Happiness Through Science Clip 2

On Infinite Monkey Cage

More Robin Ince videos

Robin Ince started his comedy career as a writer, working on shows including Alistair McGowan's Big Impresison, V Graham, Norton and Meet Ricky Gervais, his first of many collaborations with the Extras star.

Ince appeared with Gervais, Stephen Merchant and Jimmy Carr in the 2001 Edinburgh show Rubbernecker, and regularly supports Gervais on tour. He also appeared in one episode of The Office, playing interviewee Stewart Foot.

That role inspired his tongue-in-cheek solo Edinburgh debut in 2004, and he has returned to the Fringe every year since. In 2005 he started erudite comedy night The Book Club, loosely based around bad literature, which won him the innovation award at the 2006 Chortle Awards as well as the outstanding contribution to comedy accolade at that year's Time Out awards. In 2007, he was named best compere at the Chortle Awards.

On TV, he has appeared as John Peel on Channel 4's 11 O'Clock Show as well as countless panel games and 'talking heads' shows, including Channel 4's 100 Greatest Musicals (2003), BBC Three's The State We're In (2003), Celebdaq (2004), BBC Two's Mock The Week (2006). He has also appeared on Radio 4's Now Show, Just A Minute and Mitch Benn's Crimes Against Music.

In 2006, he co-wrote his first feature film, Razzle Dazzle, about children's dance contests in Australia.

Douglas Adams: The Party
Live Review

This tribute gig is long. Really long. You just won’t believe how vastly, hugely, mindbogglingly long it is. I mean, you may think an episode of Midsomer Murders is long, but it’s just peanuts to this...

Yesterday, ape-descended life form Douglas Adams would have spent exactly 60 years on this utterly insignificant blue-green planet far out in the unchartered backwaters of the unfashionable Western Spiral arm of the galaxy. That is, had he not had the bad manners to depart it back in 2001.

It’s testament to his legacy, his passions and his gregarious nature that so many old friends wanted to honour the Hitchhikers’ Guide To The Galaxy author on this, the second most significant 60th jubilee of the year. That’s why this show had to start just after 5pm to fit them all in – and even then there were a couple of absentees, most notably Stephen Fry, who had to send greetings via video as he was away filming the Hobbit in New Zealand.

Equally packed as the bill was the Hammersmith Apollo auditorium. To this day, Adams has fan base as devoted as it is geeky, in all the best ways. There were plenty of towels on display, while at least a couple of men who should have known better had come in their dressing gowns, Arthur Dent-style.

The four-hour show, deftly hosted by Clive Anderson, was broadly divided up into segments to reflect Adams’s varied interests, starting with his conservationism. The night was raising money for Save The Rhino, a cause close to his heart, and the audience was shown video footage from Last Chance To See as a reminder of the fact.

For the science bit, Robin Ince introduced what was essentially a pocket version of his Infinite Monkey Cage tour. A Finite Monkey Cage, I guess. Ince has some cracking lines in his monologue about his own awe of science, which definitely flattered the intellect of this savvy crowd.

He introduced Jon Culshaw, first impersonating the absent Professor Brian Cox (who had been advertised but had to rush to Australia to ‘point at a volcano’ for his next BBC show) and then Patrick Moore speaking street patois, an easy gag but expertly done. That was followed by Simon Singh with a brief explanation of the expanding universe – and why modern cosmology proves Katie Melua wrong – and enthusiastic schoolma’amish comedian and space-themed-stamp-collector Helen Keen gushing away.

Adams’s comic work was discussed in a talk-show element with Anderson chatting to ex-Python Terry Jones and Kumars star Sanjeev Bhaskar, who was influenced by him, but never met him.

Among the tidbits we learned was that Adams once almost killed a couple of the Pythons after driving the wrong way down a motorway in a drink-drive incident; that the Kumars lived at No 42 in a nod to the most significant number in the Hitchhikers Guide saga; and that Bhaskar applied to be a non-speaking extra in the Hitchhikers movie – and got turned down flat. 

Interspersed through the night were various of Adams’ early sketches, performed from scripts – as if for a radio recording – by an an ensemble that included Rory McGrath, Angus Deayton, Michael Fenton Stevens and Philip Pope. Stephen Mangan, who plays Dirk Gently on BBC Four was due to have been among them, but illness forced him out, too.

There’s definitely a rarity value in seeing curios such as skits he wrote for the Seventies radio series The Burkiss Way or 1974 Cambridge Footlights show (in which Anderson and Griff Rhys Jones were performers) revived. The formats of these often haven’t weathered the passage of time particularly well – but despite their dated feel, the scripts still sparkled with an unmistakably inventive use of language, such as the railway worker demanding a ‘vocabulary rise’ so he could use more sophisticated words, or the way the Paranoid Society meeting conducted its business.

The comic highlight of the night, though, was John Lloyd – producer of QI and Blackadder, among many others – reading out extracts from The Meaning Of Liff, the book he wrote with Adams which found items, feelings and situations which need a word to describe them, but never – until their intervention – had one. Even better than the original suggestions were those submitted by the online community, proving genius breeds genius.

Another hit was, perhaps surprisingly for 2012, a spoof of the Bee Gees. The Hee Bee Gee Bees – comprising Deayton, Fenton Stevens and Pope, reprised their surprise 1980 Australian No 2 Meaningless Songs (In Very High Voices) – giving Anderson a flashback to his most infamous talk-show encounter.

Much less successful was Culshaw undoing the good he’d earlier done, thanks to a ploddingly written sketch in which Tom Baker’s Dr Who made dull observations on David Cameron and the like; a blatant plug for the forthcoming Hitchhikers’ tour that had one decent joke amid some garbled and over-long dialogue; and a rather awkward interview with Adams’s Cambridge-era writing partners Will Adams and Martin Smith in which producer Dirk Maggs proved he was no Clive Anderson when it came to questioning technique.

In his defence, this was an impromptu chat while the stage was set for the final musical section, based around the ad hoc band Adams used to assemble in his flat. This line-up included Procol Harum singer Gary Brooker – who still has an astonishing voice at 66 – Pink Floyd’s Dave Gilmour, blues guitarist Robbie McIntosh and singer-songwriter Margo Buchanan, one of whose tracks Adams once used for an advert he made for his beloved Apple Computers.

Some of their tracks were rather slow and contemplative, but Gilmour rocked it, a cover of Etta James’s I Just Wanna Make Love To You was wonderfully soulful and Whiter Shade Of Pale is still a skin-tingler after all these years.

All this and a troupe of eight tap-dancing rhinoceri, too. And somehow, when Douglas Adams is involved, that seemed in no way unusual.

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Am I the only one that finds it strange regarding the comments on Robin Ince? People either seem to think he is the funniest man alive or just rubbish. There seems to be no middle ground as there are with other comedians. I saw Robin perform last year on Ricky Gervais Fame tour. I found Robin to be mediocre and totally without charisma. It just goes to show, it’s who you know, not what you know in showbiz.

pip, February 2008

Having never seen Robin before I went to see him with an open mind. n It turned out to be a very disappointing show. Someone in the audience heckled him and rather than come back with a witty reply. Robin did the rest of the gig sulking. The general consensus of people the bar afterwards was Robin was terrible. How on earth does a poor performer like this think he can entertain people. Robin has delusions of average ness.

Samster, February 2008

If only Robin was half as funny as he truly believes he is. Unfortunately Robin is to comedy what Michael Jackson is to babysitting. Having your teeth pulled out with pliers is highly preferable to watching Robin's act. Don't waste your time or money on a ticket.

Roy shaw, February 2008

Even with the constant help of his friend Ricky Gervais, Robin struggles. His routines are outdated and respective. He has no warmth or charisma and comes across as elitist and unliveable. Not worth the time or ticket money to see him.

nevik libreg, January 2008

I have had more laughs at a funeral. Don't waste your money on a ticket.

honest tony, January 2008

Probably the funniest person ever.

Arkady English, November 2007

Robin Ince, Witty, intelligent, ranty, envious of all the knowledge other know that he doesn't, easily distracted having eaten sugary foods! A very funny comic that can relate to a student audience as well as the humour that tickle my mother! One of the best comics on the circuit, and if people are now getting their opinions of stand-up comedy on YouTube then they need to get out and actually see some live comedy. Highly recommended

Laura, November 2007

Big Rich. Forgive me for not residing in that big cocoon you refer to as 'comedy land', but, and I quote, 'Robin's material and delivery is eloquent and literary without being stuffy, intelligent yet accessible and covers a wide range of interesting and eclectic topics' is absolute hogwash. Perhaps you didn't have the good fortune to listen to dear Robin on Gaby Logan's show on Radio 5 today. Despite being paid to add some interesting wit and topical comedy to a present-day sports quiz, Robin bemusedly claimed to not know who Jose Mourihno was. And then rambled on about the Battle of Naseby. Quite how this is 'accessible' 'interesting and eclectic' on a Radio sports quiz is beyond me. Perhaps he was just being 'leftfield' as you put it. Crikey, you guys in comedyland sure know how to have a laugh and a giggle don't you.....

Dustin Gee, July 2007

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