Stand-Up comic Robin Ince isn’t a name dropper. So Martin Walker will do some for him. In a 25 year long career he’s worked with the likes of Chris Addison, Richard Dawkins, Ricky Gervais, Stewart Lee, Josie Long, Natalie Haynes, and Brian Cox. He’s currently touring his show, Robin Ince: In and Out of His Mind.
“It’s a very frenetic two hours looking at the human mind, gorilla etiquette, self-consciousness… with lots of stupid voices and flapping about”.
He’s a popular voice on social media and frequently blogs on atheism. He’s also a high profile supporter of the British Humanist Association. As Bridget Christie remarked in her 2011 Edinburgh show, ‘Housewife Surrealist’, it seems that the stand-up circuit is awash with atheists.
“There are also quite few religious ones too. I think critical thinking can be part of being a stand up and that can lead to godlessness as a bi-product. We’ve probably just been a bit mouthy in the last few years”.
He co-presents the award winning Radio 4 show, The Infinite Monkey Cage with Professor Brian Cox. I wonder aloud if he is as hot in real life as he is on the telly.
“It is always interesting to see Brian choose his hair and teeth before appearing in public, he is actually The Man Who Fell to Earth, which is why he knows so much about the stars. Originally I was just guesting in another Radio pilot with him, but one thing led to another and I became the necessary idiot to sit next to him and stop him becoming overly confusing when talking about fundamental particles”.
Robin also collaborates with Chris Evans’ independent DVD production company, Go Faster Stripe.
“Chris is just one of those independent minded individuals who loves comedy and thinks there should be another way beyond the big label DVD companies. It’s like being on an indie record label. His bottom line is always “I’d like to see a DVD from the comedian”, never “how much can I make from this”. And thus, finally, DVDs of John Hegley, Norman Lovett and 237 from Richard Herring”.
Finally, I trick him into some name dropping – If he were curating a stand-up show for television, who would be his guests?
“Probably the same as my Christmas shows – Joanna Neary, Josie Long, John Hegley, Luke Roberts, Grace Petrie, Peter Buckley Hill, Alexei Sayle, Doc Brown, Sarah Kendall, Pappy’s, David Trent, Michael Legge – that’ll do for starters.”
