John Robins
John Robins began comedy in spring 2005, and made his Edinburgh debut in 2007 as part of the prestigious Comedy Zone showcase. The following year, he teamed up with one of his contemporaries for Carl Donnelly vs John Robins vs Predator, before making his solo debut in 2009.
John Robins Videos
Reviews
John Robins: Fringe 2012

John Robins deserves more success. There's only so many times you can be called a ‘best-kept secret’ – and with this show he's determined to have the beans spilled.
Opening with jokes on the thought of playing to a crowd of two and his paltry marketing budget, it's clear everything about Robins is funny. He has the look and feel of the nicest guy in town and has a way with words that makes anything sound funny.
A fan of cheeky and camp comedy, he takes the innuendo ‘never heard it called that before’ to hitherto unseen heights, with each appearance in the set topping the last.
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It's an impassioned set formed mainly of uproarious stories ranging from being naked on stage to accidentally drinking pee. Each is delivered with energy and charm with killer lines never more than a minute away.
Robins is a wordsmith, often delivering belly laughs through phrasing alone, and conjuring side-splitting turns of phrase as he regales his self-deprecatory tales of silliness and alcohol abuse.
Hilarious stories aside, Robins is naturally funny but falls down trying to adopt a ‘geek chic’ persona. He's too energetic and natural to realistically come across as that awkward and it feels too much like pandering to the wrong crowd.
There's also not much to tie everything together. There is a thread about him getting selected for panel show but dropped because he didn’t have an interesting enough of a back story. You feel his pain being replaced by Amy Childs from The Only Way is Essex, but a centrepiece it ain't and, indignation aside, it felt lacking.
There are, indeed, some truly incredible scenes featured, but others felt more B-movie. Robins's talent is indisputable, but it feels underused and unnecessarily limited to funny stories. If he can find a way to channel it to something more personal, they'll be queueing up to sing his praises.
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John Robins Dates
Sun 30 Jun 2013
- Pineapple Pub
- 20:00
- £5
- John Robins, Rob Beckett
Fri 5 Jul 2013
Book Now- Tattershall Castle
- 20:00
- £13.50 (£11 concs)
- Marcel Lucont, Roger Monkhouse, Special guest who cannot be named, John Robins (MC)
Sat 6 Jul 2013
Book Now- Tattershall Castle
- 20:00
- £15 (£12.50 concs)
- Dan Nightingale, Marcel Lucont, John Robins (MC)
Sun 14 Jul 2013
Book Now- Derby Bar One
- 13:30~00:00
- £7
- Benny Boot, Geoff Norcott, Ian D Montfort, John Robins, Paddy Lennox
Sat 20 Jul 2013
- Bristol Comedy Box
- 20:30
- £10
- David Morgan, John Robins
Sat 20 Jul 2013
- Bristol Tobacco Factory
- 16:00
- £7.50
- Fin Taylor, George Egg, John Robins
Wed 31 Jul 2013
- John Robins: Where Is My Mind?
- Pleasance Courtyard
- 21:30~22:30
- £6 (preview) to £11.50
Thu 1 Aug 2013
- John Robins: Where Is My Mind?
- Pleasance Courtyard
- 21:30~22:30
- £6 (preview) to £11.50
More John Robins Dates …
Fri 2 Aug 2013
- John Robins: Where Is My Mind?
- Pleasance Courtyard
- 21:30~22:30
- £6 (preview) to £11.50
Sat 3 Aug 2013
- John Robins: Where Is My Mind?
- Pleasance Courtyard
- 21:30~22:30
- £6 (preview) to £11.50
Sun 4 Aug 2013
- John Robins: Where Is My Mind?
- Pleasance Courtyard
- 21:30~22:30
- £6 (preview) to £11.50
Mon 5 Aug 2013
- John Robins: Where Is My Mind?
- Pleasance Courtyard
- 21:30~22:30
- £6 (preview) to £11.50
Tue 6 Aug 2013
- John Robins: Where Is My Mind?
- Pleasance Courtyard
- 21:30~22:30
- £6 (preview) to £11.50
Wed 7 Aug 2013
- John Robins: Where Is My Mind?
- Pleasance Courtyard
- 21:30~22:30
- £6 (preview) to £11.50
Thu 8 Aug 2013
- John Robins: Where Is My Mind?
- Pleasance Courtyard
- 21:30~22:30
- £6 (preview) to £11.50
Fri 9 Aug 2013
- John Robins: Where Is My Mind?
- Pleasance Courtyard
- 21:30~22:30
- £6 (preview) to £11.50
Sat 10 Aug 2013
- John Robins: Where Is My Mind?
- Pleasance Courtyard
- 21:30~22:30
- £6 (preview) to £11.50
Sun 11 Aug 2013
- John Robins: Where Is My Mind?
- Pleasance Courtyard
- 21:30~22:30
- £6 (preview) to £11.50
Mon 12 Aug 2013
- John Robins: Where Is My Mind?
- Pleasance Courtyard
- 21:30~22:30
- £6 (preview) to £11.50
Tue 13 Aug 2013
- John Robins: Where Is My Mind?
- Pleasance Courtyard
- 21:30~22:30
- £6 (preview) to £11.50
Wed 14 Aug 2013
- John Robins: Where Is My Mind?
- Pleasance Courtyard
- 21:30~22:30
- £6 (preview) to £11.50
Thu 15 Aug 2013
- John Robins: Where Is My Mind?
- Pleasance Courtyard
- 21:30~22:30
- £6 (preview) to £11.50
Fri 16 Aug 2013
- John Robins: Where Is My Mind?
- Pleasance Courtyard
- 21:30~22:30
- £6 (preview) to £11.50
Sat 17 Aug 2013
- John Robins: Where Is My Mind?
- Pleasance Courtyard
- 21:30~22:30
- £6 (preview) to £11.50
Sun 18 Aug 2013
- John Robins: Where Is My Mind?
- Pleasance Courtyard
- 21:30~22:30
- £6 (preview) to £11.50
Mon 19 Aug 2013
- John Robins: Where Is My Mind?
- Pleasance Courtyard
- 21:30~22:30
- £6 (preview) to £11.50
Tue 20 Aug 2013
- John Robins: Where Is My Mind?
- Pleasance Courtyard
- 21:30~22:30
- £6 (preview) to £11.50
Wed 21 Aug 2013
- John Robins: Where Is My Mind?
- Pleasance Courtyard
- 21:30~22:30
- £6 (preview) to £11.50
Thu 22 Aug 2013
- John Robins: Where Is My Mind?
- Pleasance Courtyard
- 21:30~22:30
- £6 (preview) to £11.50
Fri 23 Aug 2013
- John Robins: Where Is My Mind?
- Pleasance Courtyard
- 21:30~22:30
- £6 (preview) to £11.50
Sat 24 Aug 2013
- John Robins: Where Is My Mind?
- Pleasance Courtyard
- 21:30~22:30
- £6 (preview) to £11.50
Sun 25 Aug 2013
- John Robins: Where Is My Mind?
- Pleasance Courtyard
- 21:30~22:30
- £6 (preview) to £11.50
Sat 5 Oct 2013
- Southampton Nuffield Theatre
- 19:30
- £15 (£13/£10 concs)
- John Robins, Pete Firman, Sara Pascoe, Tom Deacon
Sat 23 Nov 2013
- Hedge End Berry Theatre
- 19:30
- Call for prices
- Alex Horne, Ed Gamble, Romesh Ranganathan, John Robins (MC)
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Older Comments
ben - 30/01/2013
Really enjoyed John's show at XS Malarkey (Jabez Clegg, Manchester) which topped off an excellent night. Loved his self-assurance and wicked wit and looking forward to seeing the rest of this year's show having now seen last year's and elements of work in progress. Highly recommended.
Jenny Fell - 19/08/2012
Saw JR at Just the Tonic in Edinburgh last Friday. Great show, pity there weren't more discerning people there to see such excellent talent. Will certainly look out for him at other venues and again in Edinburgh next year, hopefully.
George Egg - 15/07/2011
Is that last comment by Jim Barclay THE Jim Barclay who was a stalwart of the alternative comedy scene in the 80s?
Jim Barclay - 03/07/2011
Saw John's Edinburgh warm up gig in Stoke, very sharp, funny and clever. Would like to see him perform on a larger stage.
Jaff - 15/11/2010
Saw him with Tony Law at Just the Tonic in Nottingham last night, I was in tears. His wit was brilliant, whilst interacting with the audience at the start, after being asked why he was wearing a queen t-shirt, proceeded to launch into a condensed and utterly hilarious history of Queen. Brilliant.
Sue - Whitstable - 28/08/2010
Cracking Ed Fest show at The Tron - and natural off the cuff humour shown as a contestant in the 'Humble Quest for the Ultimate Genius'. Feel for you, John - I'm a sore loser too!
Kate - 07/03/2010
Saw you in Cambridge & loved your sweetly sharp natural compere-ing
Disko Shrew - 13/08/2009
Top quality show for a fiver! Talented man, look forward to seeing again. Nothing compares to you John
Alison Crawford - 11/05/2009
Beautifully self-depricating. A clever man.
Elis James - 09/05/2009
Sublime.