his band's debut single "Time" released on the cover of The Daily Star, selling over 1.15million copies.
In 2004 he composed the musical score to British Director Pat Higgins' debut comedy horror movie, TrashHouse, and recorded the third album with his band, Babywax.
Hi latest novel, Ashes Through The Hourglass pays tribute to his all-time favourite band, Cardiacs.