After a tactful buffer-zone break featuring a Live From The BBC starring Doc Brown, this iPlayer series now showcases John Robins, who, at the time this material was first performed, was the partner of Sara Pascoe, who starred in the first Live From The BBC in this series. Still with me? Now read on.
Robins is very much the stand-up that got away when it comes to awards. This 30-minute set is an excerpt from his last set that really ought to have picked up an Edinburgh Comedy Award nomination. But who cares about these things? I mean, WHO CARES ABOUT THESE THINGS?
The main thing is that it is very funny as self-styled legend Robins recalls what happened when his (then) girlfriend went away for a month. First of all he thought he could party with his friends, glug, glug glug, only to discover that they had all gone off and got jobs and babies. He might still be a cherry vodka-swigging manchild but his friends have grown up. Layla used to have a lip-piercing, now she is a headmistress.
So instead he hunkered down for four weeks of self-loathing, box sets and Bombay mix, only to be thrown into a panic when his partner - on the other side of the world but still with wi-fi – discovered his internet history. Anyway, to say more would spoil a beautifully told tale full of embarrassment, shame, shouting, surprises and an anecdote about Johnny Vaughan having to have a shower every morning dating from 1997.
It left me with a couple of thoughts. Firstly that, as I said, John Robins really should have been garlanded with gongs by now. And secondly that in the past people used to say memorable, quotable things just as they died. I have a feeling that in the future a lot of people's final words will be "please delete my internet history."
