John Michael David Robins (born 4 May 1982)John's Twitter
Retrieved 20 May 2022General Register Office; United Kingdom; Reference: ''Volume 22, Page 1473'' is an English

stand-up comedian Stand-up comedy is a comedy, comedic performance to a live audience in which the performer addresses the audience directly from the stage. The performer is known as a comedian, a comic or a stand-up. Stand-up comedy consists of One-line joke ...

and

radio presenter A radio personality (American English) or radio presenter (British English) is a person who has an on-air position in radio broadcasting. A radio personality who hosts a radio show is also known as a radio host, and in India and Pakistan as a rad ...

Early life

Robins was born and grew up in

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

and was educated at

The Castle School The Castle School is a coeducational secondary school and sixth form with academy status, located in Thornbury, South Gloucestershire, England, which serves the town and the surrounding villages. Pupils from Bristol also attend the school. Th ...

Thornbury, South Gloucestershire Thornbury is a market town and civil parish in the South Gloucestershire Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area of England, about 12 miles (19 km) north of Bristol. It had a population of 12,063 at the 2011 UK census, 2011 Census ...

and at

St Anne's College, Oxford St Anne's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It was founded in 1879 and gained full college status in 1959. Originally a women's college, it has admitted men since 1979. It has some 450 undergraduate and 200 ...

, where he read English, having reapplied to

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

after an initial unsuccessful application the previous year. After graduating from Oxford, Robins returned to Bristol, where in 2006, he shared a flat with fellow comedians

Jon Richardson Jon Joel Richardson (born 26 September 1982) is an English comedian. He is known for his appearances on ''8 Out of 10 Cats'' and ''8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown'' and his work as co-host with Russell Howard on BBC 6 Music. He is the presente ...

Russell Howard Russell Joseph Howard (born 23 March 1980) is an English comedian, television presenter, radio presenter, and actor. He was known for his television show ''Russell Howard's Good News'' and is currently doing ''The Russell Howard Hour'', and his ...

and

Mark Olver Mark Olver (born January 1, 1988) is a Canadian-German professional ice hockey centre currently playing under contract to Kölner Haie of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL). He previously played in the National Hockey League with the Colorado Ava ...

Career

Robins began performing comedy in 2005, and soon reached the semi-finals of the ''

So You Think You're Funny So You Think You're Funny? (SYTYF) is an annual stand-up comedy competition for new acts. The competition began in 1988 in the United Kingdom. The finals are held every August at The Gilded Balloon during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Past wi ...

'' competition at the

Edinburgh Festival Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...

. In 2007, he participated in the "Comedy Zone" showcase at the festival. Robins appeared both as guest and as co-presenter on both ''

The Russell Howard Show Russell Joseph Howard (born 23 March 1980) is an English comedian, television presenter, radio presenter, and actor. He was known for his television show ''Russell Howard's Good News'' and is currently doing '' The Russell Howard Hour'', and hi ...

'' and ''

The Jon Richardson Show ''The Jon Richardson Show'' was a weekly radio show on BBC 6 Music, which was created due to the departure of Russell Howard from ''The Russell Howard Show'', which Jon Richardson (entertainer), Jon Richardson co-hosted with Russell. The show was ...

'' on BBC 6 Music (2007–2010). In 2011, Robins performed stand-up on ''

Russell Howard's Good News ''Russell Howard's Good News'' was a British comedy and topical news television show which was broadcast on BBC Three between 2009 and 2014, and on BBC Two between 2014 and 2015. Hosted by comedian Russell Howard, it offered his commentary on ...

''. On television he has also appeared on '' Alan Davies: As Yet Untitled'' (twice, plus the unaired pilot), '' Live at the Apollo'', ''

Mock the Week ''Mock the Week'' is a British topical satirical celebrity panel show, created by Dan Patterson and Mark Leveson. It was produced by Angst Productions for BBC Two, and was broadcast from 5 June 2005 to 4 November 2022. The programme was present ...

'', ''

Live from the BBC ''Live from the BBC'' is a British stand-up comedy series that has aired on the online BBC Three BBC Three is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2 ...

'', '' Celebrity Deal or No Deal'' with

Sarah Millican Sarah Jane Millican ( King; born 29 May 1975) is an English comedian, writer and presenter. Millican won the comedy award for Best Newcomer at the 2008 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. In February 2013 she was listed as one of the 100 most powerful ...

and on the 2013 Christmas mash-up of ''

8 Out of 10 Cats ''8 Out of 10 Cats'' is a British comedy panel show broadcast on Channel 4 and its sister networks, airing since 3 June 2005. The show is hosted by Jimmy Carr; the current team captains are Rob Beckett and Katherine Ryan. The show is based on ...

'' and ''

Deal or No Deal ''Deal or No Deal'' is the name of several closely related television game shows, the first of which (launching the format) was the Dutch ''Miljoenenjacht (Netherlands), Miljoenenjacht'' (''Hunt/Chase for Millions''). The centerpiece of this f ...

''. Robins also appeared on several radio programmes, including

Matt Forde Matt Forde (born 6 November 1982) is an English impressionist, television writer, and radio presenter. Background Forde attended Becket School in West Bridgford, Nottingham. His mother is a former nun. He joined the Labour Party when he was 15 ...

's '' Talksport'' show,

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

's ''Word of Mouth'' and

BBC Radio Wales BBC Radio Wales is a Welsh radio station owned and operated by BBC Cymru Wales, a division of the BBC. It began broadcasting on 13 November 1978, replacing the 'Radio 4 Wales' opt-out service (previously the Welsh Home Service). Radio Wales b ...

's ''What's the Story?'' In February 2014, he started hosting the ''

Elis James and John Robins The Elis James and John Robins show is a weekly radio show presented by United Kingdom, British comedians Elis James and John Robins (comedian), John Robins. Formerly broadcast on commercial radio station Radio X (United Kingdom), Radio X, the sh ...

'' show on XFM (now Radio X) with fellow comedian

Elis James Owain Elis James (born 3 November 1980) is a Welsh comedian, broadcaster and actor originally from Haverfordwest. He grew up in Carmarthen and later lived in Cardiff. He is now based in South London. He is bilingual in Welsh and English and ha ...

. In August 2014, the show moved to Saturdays, and was broadcast weekly 1-4pm. It is also a popular podcast with over 12 million downloads as of July 2017. Robins performed in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

for the first time in May 2014 during the NZ International Comedy Festival, with the show ''Where Is My Mind?'' Robins won Best Compère at the 2015

Chortle Awards The Chortle Awards were set up in 2002 by the comedy website Chortle to honour the best of established stand-up comics currently working in the UK. A panel of reviewers draw up a shortlist, which is presented for public vote at the Chortle websit ...

. In the second half of 2016, Robins embarked on a tour show with co-host Elis James called "The Elis James and John Robins Experience". In March 2017, James and Robins won a

Chortle Chortle is a British comedy website launched in 2000 by Steve Bennett. The site is a major source of comedy news in the UK. It also reviews comedy shows nationwide, including extensively at the annual Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and presents the ...

award for their Radio X show. Robins has performed a solo show at the

Edinburgh Festival __NOTOC__ This is a list of arts and cultural festivals regularly taking place in Edinburgh, Scotland. The city has become known for its festivals since the establishment in 1947 of the Edinburgh International Festival and the Edinburgh Fe ...

every year between 2009 and 2015, starting with ''Skinny Love''. His subsequent shows were ''Nomadic Revery'' (2010), ''Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven'' (2011), ''Incredible Scenes'' (2012), ''Where Is My Mind?'' (2013), ''This Tornado Loves You'' (2014) and ''Speakeasy'' (2015). All shows were also toured around the UK. He has also performed at the Machynlleth Comedy Festival and the

Leicester Comedy Festival The Leicester Comedy Festival is an annual comedy festival held in a number of venues across Leicester, England early in the year. History The festival started in 1994 with 40 events in 23 venues over 7 days throughout Leicestershire, attracting ...

. In August 2017, Robins won (jointly with

Hannah Gadsby Hannah Gadsby (born 1978) is an Australian comedian, writer, and actress. She began her career in Australia after winning the national final of the Raw Comedy competition for new comedians in 2006. In 2018, her show '' Nanette'' on Netflix wo ...

) the

Edinburgh Comedy Award The Dave's Edinburgh Comedy Awards (formerly the Perrier Comedy Awards, and also briefly known by other names for sponsorship reasons) are presented to the comedy shows deemed to have been the best at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland. ...

for his show that year, ''The Darkness of Robins'', which focused on the breakdown of his relationship with comedian

Sara Pascoe Sara Patricia Pascoe (born 22 May 1981) is an English actress, comedian and writer. She has appeared on television programmes including ''8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown'' for Channel 4, '' QI'' for BBC and '' Taskmaster'' for the digital chan ...

and his personal life after the break-up. It was the first time he had been nominated for the award. The show was later filmed by the BBC and eventually made available to watch on

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

. Robins returned to Edinburgh in 2019 with the show ''Hot Shame''. In June 2018, it was announced that Robins would host a new upcoming game show for

Dave Dave may refer to: Film, television, and theater * ''Dave'' (film), a 1993 film starring Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver * ''Dave'' (musical), a 2018 stage musical adaptation of the film * Dave (TV channel), a digital television channel in the ...

entitled ''Beat the Internet''. The show ran for 20 episodes and was not renewed for a second series. Also that year the duo published a book ''The Holy Vible''. In February 2019 Robins launched a

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

channel called ''Bad Golf'' with friend and fellow comedian

Alex Horne Alexander James Jeffery Horne (born 10 September 1978) is a British comedian and musician. Horne is the creator of BAFTA award-winning TV series '' Taskmaster'', in which he also performs as the Taskmaster's assistant. He is the host and ban ...

. As of November 2021, they have more than 50,000 subscribers. Following the popularity of the channel, Robins received a kit sponsorship, with Puma’s golf brand Cobra providing him with new clubs, bag and clothing. After five years broadcasting on Radio X (previously XFM), the ''

'' show aired its final episode on the station on Saturday 30 March 2019. On 2 April 2019, Robins announced that he and Elis James would be hosting a new show on

BBC Radio 5 Live BBC Radio 5 Live is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that broadcasts mainly news, sport, discussion, interviews and phone-ins. It is the principal BBC radio station covering sport in the United Kingdom, broadcast ...

. The BBC show has been broadcast since 31 May 2019, and all episodes are downloadable as podcasts.

Personal life

In 2012, Robins moved to

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. Robins has described himself as "broadly

vegan Veganism is the practice of abstaining from the use of animal product—particularly in diet—and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. An individual who follows the diet or philosophy is known as a vegan. Di ...

". He has also described himself as

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

, and admires

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

Labour Party politicians

Tony Benn Anthony Neil Wedgwood Benn (3 April 1925 – 14 March 2014), known between 1960 and 1963 as Viscount Stansgate, was a British politician, writer and diarist who served as a Cabinet of the United Kingdom, Cabinet minister in the 1960s and 1970s. ...

and

Dennis Skinner Dennis Edward Skinner (born 11 February 1932) is a British former politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Bolsover for 49 years, from 1970 to 2019. He is a member of the Labour Party. Known for his left-wing views and acerbic w ...

, though he has since clarified that he does not support

far-left politics Far-left politics, also known as the radical left or the extreme left, are politics further to the left on the left–right political spectrum than the standard political left. The term does not have a single definition. Some scholars consider ...

. He opposes

Brexit Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 CET).The UK also left the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or ...

. Robins is a fan of the rock band

Queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

and supported them at their 2014–15

New Year's Eve In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Eve, also known as Old Year's Day or Saint Sylvester's Day in many countries, is the evening or the entire day of the last day of the year, on 31 December. The last day of the year is commonly referred to ...

appearance. He is also a fan of

Frank Zappa Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American musician, composer, and bandleader. His work is characterized by wikt:nonconformity, nonconformity, Free improvisation, free-form improvisation, sound experimen ...

and

Bonnie "Prince" Billy Joseph Will Oldham (born January 15, 1970) is an American singer-songwriter and actor. From 1993 to 1997, he performed and recorded in collaboration with dozens of other musicians under variations of Palace (Palace, Palace Flophouse, Palace Br ...

and runs the Bonnie Prince Billy Quotes

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

account. He has often named his Edinburgh shows after his favourite music, e.g. ''Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven'' is a

Godspeed You! Black Emperor Godspeed You! Black Emperor (sometimes abbreviated to GY!BE or Godspeed) is a Canadian post-rock band which originated in Montreal, Quebec in 1994. The group releases recordings through Constellation, an independent record label also located i ...

album, and "This Tornado Loves You" is a song by American singer-songwriter

Neko Case Neko Richelle Case (; born September 8, 1970) is an American singer-songwriter and member of the Canadian indie rock group the New Pornographers. Case has a powerful, untrained contralto voice, which has been described by contemporaries and cri ...

. Robins was for several years in a relationship with fellow comedian

. They split in 2016, with both using their experience of the break-up and its consequences to create successful Edinburgh Fringe shows, Robins's winning the 2017

. Starting in 2018, he was in a relationship with fashion designer Coco Fennell, sister of actress Emerald Fennell and daughter of jewellery designer

Theo Fennell Alister Theodore Fennell (born 1951) is a British jewellery and silverware designer. Early life Fennell was born in 1951 in Egypt. He is the son of Major Alister Ivor Fennell, and his wife, Beryl Ruth Verity Fennell (''née'' Frith). The so ...

. Robins and Fennell became engaged in 2019. Robins confirmed on his Radio 5 Live show in December 2021 that the couple had split. Robins is a keen golfer and posts regularly on YouTube under the ''Bad Golf'' channel. Robins is an experienced board game player, and once finished 11th in the British national ''

Catan ''Catan'', previously known as ''The Settlers of Catan'' or simply ''Settlers'', is a multiplayer board game designed by Klaus Teuber. It was first published in 1995 in Germany by Franckh-Kosmos Verlag (Kosmos) as ''Die Siedler von Catan''. Pl ...

'' championships.

References

External links

* *
''Elis James and John Robins''
(BBC Radio 5 Live)
Bandcamp page which includes show recordings

Youtube – Fringe Stories: John Robins (2013)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Robins, John 1982 births Living people BBC Radio 5 Live presenters English male comedians English stand-up comedians British radio DJs 21st-century English comedians Alumni of St Anne's College, Oxford People educated at The Castle School