British stand-up comedian, writer, actor and performer
John-Luke Roberts is a British stand-up comedian , writer, actor and performer.
He was named as one of the 50 funniest comedians of the 21st century in The Daily Telegraph in August 2023.[ 1]
Roberts' comedy style is absurdist,[ 2] [ 3] [ 4] and often uses props and physical movement, as taught by French clown Philippe Gaulier with whom Roberts has trained.[ 5] Roberts uses character comedy within his stand-up.[ 6]
Roberts has had jokes nominated in the best[ 7] [ 8] and worst[ 9] lists at the Edinburgh festival.[ 10] [ 11]
Roberts studied at the University of Cambridge where he was a member of the comedy society. Roberts took part in So You Think You're Funny ,[ 12] and in 2005 was a finalist in the BBC New Comedy Award .[ 13]
Roberts founded The Alternative Comedy Memorial Society which he cohosted with Thom Tuck at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe , and which has had residencies at the Soho Theatre , The New Red Lion, and The Bill Murray .
Film, television, radio and podcasts[ edit ] Roberts wrote the 2006 BBC 7 radio show Spats .[ 14] Roberts has written for Have I Got News For You , Newzoids and Never Mind the Buzzcocks for the BBC TV as well as The News Quiz , Dilemma and Newsjack for BBC Radio 4 .[ 15] Roberts voiced the computer in Welcome to Our Village, Please Invade Carefully .[ 16] In 2015 Roberts' sitcom Bull , co-written with Gareth Gwynn , aired on UKTV Gold , starring Robert Lindsay and Maureen Lipman .[ 17]
In 2017, Roberts hosted The Tony Law Tapes podcast with Tony Law .[ 18]
Roberts co-wrote The Goodies revival episode with Gareth Gwynn, Graeme Garden , Bill Oddie and Barnaby Eaton-Jones, which was available through Audible in 2019.[ 19] Roberts wrote and appeared in the short film Asparagus Tips which included appearances by Cariad Lloyd and Margaret Cabourn-Smith and won Best Horror film at the 2019 Munich indie film festival.[ 20] That year, he could also be seen as Klaus the German clown in the Emma Thompson and Paul Feig Christmas film Last Christmas .[ 21]
He presented a documentary on the 1996 novel Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace for BBC Radio 4 , as part of the second series of the Exploding Library series, which first aired in December 2022.[ 22]
He is the host of the podcast Sound Heap , which he co-created with producer Ed Morrish , it won the BBC Audio Drama Award for Best Sketch Comedy in 2022.[ 23] The podcast is semi-improvised and semi-written, by John-Luke and a long list of guests including Tom Allen , Isy Suttie and Deborah Frances-White .[ 24]
Roberts has been a guest on The Comedian's Comedian with Stuart Goldsmith .[ 25] and has appeared as a guest on comedy podcast Do the Right Thing .[ 26] He has also guested on the Josie Long presented Radio 4 series Short Cuts ,[ 27] and Benjamin Partridge comedy series Beef And Dairy Network Podcast .[ 28]
Roberts has performed numerous one man shows. His 2014 Edinburgh Fringe Festival show was entitled ‘Stnad-up’ and addressed his break-up with fellow comedian Nadia Kamil,[ 29] and his 2015 Edinburgh show ‘Stdad-up’ addressed the death of his father.[ 30] His 2018 show was All I Wanna do is [FX: GUNSHOTS] with a [FX: GUN RELOADING] and a [FX: CASH REGISTER] and Perform Some Comedy! He followed that up with After Me Comes the Flood (But in French) .[ 31]
In 2022 at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival he performed A World Just Like Our Own, But... and toured it internationally in 2023.[ 32] [ 33] Roberts international performances have included Adelaide ,[ 34] and Melbourne .[ 35]
Roberts has created absurdist plays Terrible Wonderful Adaptations with fellow comedians such as Mark Watson and Kieran Hodgson , performed at the Edinburgh Festival.[ 36] [ 37] He has written and performed plays and sketches with Nadia Kamil under the name ‘The Behemoth ’.[ 38]
Robert's debut stand-up comedy album, It Is Better , was released in 2021 on Monkey Barrel Records.[ 39]
Roberts has also directed live comedy, including Josh Glanc’s Vroom Vroom which ran in London and the Melbourne Comedy Festival in 2022,[ 40] [ 41] and the 2023 Be Well tour show of Myra DuBois .[ 42] He performed as Al (short for Alisthair) in physical theatre company Spymonkey 's production Hairy . Directed by founding members Toby Park and Aitor Basauri, it was the first children’s show presented by Spymonkey, and the first Spymonkey production not to feature the original cast.[ 43]
He created the show Clownts , a competitive clown show, with Viggo Venn, Julia Masli and Sami Abu Wardeh.[ 44]
He created the show Cabaret Impedimenta with Harry Haddon and Kasia Fudakowski of The Art of the Palliative Turn in which cabaret acts have to try and perform their numbers, while a growing number of impediments try to make it impossible for them to do so.[ 45]
^ Cavendish, Dominic; Fane Saunders, Tristram; Monahan, Mark; Lougher, Sharon (1 August 2023). "The 50 funniest comedians of the 21st century" . The Daily Telegraph . Retrieved 28 January 2024 .
^ Maxwell, Dominic (August 10, 2018). "Edinburgh comedy review: John-Luke Roberts at Assembly Festival" – via www.thetimes.co.uk.
^ Logan, Brian (August 21, 2018). "John-Luke Roberts review – Spice up your life with the nonsense manifesto" – via www.theguardian.com.
^ "John-Luke Roberts: All I Wanna Do Is [FX: GUNSHOTS] With a [FX: GUN RELOADING] and a [FX: CASH REGISTER] and Perform Some Comedy!: 4 star review by Charlie Ralph" . broadwaybaby.com .
^ "John-Luke Roberts - End of the Road" . endoftheroadfestival.com . Archived from the original on 2018-09-03.
^ "#EdFringe17 Comedy Q&A: John-Luke Roberts by Martin Walker" . broadwaybaby.com .
^ "The 60 funniest one-liners from the 2017 Edinburgh Fringe" . The Telegraph . July 28, 2017 – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
^ Fleckney, Compiled by Paul (August 15, 2017). "The 10 best jokes from the Edinburgh fringe" – via www.theguardian.com.
^ "50 of the worst jokes and one-liners from the Edinburgh Fringe" . www.scotsman.com .
^ "Holiday pun is Fringe's funniest" . BBC News . August 23, 2010.
^ Reporter, Metro (23 August 2010). "Edinburgh Fringe Festival: The best and worst jokes" .
^ Guide, British Comedy (June 7, 2018). "John-Luke Roberts - First Gig, Worst Gig" . British Comedy Guide .
^ Guide, British Comedy. "Spats - Radio 7 Sketch Show" . British Comedy Guide .
^ Guide, British Comedy. "Spats series and episodes list" . British Comedy Guide .
^ "Look on My Works, Ye Mighty, and Despair! (All in Caps)" . Edfringe Review . Archived from the original on 3 September 2018. Retrieved 14 August 2022 .
^ "BBC Radio 4 Extra - Welcome to Our Village, Please Invade Carefully, Series 1, Taking Overs, Welcome to Our Village, Please Invade Carefully - John-Luke Roberts" . BBC .
^ Weekly, Theatre (17 June 2018). "Edinburgh Preview: John-Luke Roberts - All I Wanna Do Is [FX: GUNSHOTS] With a [FX: GUN RELOADING] and a [FX: CASH REGISTER] and Perform Some Comedy! at Assembly Studio Five" .
^ "John-Luke Roberts Presents Tony Law in The Tony Law Tapes" . www.tonylawtapes.co.uk . Archived from the original on 2017-10-12.
^ "The Goodies - Live In Your Ear" . Comedy.co.uk . Retrieved 28 January 2024 .
^ Bennett, Steve. " 'We accidentally made a horror film' : Punching Up 2019 : Chortle : The UK Comedy Guide" . www.chortle.co.uk .
^ "Last Christmas" . Comedy.co.uk . Retrieved 28 January 2024 .
^ "Series 2, Episode 3 - Infinite Jest, by David Foster Wallace" . Comedy.co.uk . Retrieved 28 January 2024 .
^ "Audio Drama Awards 2022 – The Winners" . BBC.co.uk . Retrieved 28 January 2024 .
^ "Sound Heap promises a podcast of infinite podcasts" . Podnews.net . 28 May 2021. Retrieved 28 January 2024 .
^ "John Luke Roberts" . The Comedian's Comedian .
^ Guide, British Comedy. "Series 3, Episode 6 (Angelos Epithemiou & John-Luke Roberts) - Do The Right Thing" . British Comedy Guide .
^ "Creature Features Series 36" . BBC . Retrieved 28 January 2024 .
^ "The 6 Best Beef And Dairy Network Podcast Episodes" . Podyssey.fm . Retrieved 28 January 2024 .
^ "John-Luke Roberts: Stdad-Up | Comedy in Edinburgh" . Time Out Edinburgh .
^ Logan, Brian (August 25, 2015). "John-Luke Roberts at Edinburgh festival review – filial rage fires up grotesque tribute" – via www.theguardian.com.
^ Logan, Brian (11 February 2020). "John-Luke Roberts: master of nonsense rails against comedy blandness" . The Guardian . Retrieved 28 January 2024 .
^ "John-Luke Roberts: A World Just Like Our Own, But..." Chortle . Retrieved 28 January 2024 .
^ Wild, Stephi (January 26, 2023). "John-Luke Roberts Brings Two Shows To Adelaide Festival" . Broadway World . Retrieved 28 January 2024 .
^ "John-Luke Roberts: Dreamboat" . Adelaidenow . March 10, 2017.
^ "Game Of Thrones parody hits town" . www.heraldsun.com.au . September 12, 2017.
^ Saunders, Tristram Fane (August 21, 2018). "John-Luke Roberts: Terrible Wonderful Adaptations review, Edinburgh Fringe: highbrow tomfoolery" . The Telegraph – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
^ "John-Luke Roberts: Look on My Works, Ye Mighty, and Despair! (All in Caps)" . Fest Magazine . August 18, 2017.
^ "FRINGE INTERVIEW – John-Luke Roberts and Nadia Kamil: The Behemoth –" .
^ "Monkey Barrel Records" . Crowdfunder UK . Retrieved 2021-05-08 .
^ Bennett, Steve (10 April 2022). "Josh Glanc: Vrooom Vrooom" . Chortle . Retrieved 28 January 2024 .
^ "Josh Glanc: Vrooom Vrooom" . Sohotheatre . Retrieved 28 January 2024 .
^ Cutler, John (September 14, 2023). "Myra Dubois: Be Well – Peacock Theatre, London" . The Reviews Hub . Retrieved 28 January 2024 .
^ Ryan, Anya (July 7, 2023). "Hairy Review" . The Stage . Retrieved 28 January 2024 .
^ Logan, Brian (10 July 2022). "Clownts review – three maestros compete in a celebration of anarchic hilarity" . The Guardian . Retrieved 28 January 2024 .
^ Nangle, Victoria (May 30, 2023). "Brighton Fringe Review: Cabaret Impedimenta" . Entertainment-Now . Retrieved 28 January 2024 .