Robin Ince

Robin Ince (born 1969) is an English stand-up comedian, actor and writer. He is also an impressionist, having performed his John Peel on The 11 O'Clock Show, for which he also wrote.

Career

Ince appeared at the Cafe Royal as part of the Edinburgh Fringe show Rubbernecker, alongside Stephen Merchant, Jimmy Carr and Ricky Gervais in 2001.

Ince appeared in "The Office" as failed interviewee Stuart Foot, and was a support act on Ricky Gervais's 2004 Politics tour and his 2007 Fame tour. Ince has appeared on clip shows on British television, where he and other comedians appeared as talking heads.

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 himself have brought in for the occasion. The Book Club proved to be so successful that Robin took it on a full UK tour in 2006, the same year he won the Time Out Award for Outstanding Achievement in Comedy [http://www.timeout.com/london/comedy/features/2020.html] .

He presents a podcast for [http://www.paramountcomedy.com ParamountComedy.com] , "Show & Tell" (now called Utter Shambles), but can be heard more often on BBC7's Serious About Comedy. Ince presented this discussion programme since 2005, until its end in November 2007. Regular panellists 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.

Robin opened for Ricky Gervais on the Ricky's "Politics" (2004) tour. He also appears on the DVD. As a close friend of Ricky Gervais, Robin also oftens appears in Ricky's video podcasts. He usually is being tortured by Ricky for the purpose of Ricky's own amusement.

Robin was also lead singer in alternative rock combo "The Reg" from 1992-1994. He was dismissed for lack of musical talent.

Throughout 2008, Robin has had a residency at Dorchester Arts Centre trying out new stuff for his coming shows.

Live credits

* 2008: Comedy Nights" @ Dorchester Arts Centre (throughout the year)
* 2007: "Lion's Den Comedy Club" @ The Cross Kings in Kings Cross
* 2006: "Robin Ince Isn't Waving" @ The Assembly Rooms
* 2005: "Ricky Gervais and Guests" @ The Dominion Theatre
* 2005: "Robin Ince is as Dumb as You" @ Pleasance
* 2005: "Book Club" @ Underbelly, Lowdown at the Albany
* 2004: "The Award Winning Robin Ince ­- Star Of The Office, Series 1. Episode 5 (First Bit)" @ Underbelly
* 2001: "Rubbernecker" with Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant, Jimmy Carr @ Cafe Royal

TV credits

* 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 0'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)

Radio credits

* 2008: Panelist, "Just a Minute" (BBC Radio 4)
* 2006/7: Panelist, "The Personality Test" (BBC Radio 4)
* 2004/5/6/7/8: Performer, "The Now Show" (BBC Radio 4)
* 2005: Host, "Serious About Comedy" (BBC7)
* 2005: Writer, "Dead Ringers" (BBC Radio 4)
* 2003/4: Host, "Spanking New" (BBC7)
* 2002/3/4: Writer/performer, "The In Crowd" (BBC Radio 4)
* 2003/4/6: Writer/performer/Morrissey/John Peel/Satan, "Mitch Benn's Crimes Against Music" (BBC Radio 4)
* 2003/4/5/6: Writer/performer, "The Day the Music Died" (BBC Radio 2)

Film credits

* 2006: Writer, "Razzle Dazzle".

External links

* [http://www.myspace.com/robinince Robin's MySpace page]
* [http://forums.chortle.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=12485&highlight=robin+ince/ Robin's 2006 Edinburgh Festival blog]
* [http://www.suchsmallportions.com/pagesfinal/features/bookclub.html Robin Ince interview, from suchsmallportions.com]
* [http://www.chortle.co.uk/comics/comics.html?http&&&www.chortle.co.uk/comics/rince.html profile on Chortle.co.uk]
* [http://www.comedycv.co.uk/robinince/ profile on Comedycv.co.uk]
* [http://www.paramountcomedy.com/features/article.aspx?id=60 Homepage for the Show & Tell podcast]