John Robins (comedian)

John Michael David Robins (born 4 May 1982)General Register Office; United Kingdom; Reference: ''Volume 22, Page 1473'' is an English stand-up comedian and radio presenter.

Early life

Robins was born and grew up in
Thornbury and was educated at The Castle School and at St Anne's College, Oxford, where he read Medieval English, having reapplied to Oxford 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, Russell Howard and Mark Olver.

Career

Robins began performing comedy in 2005, and reached the semi-finals of the ''So You Think You're Funny'' competition at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. 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'' and '' The Jon Richardson Show'' on BBC Radio 6 Music (2007–2010).

In 2011, Robins performed stand-up on ''Russell Howard's Good News''. On television he has also appeared on '' Alan Davies: As Yet Untitled'' (twice, plus the unaired pilot), '' Live at the Apollo'', ''Mock the Week'', ''Live from the BBC'', '' Celebrity Deal or No Deal'' with Sarah Millican and on the 2013 Christmas mash-up of ''8 Out of 10 Cats'' and ''Deal or No Deal''.

Robins appeared on several radio programmes, including Matt Forde's ''Talksport'' show, BBC Radio 4's ''Word of Mouth'', Great Lives where he spoke about Frank Zappa and BBC Radio Wales's ''What's the Story?''

In February 2014, he started hosting the ''Elis James and John Robins'' show on XFM (now Radio X) with fellow comedian Elis James. In August 2014, the show moved to Saturdays, and was broadcast weekly 1-4 pm. It is also a popular podcast with over 12 million downloads as of July 2017.

Robins performed in New Zealand for the first time in May 2014 during the NZ International Comedy Festival, with the show ''Where Is My Mind?''

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''.

Robins has performed a solo show at the Edinburgh Festival 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.

In August 2017, Robins won (jointly with Hannah Gadsby) the Edinburgh Comedy Award for his show that year, ''The Darkness of Robins'', which focused on the breakdown of his relationship with comedian Sara Pascoe 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.

In June 2018, it was announced that Robins would host a game show for Dave entitled ''Beat the Internet'', co-presented with fellow comic Sunil Patel. The show ran for 20 episodes and was not renewed for a second series. Also that year Robins and James published a book ''The Holy Vible''.

In February 2019 Robins launched a YouTube channel called ''Bad Golf'' with friend and fellow comedian Alex Horne. 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 ''Elis James and John Robins'' 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. The BBC show has been broadcast since 31 May 2019, and all episodes are downloadable as podcasts.

Robins returned to Edinburgh in 2019 with the show ''Hot Shame''.
In October 2019 Elis and John launched a new podcast ''How Do You Cope?...with Elis and John'' on BBC Radio 5 Live. It features Elis and John talking to celebrities about mental health issues they have faced. In 2024 the show won the "Radio Times Moment Of The Year" award at the ARIAS for an edition in which John Robins revealed his struggle with alcohol addiction and his journey to recovery.

Robin has since 2021 shared his thoughts, feelings and significant moments from his life in the newsletter The John Robins Vibemail.

Robins launched a podcast in April 2021, ''The Moon Under Water'', with fellow comedian and friend Robin Allender. In each episode a guest chats about their dream pub. The pair left the podcast in 2023 and were replaced as "landlord" by Robbie Knox.

In 2023 Robins presented his show ''Howl'' at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, performing it and a Work in Progress show daily during the month of the festival. He then toured the show ''Howl'', constructed of both shows, discussing recent changes in his life and his new sobriety.

Robins appeared as a contestant on the seventeenth series of the Channel 4 show '' Taskmaster'' which launched in March 2024. He won the series.

In November 2024 Robins along with his broadcasting partners, Elis James and producer Dave Masterman announced that they would be touring England Scotland and Wales, but not Ireland in 2025 in a production of ''Elis & John: That Feels Significant Live!''

In February 2025, Robin announced that ''How Do You Cope?'' would return, no longer on the BBC and without Elis James co-hosting.

Awards and accolades

* 2015 Chortle Awards – Best Compère.
* 2017 Chortle Awards – Radio Award for ''Elis James and John Robins on Radio X''
* 2017 Edinburgh Comedy Award winner
* 2020 Audio and Radio Industry Awards – Funniest Show for ''Elis James and John Robins''
* 2021 Broadcasting Press Guild Awards – Best Podcast for ''How Do You Cope?…with Elis and John''
* 2023 British Podcast Awards - Best Entertainment for ''Elis James and John Robins''
* 2024 Chortle Awards - Best Radio Show for ''Elis James and John Robins''
* 2024 Audio and Radio Industry Awards - Radio Times Moment Of The Year for an episode of ''How Do You Cope?'' in which John Robins revealed his struggle with alcohol addiction and his journey to recovery.

Personal life

In 2012, Robins moved to London.

Robins has described himself as "broadly vegan". He has also described himself as left-wing, and admires socialist Labour Party politicians Tony Benn and Dennis Skinner, though he has since clarified that he does not support far-left politics. He opposed Brexit.

Robins was for several years in a relationship with fellow comedian Sara Pascoe. They split in 2016, with both using their experience of the break-up and its consequences to create successful Edinburgh Fringe shows, Robins' winning the 2017 Edinburgh Comedy Award.

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. 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. He is also an experienced board game player, and once finished 11th in the British national ''Catan'' championships.

Robins has been sober since November 2022.https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0fscstp How Do You Cope? …with Elis and John – S4 Stressed Elis and Sober John: 'It was like the last light got switched off'

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
English radio DJs
21st-century English comedians
Alumni of St Anne's College, Oxford
People educated at The Castle School
Comedians from Bristol