Jon Holmes

Jon Holmes (born 24 April 1973) is a six time Sony Award-winning British writer, comedian and broadcaster.

Early Life

Born in Stratford Upon Avon and grew up in Nuneaton in Warwickshire. Attended Canterbury Christ Church University, where he graduated with a joint degree in English with Radio, Film and Television. While at Kent he became involved with the University radio station C4 radio and wrote and directed and performed in various student revue shows.

Career

After graduation, Holmes's first foray into BBC radio comedy was for BBC Radio 4 with his debut comedy series "Grievous Bodily Radio" in 1997. He also had a show on Power FM on Sunday nights. The Jon & Andy show (with Andy Hurst), which Holmes presented from 1998-2000, won him a gold Sony Radio Academy Award for entertainment. It was here he began to acquire his reputation for controversy with on air interactive listener games such as 'I'm Standing On...' (a time trial in which listeners were encouraged to stand on their neighbour's car, wheelie bin etc and shout "I'm Standing on....' whatever it was until the angry neighbour came out and shouted abuse. Jon then moved to London's XFM "for approximately an hour" [Jon holmes] before being fired for going on air in (fellow presenter) Dermot O'Leary's desk drawer. Subsequently signed by Virgin radio, the late-night Jon Holmes show on Virgin Radio ran from 2001 to 2002 but he was fired after several controversial stunts. Virgin were fined a record £75,000 for Holmes' item "Swearing Radio Hangman for the Under-12s", in which he persuaded a nine-year-old girl to spell out and then repeat the phrase "soapy tit wank". [ [http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4377069,00.html The Guardian - Virgin hit by record fine] ] .

Meanwhile on Radio 4 Jon was writing and appearing on "The Now Show" and "The 99p Challenge" where he first worked with Armando Iannucci. Jon has subsequently worked with Iannucci on "Time Trumpet" on BBC2, and in 2006 he received his sixth Sony Award for his work on Radio 4's Armando Iannucci's Charm Offensive. On "The Now Show", Holmes is regularly mocked for his short stature by his co-presenters as a running joke.

He also hosts the spin-off radio series and official podcast of the American drama series 'Heroes' which in the UK is on BBC 2.

In November 2007 he began his new Radio 4 series, "Listen Against", which he co-presented with newsreader Alice Arnold. The show 'takes the programmes out of the radio, fiddles around with them and then puts them back together the wrong way round'. [ [http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/comedy/listenagainst.shtml BBC R4 "Listen Against" website] ] It has been well received: the "Daily Telegraph" called it "beautifully crafted and sharp" and the "Guardian" described it as "the mischievous offspring of [Radio 4's] Feedback and The Day Today". Series 2 begins on Radio 4 in December 2008.

Throughout 2007 Holmes presented the Friday afternoon drivetime show on London talk station LBC, leaving in January 2008 when the station's new owners made the network more news based.

In 2001 Holmes co-created the hit Radio 4 show "Dead Ringers" (for which he won—jointly—his second gold Sony) and the show transferred to BBC 2.

His new Radio 2 show , I'm Spartacus, is due to air in January 2009. Also on Radio 2 Holmes co-writes and presents "The Day the Music Died" alongside Andrew Collins. He also recently fronted his own Radio 1 show and since September 2006 has had his own show on BBC 6 Music bolstering a weekend comedy line up that includes Adam & Joe and Stephen Merchant.

BBC 6 Music

From 2-4pm every Saturday afternoon Jon "plays some music and messes around in the gaps." Regular features include:

Special celebrity endorsement - every week Jon Holmes' show is endorsed by Andy Hurst impersonating a figure in the news, one of which was "Hi, I'm Robert Mugabe, and when I'm not killing farmers or rigging elections I listen to the Jon Holmes show on BBC 6Music"

The Old Gay Whistle Test - a homosexual pensioner whistles a tune for the listeners to guess

Ken Bruce Master - Radio 2's Popmaster quiz is turned "arseaboutupside" so instead of listeners answering questions about pop stars, pops stars answer (very stupid and surreal) questions about Radio 2 presenter Ken Bruce.

DIY Tip - various rock stars share DIY advice. Recent examples include MeatLoaf on correctly potting bulbs and Mark Ronson on the best way to install a mortice lock.

Toddler Pops - a five year old child discusses politics with Holmes and then plays a xylophone tune for listeners to guess

Band I Found On MySpace Or... - quiz in which various strange names are read out. They're either the name of 'a band I found on MySpace' or something else. The something else changes each week. Eg Band I Found on MySpace or type of spider, Band I Found on MySpace or Sex Toy.

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell On The Radio - callers must battle their way through 'a disused Russian submarine' and shoot whatever pops up as Holmes 'reads out' the action. The things that pop up are often very surreal and often tied to the week's news.

Features are interspersed with various fake news items and re-edited audio in the style of Holmes own radio 4 show Listen Against. On air he is joined in the studio by Andy Hurst (from the Power FM days) and David Whitehead.

Throughout 2007 Holmes presented the Friday afternoon drivetime show on London talk station LBC, leaving in January 2008 when the station's new owners made the network more news based.

Television

Aside from Dead Ringers' transfer from Radio 4, in 2002 Jon co-presented the fifth series of the "11 O'Clock Show" on Channel 4 television with Sarah Alexander. Jon also wrote for Graham Norton on his award-winning Channel 4 show V Graham Norton. He also presented co-presented BBC3's The State We're In where he got [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rn65uThtEKc beaten up by the SAS] . Holmes was also wrote and appeared in "Gash", a nightly politics programme (broadcast to coincide with the 2003 local elections) presented by Armando Iannucci.

In 2005, with Dead Ringers's Jon Culshaw, Holmes co-wrote and script edited ITV1's The Impressionable Jon Culshaw. He also played various roles in various sketches. The show was nominated for the Golden Rose of Montreux TV Awards.

Selected other credits include Have I Got News For You and Mock The Week and The Harry Hill show and he is the voice of BBC Three's "The Comic Side of 7 Days" and "Crash Test Danny" for The Discovery Channel

He regularly appears on Sky News to preview the following morning's newspapers.

Other Media

Holmes's first book, "Status Quo and the Kangaroo", was published in hardback by Penguin May 2007 and has since been published in Australia, Canada and the US and has been translated into Russian. The paperback, Rock Star Babylon, is published in the UK in September 2008.

He has a regular monthly column in the Sunday Times and has written for the Guardian, the Times and the Radio Times among others.

Holmes also co-wrote Stephen Fry's script for the BAFTA Film Awards and has hosted the MOJO Awards.

Awards

2 x Gold Radio Awards2 x Silver Sony Radio Awards2x Bronze Sony Radio AwardsBritish Comedy AwardBroadcasting Press Guild Award for Best Radio ShowChannel 4 Political Awards - nominee (for The Now Show)

Notes

External links

* [http://www.jonholmes.net Holmes' official site]
* [http://www.vivienneclore.com/articles/Jon_453012_61.html Profile] on his agent's site.
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/the_state_were_in/2909905.stm BBC interview] (scroll down)
* [http://www.garbledonline.net/jonholmesinterview.html Cyberchat]