Interview with John Robins
Thursday / October 1, 2026
About John Robins
English stand-up comedian from Bristol who shared the 2017 Edinburgh Comedy Award. He co-hosts a weekly podcast with Elis James and was on series 17 of Taskmaster.
Source: Stuart Goldsmith's The Comedian's Comedian Podcast on YouTube
These answers are taken from John Robins: Taskmaster, Sobriety & Sitting With Yourself on Stuart Goldsmith's The Comedian's Comedian Podcast's YouTube channel. You! Backstage did not conduct this interview.
What do you enjoy most about comedy?
What I love about writing standup is I'm basically working out how I feel about things. Say I've got a funny story. I may think, oh, that's quite funny. But it's not until I sit down and really attack it and retell it on stage again and again that I'm able to go, well, where does this sit in terms of what I think about the world and how I interact with myself?
I think that's what appeals to me about standup: I don't really have to pretend. What I've found difficult over the years about TV is you do have to pretend. My friend said, you seem to have made a career out of being John Robins professionally. And that's exactly true. And that's great freedom.
I like reality. I like tussling with reality. I like the struggle of reality.
What was a great moment for you as a comedian?
In 2015 I had just had an epiphany in Edinburgh. Really enjoying a performance of my show, despite not getting nominated for this, not getting that job. And I did have this moment walking across Edinburgh, across the Meadows, where I just had this flood of gratitude, just to be a part of this world, just to be a speck, and let go of so much stuff about what I wasn't getting.
It's difficult, because comedy has turned into a competition, and you're made to think that what someone else has means you get a little bit less. What I've learned is no, it's just better to keep expanding, because there's limitless listeners and limitless minutes on stage and limitless TV programs that will always be made. No one else is denying you anything. But really, I only had the theory of that then, whereas now I've had the practice of it.
How did your career as a comedian unfold?
Things were difficult at times in my career. I was very much finding my feet in London. Me and Elis were doing XFM, or Radio X then. We weren't getting paid much, so it couldn't sustain my life. I still needed standup, and I definitely needed to make the most of any telly or radio opportunities that came. So the pressure was really high. I literally, financially need this. But what I learned is that all the stuff I was quite frustrated about was stuff I wasn't very good at and didn't really enjoy.
I remember I was chatting to Lou. There was a specific season of Taskmaster and they'd just announced the lineup. I knew I'd been in the mix, and I didn't get it, and I was probably sounding off about that, and she said, John, no one gets all the stuff. And it was just like, wow. When I list what I do have, I'm really punching above my weight. I've been very, very lucky. I could not have designed a better career for myself.
What advice do you have for new comedians?
I think some people approach comedy a bit like they're walking into Dragons' Den. They think it's one idea: if I just get the theme, if I just get the niche, if I have a thousand ideas and one of them's good, then it will all kick off. And it's like, no, they're not investing in the idea, they're investing in the person. It doesn't matter what the invention is. It's how that person presents themself. Do you like them? Are they authentic? Can you trust them? Do you think they're going to work hard? The more you see comedy as a sort of nut you have to crack, the more you'll just end up with a nut.
So the more you're able to accept what am I in terms of my output and what I like to make, the more what you make will be authentic, and people will go, I can't remember a thing he said, but I really enjoyed that.
If you are always focusing on what you don't have, you will live a very negative existence. See the possibility and not the lack.
Has your career as a comedian progressed the way you expected?
One thing I do vividly remember saying to you on the last podcast is something like, my comedy wouldn't make sense in front of a thousand people. I am delighted to have proved myself wrong quite soon, not long after that, maybe a couple of years, and to explore the world of what would it look like in front of 2,000 people, or 3,000. And work out how to play those rooms and what needs to be different, and book tours that people were enthusiastic to come to. I could never have guessed that would happen.
Letting go of wanting any kind of fame was a big thing for me, and I didn't realize quite how important that had been until I wrote the book. That ties in to what I was saying about my career. I couldn't have picked a better one, because I'm relatively anonymous outside of comedy circles. If you'd told me in 2010 that would be my goal, I would have been like, what? I want to be the most famous guy in the world.
Of all the specials, sets and projects you have done, which is your favorite?
I've known Alex Horne for years. We're very good friends. We had a golf YouTube channel together. Going into Taskmaster, I was just really grateful that there was a format where I didn't have to pretend, and I didn't have to think, how would a comedian do this, and something that really appeals to my brain, which is problem solving and puzzles. I didn't really think about the camera as much at all while we were doing the tasks, and I was able to be competitive. But there was also a little voice going, don't be unpleasant.
The studio I found more difficult. I was still conscious of what does my face look like, is my hair in the right place, Greg's going to come to me, what do I say? But I think it's as close as I've ever got, and probably will ever get, to just being myself. It was great fun and I really enjoyed it.
Describe your style.
There is often a confusion about comedy and writing. Disemboweling myself on stage is actually not what's happening. I'm disemboweling myself in the writing process, which is mostly on my own or at very small work in progress gigs. And then you cut out all the bits that you are not comfortable talking about, or don't work, or aren't funny, or are too dark. Sometimes reviewers will say it's very brave or it's very honest or it's very exposing. But I think that shows that I've actually been successful in the process of writing, to make it seem like this is just coming out of nowhere. Whereas to me, it's sort of finished before anyone sees it.
A friend of mine said it's sort of quite naked. And what I said was, well, it's the difference between someone who walks down the street naked and someone you walk in on in the shower. You're not walking in on me in the shower.
Tell me about a bit or a project that was hard to get right. What was it and why was it challenging?
My last tour was the hardest tour I've done, even though I think it's the best show I've done, because I was really in between two worlds, the drinking world and the sober world. That show was written partly while I was drinking and partly while I was sober, and it was a lot to carry around in standup. I still remember the dread of performing that show. That's not to say I didn't love the audiences and love the experience of sharing it with people, and I'm really, really proud of it. But I don't want that feeling of being in a dressing room going, I can't do this, I can't do this, and having to really dig into my toolkit for how are you going to get on stage tonight, because you want to cancel every single date. I did stuff like slapping myself, it's a Tibetan Buddhist thing, and breathing exercises and praying, anything to get me in a position where I could walk on stage, and then it would be okay.
Tell me something I may not know from reading your credits.
I got Taskmaster the first time I appeared on stage after having stopped drinking. People from Avalon came to watch me and Elis doing a show, the first time I'd appeared on stage since stopping, and I got the call that week. That tells me something about how I am as a person and a performer when I'm not focused on alcohol. They were very kind and made sure there was none in the dressing room, because that was gripping on with my fingernails, early days. I remind myself of that a lot when I'm struggling.
They did a video of the hundred guests of Taskmaster and put it out on Instagram, a clip of every single person who's been on Taskmaster. I am the only person who you don't see their face. It's just my back. Old John would have thrown up his hands in despair. But it doesn't matter, because it was great fun and I really enjoyed it.
In which area would you like to improve as a comedian?
Elis once said, and it was one of the most astute observations anyone's made about me, you are the worst person at pretending I've ever met. He didn't necessarily mean it as a compliment. If I've had a bad day, every single person in the room knows I've had a bad day. And I am trying to work on that.
What I've got wrong about telly in the past is suddenly feeling like, oh no, I'm pretending now. What would a comedian say? What sort of jokes do comedians write? What are they looking for? They kind of want you to behave like how a comedian would behave on this certain type of show, and I perhaps struggled to translate myself onto other formats in the way that I feel I'm able to as a standup.
John Robins's Full Biography
John Robins was born on 4 May 1982 in Bristol, England, UK. He is a writer and producer, known for The Island (2022), 8 Out of 10 Cats (2005) and The Russell Howard Hour (2017).