Justin Lee Collins

Infobox Person
name = Justin Lee Collins


image_size = 177px
caption = Justin Lee Collins
birth_date = Birth date and age|1974|7|28
birth_place = Bristol, England
occupation = Stand-up comedian, Television presenter

Justin Lee Collins (born 28 July, 1974) is an English comedian, television, radio presenter and amateur darts player from Bristol, often known as 'JLC'. His distinctive West Country accent, enthusiasm for cult television and music and his "cave man" image are amongst his trademarks. He still lives in his native Bristol.

Early life

In 1990, Collins left Speedwell school at the age of 15 with no qualifications and started working at Marks & Spencer. Three years later he went to Filton College and earned a BTEC in performing arts.

Career

tand-up comedy

Collins worked as a double-glazing demonstrator before making a brief foray into stand-up comedy in which he won the New Comedy Competition at the 1997 Glastonbury Festival and reached the finals of the BBC New Comedy Awards at the Edinburgh Festival. He gave up doing stand-up in 2002 to concentrate fully on TV and radio presenting. He claims he will never return to the stand-up circuit.

Radio

Collins began hosting a radio show on XFM in 2003, initially on Sundays at 1 to 3 am, but later progressing to Saturday afternoons from 3 to 6 pm. He left in December 2005.

Collins was heard performing a Tom Jones impersonation on BBC Radio 1's Chris Moyles Show in January 2008. [cite web | url = http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/chrismoyles/galleries/2877/8/ | title = Chris Moyles guests 2008 | accessdate= 2008-06-17]

Television work

Collins was part of a double act on local west country TV show "Pirate TV".

In 2002, Collins made a number of shows for Bravo and MTV but his big break came when he became the host of the companion show for the first series of "Strictly Come Dancing". He was replaced by Claudia Winkleman the following year and the show moved from BBC Three to BBC Two.

In 2005 and 2006, Collins presented "" on E4 alongside Caroline Flack. The series was the companion show to Channel 4's sports-based reality programme "The Games".

He was also one of the presenters of Channel 4 and Paramount's "Flipside TV".

Collins is the current presenter of "The Sunday Night Project" alongside Alan Carr for Channel 4. He has also hosted a number of "Bring Back..." shows in which he aims to reunite groups, normally who are associated with TV or music. He also made a series for Channel 4 titled "The Convention Crasher", aired in late 2007 and early 2008, in which he learned skills such as clowning and ventriloquism in an attempt to win prizes at professional conventions.

On May 7 2007, he became the latest "celebrity friend" of Paul O'Grady to fill the comic's shoes as guest presenter on "The New Paul O'Grady Show" on Channel 4 whilst O'Grady took a break.

Collins appeared on Top Gear with Alan Carr on June 22nd 2008, for Star in a Reasonably-Priced Car. [cite web|url=http://www.onthebox.com/program/2559135/top-gear.aspx|title=Top Gear|publisher=On The Box|accessdate=2008-06-19]

His catchphrases include "Good Times!" (and occasionally "Bad Times!"), "I love it!", "Get in!", "Rock On!" and "Rock and roll!". Aside from his passion for cult television whether it is The A-Team and Mr. T or The New Avengers, he is known to be a big fan of classic rock music. He can often be seen wearing T-shirts depicting his favourite bands, for example The Clash, Whitesnake, Ramones, KISS, Def Leppard, Hall and Oates, Guns N' Roses, Saxon, Tom Petty and The Wurzels.

Darts

Collins is known for a passion for darts and often cites it as his favourite sport. On June 23, 2008, a show was aired on Sky One entitled "Justin Lee Collins: 180", which followed his quest to be a professional darts player. In the show, he practised with Keith Deller and played in the BDO International Open, which took place on June 15, 2008. He lost in the first round 3-0 in legs to county player Stuart Bousfield, who was in the top 100 in the BDO rankings at the time. [cite web|url=http://www.bdodarts.com/results/2008/BritIntlOpen2008Men.pdf|title=BDO International Open Brean 2008 - Singles 15/06/08|publisher=BDO Darts|date=2008-06-16] He is nicknamed The Bristol Flyer.

Personal life

Collins is an ardent Bristol City fan and goes whenever he can.His wife Karen gave birth to their first child, a boy called Archie, on 16 May 2005. [ [http://news.independent.co.uk/media/article2062715.ece Justin Lee Collins: My Life in Media - Media, News - Independent.co.uk ] ] During his appearance on UK breakfast show This Morning on 17 January 2008, Collins announced that his wife had recently given birth to their second son, Harvey. [This Morning TV show (17 January 2008)] Collins still lives in Bristol with his wife and children.

He is a patron of the charity GWR Kids based in Bristol. [ cite web | url = http://www.gwrfmbristol.co.uk/Article.asp?id=400914&spid=15800http://www.gwrfmbristol.co.uk/Article.asp?id=400914&spid=15800| title = Justin Lee Collins - Patron | accessdate = 2008-04-07]

Television credits

References

External links

* [http://www.memorabletv.com/interviews/c/collinsjustinlee.htm Interview with Collins]
* [http://www.pfd.co.uk/clients/collinsj/a-pre.html Official Biography]
* [http://www.xfm.co.uk/justin/ Biography at XFM]
*imdb name|id=1674949|name=Justin Lee Collins