John-Luke Roberts Explained

John-Luke Roberts
Birth Place:Newcastle, England, UK
Occupation:Stand-up, actor, writer

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]

Style

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]

Career

Early career

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

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]

Live performances

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]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: The 50 funniest comedians of the 21st century. The Daily Telegraph. 28 January 2024. Dominic. Cavendish. Tristram. Fane Saunders. Mark. Monahan. Sharon. Lougher. 1 August 2023.
  2. News: Edinburgh comedy review: John-Luke Roberts at Assembly Festival. Dominic. Maxwell. August 10, 2018. www.thetimes.co.uk.
  3. Web site: John-Luke Roberts review – Spice up your life with the nonsense manifesto. Brian. Logan. August 21, 2018. www.theguardian.com.
  4. Web site: 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.
  5. Web site: John-Luke Roberts - End of the Road . endoftheroadfestival.com . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20180903082204/http://endoftheroadfestival.com/artist/john-luke-roberts/ . 2018-09-03.
  6. Web site:
    1. EdFringe17 Comedy Q&A: John-Luke Roberts by Martin Walker
    . broadwaybaby.com.
  7. News: The 60 funniest one-liners from the 2017 Edinburgh Fringe. The Telegraph. July 28, 2017. www.telegraph.co.uk.
  8. Web site: The 10 best jokes from the Edinburgh fringe. Compiled by Paul. Fleckney. August 15, 2017. www.theguardian.com.
  9. Web site: 50 of the worst jokes and one-liners from the Edinburgh Fringe. www.scotsman.com.
  10. News: Holiday pun is Fringe's funniest. BBC News. August 23, 2010.
  11. Web site: Edinburgh Fringe Festival: The best and worst jokes. Metro. Reporter. 23 August 2010.
  12. Web site: John-Luke Roberts - First Gig, Worst Gig. British Comedy. Guide. June 7, 2018. British Comedy Guide.
  13. Web site: Spats - Radio 7 Sketch Show. British Comedy. Guide. British Comedy Guide.
  14. Web site: Spats series and episodes list. British Comedy. Guide. British Comedy Guide.
  15. Web site: Look on My Works, Ye Mighty, and Despair! (All in Caps) . Edfringe Review . 14 August 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180903082048/http://edfringereview.com/e/WXsAQ0NoTZqWFVjMXDx6yg . 3 September 2018.
  16. Web site: 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.
  17. Web site: 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]. Theatre. Weekly. 17 June 2018.
  18. Web site: John-Luke Roberts Presents Tony Law in The Tony Law Tapes . www.tonylawtapes.co.uk . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20171012044058/http://www.tonylawtapes.co.uk/ . 2017-10-12.
  19. Web site: The Goodies - Live In Your Ear. Comedy.co.uk. 28 January 2024.
  20. Web site: 'We accidentally made a horror film' : Punching Up 2019 : Chortle : The UK Comedy Guide. Steve. Bennett. www.chortle.co.uk.
  21. Web site: Last Christmas. Comedy.co.uk. 28 January 2024.
  22. Web site: Series 2, Episode 3 - Infinite Jest, by David Foster Wallace. Comedy.co.uk. 28 January 2024.
  23. Web site: Audio Drama Awards 2022 – The Winners. BBC.co.uk. 28 January 2024.
  24. Web site: Sound Heap promises a podcast of infinite podcasts. Podnews.net. 28 January 2024. 28 May 2021.
  25. Web site: John Luke Roberts. The Comedian's Comedian.
  26. Web site: Series 3, Episode 6 (Angelos Epithemiou & John-Luke Roberts) - Do The Right Thing. British Comedy. Guide. British Comedy Guide.
  27. Web site: BBC. Creature Features Series 36. 28 January 2024.
  28. Web site: The 6 Best Beef And Dairy Network Podcast Episodes . Podyssey.fm. 28 January 2024.
  29. Web site: John-Luke Roberts: Stdad-Up | Comedy in Edinburgh. Time Out Edinburgh.
  30. Web site: John-Luke Roberts at Edinburgh festival review – filial rage fires up grotesque tribute. Brian. Logan. August 25, 2015. www.theguardian.com.
  31. Web site: The Guardian. 28 January 2024. John-Luke Roberts: master of nonsense rails against comedy blandness. Brian. Logan. 11 February 2020.
  32. Web site: John-Luke Roberts: A World Just Like Our Own, But.... Chortle. 28 January 2024.
  33. Web site: John-Luke Roberts Brings Two Shows To Adelaide Festival. Broadway World. 28 January 2024. Stephi. Wild. January 26, 2023.
  34. News: John-Luke Roberts: Dreamboat. March 10, 2017. Adelaidenow.
  35. Web site: Game Of Thrones parody hits town. September 12, 2017. www.heraldsun.com.au.
  36. News: John-Luke Roberts: Terrible Wonderful Adaptations review, Edinburgh Fringe: highbrow tomfoolery. Tristram Fane. Saunders. The Telegraph. August 21, 2018. www.telegraph.co.uk.
  37. Web site: John-Luke Roberts: Look on My Works, Ye Mighty, and Despair! (All in Caps). August 18, 2017. Fest Magazine.
  38. Web site: FRINGE INTERVIEW – John-Luke Roberts and Nadia Kamil: The Behemoth –.
  39. Web site: Monkey Barrel Records. 2021-05-08. Crowdfunder UK. en.
  40. Web site: Josh Glanc: Vrooom Vrooom. Chortle. 28 January 2024. 10 April 2022. Steve. Bennett.
  41. Web site: Josh Glanc: Vrooom Vrooom. Sohotheatre. 28 January 2024.
  42. Web site: Myra Dubois: Be Well – Peacock Theatre, London. 28 January 2024. John. Cutler. The Reviews Hub. September 14, 2023.
  43. Web site: The Stage. 28 January 2024. Hairy Review. July 7, 2023. Anya. Ryan.
  44. Web site: Clownts review – three maestros compete in a celebration of anarchic hilarity. Brian. Logan. The Guardian. 28 January 2024. 10 July 2022.
  45. Web site: Brighton Fringe Review: Cabaret Impedimenta. Victoria. Nangle. May 30, 2023. 28 January 2024. Entertainment-Now.

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