Spencer Jones is an English actor, comedian and writer. He has performed regularly at the

Edinburgh Festival Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as the Edinburgh Fringe, the Fringe or the Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest performance arts festival, which in 2024 spanned 25 days, sold more than 2.6 million tickets and featur ...

, and in 2017 and 2019 was nominated for the main prize in the

Edinburgh Comedy Awards The 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. Establ ...

. He was co-creator and co-star of the BAFTA-nominated CBBC comedy ''

Big Babies ''Big Babies'' is a 2010 British comedy children's television series. The main characters are two babies (actually babies with adult heads and voices superimposed) named Brooks and Rocco, who are reluctantly dragged away from watching television ...

'', and had a regular role in the sitcom ''

Upstart Crow ''Upstart Crow'' is a British sitcom based on the life of William Shakespeare written by Ben Elton. The show premiered on 9 May 2016 on BBC Two as part of the commemorations of the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death. Its title quotes "an ...

''.

Career

Jones co-created with Jon Riche and co-starred in ''

'' for

CBBC CBBC is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the brand used for all BBC content for children aged 6 to 12. Its sister c ...

in 2010. The series was nominated for the

BAFTA Award The British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFTAs or BAFTA Awards, is an annual film award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to honour the best British and international contributions to f ...

for best children's comedy that year. In 2011 he appeared in the play ''Wedding Band'' at the Edinburgh Fringe. Subsequently, he has performed in solo shows. He first performed his own show at the Fringe in Bob Slayer's Bookshop in 2014, performing as his character, The Herbert. In 2015 he came joint second (with Jenny Collier) in the New Act of the Year final. He won the Comedian's Choice award (also known as The Barry Award) for both "best show" and "best performer" the same year for his Edinburgh show, ''The Herbert In Proper Job'' at another of Bob Slayer's Heroes of Fringe venue, The Hive. In 2015 Jones wrote and starred in the comedy short ''Spencer Jones's Christmas'' for Sky TV's on demand service, which won the 2016

Broadcast Broadcasting is the data distribution, distribution of sound, audio audiovisual content to dispersed audiences via a electronic medium (communication), mass communications medium, typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio waves), ...

Digital Award for Best Scripted Online Short. Jones performed his comedy act on British television for the first time in ''Live from the BBC'', which was broadcast on BBC Two in March 2016. In 2016 he was nominated for "breakthrough act" and "music and variety award" in the

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 webs ...

. However, these categories were won by Joseph Morpurgo and Pippa Evans, respectively. Jones plays Shakespearean actor

William Kempe William Kempe ( 1560 – 1603), commonly referred to as Will Kemp, was an English actor and dancer who specialised in comic roles. He was best known as one of the original stage actors in early dramas by William Shakespeare, and roles associa ...

in the sitcom ''

'', which was broadcast on BBC Two beginning in May 2016. Jones plays the character as a parody of

Ricky Gervais Ricky Dene Gervais ( ; born 25 June 1961) is an English comedian, actor, writer, television producer and filmmaker. He co-created, co-wrote, and acted in the British television sitcoms ''The Office (British TV series), The Office'' (2001–2003) ...

using his manner and speech patterns. He was asked to play the character this way to draw a comparison between Kempe, a popular comic actor of the 16th century, and Gervais in the present day; according to the show's producer Gareth Edwards, "what we tried to show was that every era has its own maverick comedy guy who's slightly ahead of his time and is following the beat of a slightly different drum". In 2016, he again performed his Fringe show in character as The Herbert in a new show called ''Eggy Bagel'', at The Hive. Then, in 2017, he was one of a record nine nominees for the 2017

Edinburgh Comedy Award The 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. Establ ...

for his show ''The Audition'' at the Monkey Barrel comedy club, a year in which the final award was shared by

Hannah Gadsby Hannah Gadsby (born 12 January 1978) is an Australian comedian, writer, author and actor. They began their career in Australia after winning the national final of the Raw Comedy competition for new comedians in 2006. In 2018, their show '' Nanet ...

and John Robins. He returned to the Fringe in 2019 with a new show called ''The Things We Leave Behind'', this time at

The Pleasance The Pleasance is a theatre, bar, sports and recreation complex in Edinburgh, Scotland, situated on a street of the same name. It is owned by the University of Edinburgh, and for nine months of the year it serves the Edinburgh University Stu ...

and was again nominated for the Comedy Award. He also ran an experimental music/variety show at Monkey Barrel called The Spencer Jones 50 Minute Disco Experiment. Jones starred as the titular character in the pilot episode of ''The Mind of Herbert Clunkerdunk'' in 2018; a full series (5 episodes) aired in 2019; Series 2 (5 episodes) was first broadcast on BBC Two and iPlayer in January 2022. In 2020 he starred as Leslie Winner in ''

Mister Winner ''Mister Winner'' is a British sitcom created for the BBC starring Spencer Jones, Lucy Pearman and Shaun Williamson. It was written by Matt Morgan, with additional material provided by Jones. A 6-episode season was broadcast in the spring of 20 ...

'' on BBC Two, which had previously had a pilot episode broadcast in 2017. Lucy Pearman co-starred as his girlfriend in both series. Jones's other television credits include ''

Still Open All Hours ''Still Open All Hours'' is a British sitcom (2013–2019) created for the BBC by Roy Clarke, and starring David Jason and James Baxter. It is the sequel to the sitcom '' Open All Hours'' (1976–1985), which both Clarke and Jason were invol ...

'', '' Skins'', '' Pulling'', '' Count Arthur Strong, '' ''

Ted Lasso ''Ted Lasso'' ( ) is an American sports film, sports comedy-drama television series developed by Jason Sudeikis, Bill Lawrence (TV producer), Bill Lawrence, Brendan Hunt, and Joe Kelly. It is based on a character Sudeikis portrayed in a series ...

'', and ''

Hollyoaks Later ''Hollyoaks Later'' (originally ''Late Night Hollyoaks'') is a British television spin-off of the Channel 4 soap opera ''Hollyoaks''. The series allows for more sexual content, edgier storylines and stronger language than ''Hollyoaks''. The sho ...

.''

Personal life

Jones is married with a son and a daughter. The family lives in Devon.

Edinburgh Festival Fringe shows

Filmography

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Spencer Living people 21st-century English male actors English male television actors English male comedians Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) 21st-century English comedians