Robin Ince

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Robin Ince

Ince in 2013
Born (1969-02-20) 20 February 1969
Medium Stand-up, Television, Radio
Nationality British
Years active 1990–present
Genres Observational comedy, Political satire
Subject(s) Recreational drug use, Politics, Life, Science
Influences Carl Sagan, John Peel, Richard Feynman, Ricky Gervais
Notable works and roles Book Club, The Infinite Monkey Cage, Nerdstock
Website http://www.robinince.com

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.[1]

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.[2] 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.[3] 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.[4] The programme won a Gold Award in the Best Speech Programme category at the 2011 Sony Radio Awards.[5][6] 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.

Personal life

Ince is an atheist and supports the Rationalist Association via New Humanist magazine by organising events at the Bloomsbury Theatre and at the Hammersmith Apollo featuring scientists, musicians and comedians. The first of these was Nine Lessons and Carols for Godless People in Christmas 2008,[7] and more recently he has fronted a Night of 400 Billion Stars. Regular contributions come from Josie Long, Chris Addison, Ricky Gervais, Richard Dawkins, Simon Singh and Philip Jeays. In 2009, Ince organised two events with Josie Long, called Darwin's Birthday Spectacular, marking both the scientist's 200th birthday and the 150th anniversary of the publication of On the Origin of Species'. He was recently made a Distinguished Supporter of the British Humanist Association. Ince is a patron of Dignity in Dying.[8]

On 15 September 2010, Ince, along with 54 other public figures, signed an open letter published in The Guardian, stating their opposition to Pope Benedict XVI's visit to the UK being a state visit.[9]

Awards

  • Honorary Doctor of Science - Royal Holloway, University of London[10]
  • Sony Radio Awards - Gold Award for Best Speech Programme (2011)
  • Chortle Awards - Best Compere (2007)
  • Chortle Awards - Innovation Award (2006)
  • Time Out - Outstanding Contribution to Comedy (2006)
  • Distinguished Supporter of the British Humanist Association

Other appearances

Ince has appeared at several science events, including the line-up of UCL's Bright Club in both 2009 and 2010,[11][12] and took part in the Cheltenham Science Festival in June 2011.[1]

He also is a great supporter of the yearly festival Pestival which showcases science, music and comedy, a regular attendee of the Latitude Festival and has twice been amongst the contributors to Greenbelt Festival, a Christian arts festival held in Cheltenham.

Ince is also the invited speaker for the British Humanist Association 2012 Voltaire Lecture, entitled "The Importance of Being Interested".

Music

Ince was also lead singer in alternative rock combo TheReg from 1992-1994.

Live credits

  • 2013 The Importance of Being Interested (UK tour)
  • 2011/2012 Happiness Through Science (UK tour)
  • 2011: Uncaged Monkeys Tour with Simon Singh, Brian Cox and Ben Goldacre
  • 2011 ince and legge @ stand 5 comedy club edinburgh fringe
  • 2009/2010: Robin Ince vs. the moral majority (UK tour)
  • 2009: The Return of Nine Lessons and Carols for Godless People
  • 2009: Charles Darwin Birthday Spectacular with Josie Long
  • 2009: Karoke Circus, Edinburgh Fringe 2009
  • 2009: Carl Sagan Is My God, Oh And Richard Feynman Too, Edinburgh Fringe 2009
  • 2009: Night of 40 Billion Stars, with Chris Addison and others
  • 2009: Bleeding Heart Liberal (UK tour)
  • 2009: Charity night @ Grovel bar in Manchester
  • 2008: Nine Lessons and Carols for Godless People, Christmas Show
  • 2008: Things I Like About Carl Sagan And Others, Edinburgh Fringe 2008
  • 2008: Comedy Nights @ Dorchester Arts Centre (throughout the year)
  • 2008: Crewe Limelight Club's final comedy night
  • 2007: Robin Ince knew this would happen, Edinburgh Fringe 2007
  • 2007: Lion's Den Comedy Club @ The Cross Kings in Kings Cross
  • 2006: Robin Ince Isn't Waving @ The Assembly Rooms and Edinburgh Fringe 2006
  • 2005: Ricky Gervais and Guests @ The Dominion Theatre
  • 2005: Robin Ince is as Dumb as You @ Pleasance and Edinburgh Fringe 2005
  • 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

  • 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)

Radio credits

Film credits

  • 2006: Writer, Razzle Dazzle.

DVDs

  • Robin Ince is as Dumb as You (2006)
  • Nine Lessons and Carols For Godless People (2008)
  • Ten Lessons and Carols For Godless People (2011)
  • More Nine Lessons and Carols For Godless People (2012)
  • Happiness Through Science (2013)

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Roger Highfield (June 15, 2011). "Robin Ince: Who needs religion?". New Scientist. Retrieved June 16, 2011. 
  2. ↑ "Robin Ince is as Dumb as You". 
  3. ↑ "Robin Ince's Book Club". Timeout.com. 2006-09-22. Retrieved 2009-07-22. 
  4. ↑ Manjit Kumar (1 May 2011). "Robin Ince: The science of comedy". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 9 May 2011. 
  5. ↑ "Frank Skinner and Jason Byrne win at Sony Awards 2011". The British Comedy Guide. 9 May 2011. Retrieved 9 May 2011. 
  6. ↑ "TV scientist scoops top radio award". Express & Star. 9 May 2011. Retrieved 9 May 2011. 
  7. ↑ Bennett, Steve (2009-12-16). "The Return Of Nine Lessons And Carols For Godless People". Chortle. 
  8. ↑ http://robinince.wordpress.com/2012/10/04/greedily-i-want-the-right-to-live-and-the-right-to-die/
  9. ↑ "Letters: Harsh judgments on the pope and religion". The Guardian (London). 15 September 2010. Retrieved 16 September 2010. 
  10. ↑ Layzell, Paul. "Honorary degrees recognise contributions to science". Retrieved 17 November 2013. 
  11. ↑ "Bright Club". Bright Club. Retrieved 2013-01-08. 
  12. ↑ Carole Jahme (4 November 2010). "Laugh and learn at Bright Club". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 December 2010. 
  13. ↑ "BBC Radio 4 - Schrodinger's Quantum Kittens". Bbc.co.uk. 2011-01-30. Retrieved 2013-01-08. 

External links

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