Robin Ince

Ince attended York House prep school, near Croxley Green in Hertfordshire, and Cheltenham College,{{cite web |url=http://www.teachsecondary.com/comment/view/what-i-learnt-at-school-robin-ince |title=What I learnt at school: Robin Ince |work=TeachSecondary.com |access-date=11 April 2015}} an independent boarding school for boys. He then studied at Royal Holloway, University of London, from which he graduated in English and Drama in 1991.[https://www.royalholloway.ac.uk/alumni/ouralumni/notablealumni/english/robinince(1969-).aspx Royal Holloway Notable Alumni in English]

File:Robin Ince 2013.jpg

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.Robin Ince in "Shadow Walker", reviewed in "The Stage" 23 August 1990 He had appeared at the Cafe Royal as part of the Edinburgh Fringe{{Cite web |date=2001-08-03 |title=Edinburgh Festival Fringe programme 2001 by Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society - Issuu |url=https://issuu.com/edinburgh_festival_fringe/docs/2001_fringe_programme |access-date=2024-02-17 |website=issuu.com |language=en}} show 'Rubbernecker' alongside Stephen Merchant, Jimmy Carr and Ricky Gervais in 2001.

As a friend of Ricky Gervais, Ince opened as a support act for his Politics tour in 2004 and his Fame tour in 2007.{{cn|date=November 2022}} He also appears on the DVD and has often appeared in Gervais' video podcasts.{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4wMTLi79H8&ab_channel=Karl|title=Living With Ricky Gervais|website=YouTube |date=13 August 2014 |access-date = 15 May 2023}}{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQkZXGHDeog&ab_channel=GervaisJunkie|title = Living with Ricky Gervais II| website=YouTube | date=29 September 2015 |access-date = 15 May 2023}}

In 2008 Ince had a residency at the Dorchester Arts Centre, trying out new material for his upcoming shows.{{cn|date=November 2022}} In late 2008 he released a live stand-up DVD entitled Robin Ince is as Dumb as You, released by Go Faster Stripe.{{cite web |title=Robin Ince is as Dumb as You |url=http://www.gofasterstripe.com/cgi-bin/website.cgi?page=videofull&id=5042}} 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 dates and was extended into 2012.

In April 2015, Ince made a blog post announcing his retirement from stand-up comedy, writing about impostor syndrome, the commercialisation of the comedy scene and a wish to spend more time with his son. He concluded "Let's see if I can give up stand-up for longer than I gave up whisky, or if the addiction is such that I'll start busking jokes outside the Hayward Gallery by August."{{cite web |last1=Ince |first1=Robin |title=Losing My Religion – on why I am giving up stand up |date=21 April 2015 |url=https://robinince.wordpress.com/2015/04/21/losing-my-religion-on-why-i-am-giving-up-stand-up/ |publisher=Robin Ince's blog |access-date=21 April 2015}} He returned to performing comedy a year later.{{cite news |last1=Ince |first1=Robin |title=Beyond a joke - RSA Journal |url=https://medium.com/rsa-journal/beyond-a-joke-d6d656e9a799 |access-date=11 July 2019 |work=Medium |date=4 March 2019 |language=en}}

In September 2016, Ince performed at the Keep Corbyn rally in Brighton in support of Jeremy Corbyn's campaign in the Labour Party leadership election.{{cite news |last=Vowles|first=Neil|url=http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/14722904.Comedians_back_Jeremy_Corbyn_for_major_Brighton_rally/|title=Comedians back Jeremy Corbyn for major Brighton rally|publisher=The Argus|date=5 September 2016|access-date=1 June 2018}} Ince staged a stand-up tour, Pragmatic Insanity, in September 2017.

In 2005, Ince began running the Book Club night at The Albany, London, where acts were encouraged to perform turns of new and experimental material. The club got its name from Ince's attempts to read aloud from—and humorously criticise—various second-hand books which the audience and he had 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.{{cite web |url=http://www.timeout.com/london/comedy/features/2020.html |title=Robin Ince's Book Club |publisher=Timeout.com |date=22 September 2006 |access-date=22 July 2009}} In 2010, Ince published a book entitled Robin Ince's Bad Book Club about his favourite books that he has used for his shows.

Ince has curated Nine Lessons and Carols for Godless People (later renamed Nine Lessons and Carols for Curious People) since 2008, a Christmas stage show with performances from comedians, musicians and scientists.

Ince started his television 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.

The second Nine Lessons and Carols for Godless People stage show was screened on BBC Four in 2009, billed as Nerdstock: 9 Lessons and Carols for Godless People.[https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00qby30 BBC - Nerdstock]

He co-starred with Mitch Benn and Alfie Joey in the BBC Radio 4 series Mitch Benn's Crimes Against Music.

Ince and physicist Brian Cox present the science series The Infinite Monkey Cage on Radio 4.{{cite web |last=Kumar |first=Manjit |date=1 May 2011 |title=Robin Ince: The science of comedy |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/comedy/8480326/Robin-Ince-The-science-of-comedy.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110504115524/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/comedy/8480326/Robin-Ince-The-science-of-comedy.html |archive-date=4 May 2011 |access-date=9 May 2011 |work=The Daily Telegraph}} The programme won a Gold Award in the Best Speech Programme category at the 2011 Sony Radio Awards.{{cite web |url=http://www.comedy.co.uk/news/story/00000536/frank_skinner_jason_byrne_sonys_2011/ |title=Frank Skinner and Jason Byrne win at Sony Awards 2011 |website=The British Comedy Guide |date=9 May 2011 |access-date=9 May 2011}}{{cite web |url=https://www.expressandstar.com/entertainment/showbiz-news/2011/05/09/tv-scientist-scoops-top-radio-award/ |title=TV scientist scoops top radio award |work=Express & Star |date=9 May 2011 |access-date=9 May 2011}}

In the summer of 2022 he presented a two part BBC Radio 4 series "[https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/m00194hj Robin Ince's Reality Tunnel]" exploring the internal and external aspects of reality. This was an edited version of a live performance given in Hulme, Manchester in April 2022

• Robin Ince's Bad Book Club: One man's quest to uncover the books that taste forgot (Little, Brown Book Group, 2011) {{ISBN|9780751542134}}
• I'm a Joke and So Are You: Reflections on Humour and Humanity (Atlantic Books, 2018) {{ISBN|9781786492586}}
• The Importance of Being Interested – Adventures in Scientific Curiosity (Atlantic Books, 2021) {{ISBN|178-6492628}}
• Bibliomaniac: An Obsessive's Tour of the Bookshops of Britain (Atlantic Books, 2022){{cite news |last1=Anderson |first1=Hephzibah |title=In brief: Bibliomaniac; She and Her Cat; The Babel Message – reviews |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/sep/25/in-brief-bibliomaniac-she-and-her-cat-the-babel-message-reviews |access-date=29 October 2022 |work=The Observer |date=25 October 2022}}

With Brian Cox and Alexandra Feachem:

• The Infinite Monkey Cage – How to Build a Universe (HarperCollins, 2018) {{ISBN|9780008276324}}

File:Josie Long and Robin Ince at Long Division 2013.jpeg and Robin Ince performing Utter Shambles at the 2013 Long Division Festival in Wakefield]]

Ince presented the Utter Shambles (previously Show & Tell) podcast for Paramount Comedy with Josie Long, and presented BBC Radio 4 Extra's Serious About Comedy from 2005 until its end in November 2007. Regular panellists in the show included 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. He now presents Book Shambles with Robin and Josie with Josie Long which is funded via Patreon and music podcast Vitriola with comedian Michael Legge.

In 2013, Ince co-created and launched The Incomplete Map of the Cosmic Genome, an online video-based science magazine and archive. Ince acts as host and co-producer on the project. Contributors have included Brian Cox, Helen Czerski, Stephen Fry, Chris Hadfield and Stewart Lee.

In 2017, Ince co-founded the Cosmic Shambles Network with Trent Burton, an organisation that creates podcasts, documentaries and events "for people with curious minds".{{cite web |title=About |url=https://cosmicshambles.com/about/ |website=The Cosmic Shambles Network}}

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,{{cite web |url=http://www.chortle.co.uk/comics/r/179/robin_ince/review?id_review=1814 |last=Bennett |first=Steve |publisher=Chortle |title=The Return of Nine Lessons And Carols For Godless People |date=16 December 2009}} 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 his book On the Origin of Species. He was appointed a patron of Humanists UK, and later of Dignity in Dying.{{cite web |url=http://robinince.wordpress.com/2012/10/04/greedily-i-want-the-right-to-live-and-the-right-to-die/ |title=Greedily, I want the right to live AND the right to die |first=Robin |last=Ince |work=Robinince's Blog |date=4 October 2012 |access-date=7 July 2014}}

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.{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/sep/15/harsh-judgments-on-pope-religion |title=Letters: Harsh judgments on the pope and religion |work=The Guardian |access-date=16 September 2010 |location=London |date=15 September 2010}}

• Chortle Awards – Innovation Award (2006){{Cite web |title=Chortle : The UK Comedy Guide |url=https://www.chortle.co.uk/features_static/awards/chortle.php |access-date=2024-11-11 |website=chortle.co.uk |language=en}}
• Time Out – Outstanding Contribution to Comedy (2006){{Cite web |title=Chortle : The UK Comedy Guide |url=https://www.chortle.co.uk/features_static/awards/timeout.php |access-date=2024-11-11 |website=chortle.co.uk |language=en}}
• Chortle Awards – Best Compere (2007)
• Chortle Awards – Innovation Award (2009)
• Ockham Award for Best Skeptic Event/Campaign (2012){{Cite web |date=2017-06-27 |title=The Ockhams 2012 |url=https://www.skeptic.org.uk/about/the-ockham-awards/the-ockhams-2012/ |access-date=2024-11-11 |website=The Skeptic |language=en-GB}}
• Sony Radio Awards – Gold Award for Best Speech Programme (2011){{Cite web |last=Bennett |first=Steve |title=Comics scoop top radio awards : News 2011 : Chortle : The UK Comedy Guide |url=https://www.chortle.co.uk/news/2011/05/10/13256/comics-scoop-top-radio-awards |access-date=2024-11-11 |website=chortle.co.uk |language=en}}
• Honorary Fellow - University College London (2014){{Cite web |last=UCL |date=2014-09-11 |title=UCL Honorary Graduands and Fellows 2014 |url=https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2014/sep/ucl-honorary-graduands-and-fellows-2014 |access-date=2024-11-11 |website=UCL News |language=en}}
• Honorary Doctor of Science – Royal Holloway, University of London{{cite web |last=Layzell |first=Paul |title=Honorary degrees recognise contributions to science |url=http://www.rhul.ac.uk/iquad/news/articles/hondegreesmarch13.aspx |access-date=17 November 2013}}
• Distinguished Supporter of the British Humanist Association

Ince has appeared at several science events, including the line-up of UCL's Bright Club in both 2009 and 2010, and took part in the Cheltenham Science Festival in 2011 and 2014.{{cite web |url=http://www.brightclub.org/ |title=Bright Club |publisher=Bright Club |access-date=8 January 2013}}{{cite news |last=Jahme |first=Carole |date=4 November 2010 |title=Laugh and learn at Bright Club |url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2010/nov/04/laugh-learn-science-bright-club |access-date=9 December 2010 |newspaper=The Guardian}}{{cite web |url=http://www.cheltenhamfestivals.com/science/whats-on/2014/robin-ince-blooming-buzzing-confusion/ |title=ROBIN INCE: BLOOMING BUZZING CONFUSION |work=Cheltenham Science Festival 2014 |publisher=Cheltenham Festivals |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140609091831/http://www.cheltenhamfestivals.com/science/whats-on/2014/robin-ince-blooming-buzzing-confusion/ |archive-date=9 June 2014 |access-date=8 June 2014 |quote=Comedian and science enthusiast Robin Ince presents an unhinged stand-up comic lecture}}

• 2002–2004: Writer/performer, The in Crowd (BBC Radio 4)
• 2003–2004: Host, Spanking New (BBC Radio 7)
• 2003–2006: Writer/performer, The Day the Music Died (BBC Radio 2)
• 2003–2006: Writer/performer/Morrissey/John Peel/Satan, Mitch Benn's Crimes Against Music (BBC Radio 4)
• 2004: Performer, Think the Unthinkable (BBC Radio 4)
• 2004–2008: Performer, The Now Show (BBC Radio 4)
• 2005: Writer, Dead Ringers (BBC Radio 4)
• 2005: Host, Serious About Comedy (BBC Radio 7)
• 2006–2007: Panellist, The Personality Test (BBC Radio 4)
• 2008: Panellist, Just a Minute (BBC Radio 4)
• 2009: Guest, Geoff Lloyd's Hometime Show (Absolute Radio)
• 2009–present: Host, "The Infinite Monkey Cage" (BBC Radio 4)
• 2010: Presenter "Schrodinger's Quantum Kittens" (BBC Radio 4){{cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00wr9qb#broadcasts |title=BBC Radio 4 – Schrodinger's Quantum Kittens |publisher=Bbc.co.uk |date=30 January 2011 |access-date=8 January 2013}}
• 2022: Writer/performer, Robin Ince's Reality Tunnel (BBC Radio 4){{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/m00194hj |title=BBC Radio 4 – Comedy of the Week, Robin Ince's Reality Tunnel |publisher=Bbc.co.uk |access-date=24 July 2022}}

The University of Kent holds material by Ince as part of the British Stand-Up Comedy Archive.{{Cite web |date=2021-12-06 |title=Robin Ince Collection |url=https://www.kent.ac.uk/library-it/special-collections/british-stand-up-comedy-archive/robin-ince-collection |access-date=2024-05-15 |website=Special Collections and Archives - University of Kent |language=en-GB}}{{Cite web |last=University of Kent Special Collections & Archives |title=Robin Ince Collection |url=https://archive.kent.ac.uk/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=BSUCA/RI |access-date=2024-05-15 |website=University of Kent Special Collections & Archives Catalogue}} The collection includes zines, material made in collaboration with Josie Long, set lists, promotional material and props.

{{reflist|30em}}

• {{Official website|https://robinince.com/}}
• {{IMDb name|id=0408432|name=Robin Ince}}
• [https://archive.kent.ac.uk/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=BSUCA%2fRI Robin Ince Collection] at University of Kent
• {{TED speaker}}
• [http://www.suchsmallportions.com/person/robin-ince Robin Ince profile on suchsmallportions.com]
• [http://the-humourdor.tumblr.com/post/5087370161/interview-with-robin-ince/ 2011 interview with The Humourdor]

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Category:1969 births

Category:Living people

Category:Alumni of Royal Holloway, University of London

Category:British critics of religions

Category:English atheists

Category:English male comedians

Category:English male television actors

Category:English screenwriters

Category:English male screenwriters

Category:English stand-up comedians

Category:People educated at Cheltenham College

Category:20th-century English comedians

Category:21st-century English comedians

Category:English republicans