Robin Ince

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Robin Ince bigraphy, stories - English comedian, actor and writer.

Robin Ince : biography

20 February 1969 –

Robin Ince (born 20 February 1969) is an English stand-up comedian, actor and writer. He is best known for presenting the BBC radio show The Infinite Monkey Cage with physicist Brian Cox.

Career

Stand-up comedy

In 1990, Ince first appeared at Greyfriars Kirkhouse at the Edinburgh Festival where Eddie Izzard was running a venue. At the time Ince was performing in a play called ‘Shadow Walker’ by Trevor Maynard. He had appeared at the Cafe Royale as part of the Edinburgh Fringe show ‘Rubbernecker’, alongside Stephen Merchant, Jimmy Carr and Ricky Gervais in 2001.

As a close friend of Ricky Gervais, Ince opened as a support act for his Politics tour in 2004 and his Fame tour in 2007. He also appears on the DVD and often appears in Ricky’s video podcasts, mainly being bullied, annoyed and attacked by Gervais.

Throughout 2008, Ince had residency at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre trying out new material for his upcoming shows. In late 2008 he released a live stand up DVD entitled Robin Ince is as Dumb as You, released by Go Faster Stripe. Then between January and April 2009, Ince performed his UK tour Bleeding Heart Liberal, playing 51 dates. Towards the end of 2009 and into 2010, Ince toured his next show entitled Robin Ince vs. the Moral Majority. In 2011 he started on the road again performing his ‘Happiness Through Science’ UK show which continued to add many additional dates and whose scheduled was extended into 2012.

Book Club

In 2005, Ince began running the Book Club night at The Albany, London, where acts are encouraged to perform turns of new and experimental material. The club gets its name from Ince’s attempts to read aloud from – and humorously criticise – various second-hand books which the audience and he have brought in for the occasion. The Book Club proved to be so successful that Ince took it on a full UK tour in 2006, the same year he won the Time Out Award for Outstanding Achievement in Comedy. In 2010, Ince published a book entitled Robin Ince’s Bad Book Club about his favourite books that he has used for his shows.

Television

Ince started his career as a comedy writer, working on The 11 O’Clock Show, for which he also performed as an impressionist, including an impersonation of John Peel. He also appeared in The Office as failed interviewee Stuart Foot. Ince has also appeared on clip shows on British television, where he and other comedians appeared as talking heads.

Radio

Ince and the physicist Brian Cox present the science series The Infinite Monkey Cage on BBC Radio 4. The programme won a Gold Award in the Best Speech Programme category at the 2011 Sony Radio Awards. As of 2012, he is a regular contributor on Steve Lamacq’s BBC Radio 6 Music show.

Podcast

He presents a podcast for Paramount Comedy, Show & Tell (which is now called Utter Shambles), but can be heard more often on BBC Radio 4 Extra’s Serious About Comedy. Ince had presented this discussion programme since 2005, until its end in November 2007. Regular panellists in the show include Book Club performers Josie Long, Howard Read and Natalie Haynes, comedy critics Bruce Dessau and Stephen Armstrong, and many others from the British comedy industry.

TV credits

  • 2010: Host, Nerdstock: 9 Lessons and Carols for Godless People (BBC Four)
  • 2009: Host, Richard & Judy’s New Position (Watch)
  • 2009: Panelist/Guest, What The Dickens? (Sky Arts)
  • 2008: Comedy Consultant, Skins (Channel 4)
  • 2007: Sketch performer, Comedy Cuts (ITV2)
  • 2006: Stand Up Routine, Edinburgh & Beyond (Paramount)
  • 2006: Panelist/Guest, Mock The Week (BBC Two)
  • 2005: Writer, The Problem With Anne Robinson (BBC Two)
  • 2004: Writer, The Late Edition (BBC Four)
  • 2004: Writer/performer, Celebdaq (BBC Three)
  • 2003: Writer/performer, The State We’re In (BBC Three)
  • 2003: Writer/performer, The Pilot Show (Channel 4)
  • 2003: John Peel, The 11 O’Clock Show (Channel 4)
  • 2001: "Stuart Foot" (interviewee), The Office (BBC Two)
  • 2000: Writer, Meet Ricky Gervais (Channel 4)
  • 1999: Writer, Alistair McGowan’s Big Impression (BBC One)