TAKE comedy golden boy Russell Howard, put him in a house with panellist extraordinaire Jon Richardson and comic Mark Olver, throw in newcomer John Robins, and you get unmitigated chaos – or genius, depending on how you look at it.

For John this brief cohabitation in Bristol many moons ago formed the bulk of his initiation into the off-kilter world of stand-up, a sort of free-for-all Live at the Apollo before the careful editing and minus the refereeing.

“It was free comedy lessons, just constant jokes,” recalls the comedian with a deep belly laugh.

“I learned more living in that house than I did gigging at the time. The only time people were serious is when they talked about football. It’s weird going back to live with ‘normal’ people because your brain is trained to make a joke at everything they say and that can get you in trouble. You have to remember not to be on all the time.”

Since those blissful days of quick-fire quips and battle of the comebacks, John Robins has found his feet and, more importantly, his voice on the circuit.

After a short dalliance with deadpan, he came to the conclusion that denigrating himself and baring his secret shames in a conversational style was a much more worthwhile pursuit and quite therapeutic at that.

“I need to be the butt of the jokes,” he says breezily. “I quite like my comedy to embarrass me. It’s weird, there’s stuff I would not say to someone in person but somehow I’m happy to share in front of hundreds of people. The microphone, the stage and the wonderful tension of the live show means you can make a fool of yourself more comfortably. I’ve had stories of sexual embarrassment or about everything I hate about myself - I’m lazy, I can be quite judgmental, if we go out for a drink but it’s not the pub like, I go a bit mad. I could go on for hours.”

This utter lack of self-preservation has become his bread and butter and in true to form, his latest show Speakeasy will see him dig deep into his personal life and subject himself to yet more public humiliation and self-flagellation.

“This show is about communication and a bit about drinking,” he volunteers. “It starts with my girlfriend going away for a month and I planned out this great bachelor month, drinking with my mates that didn’t really turn out as expected. It makes you realise what you appreciate in your partner when they’re not there.

“Whilst it’s on the one hand personal and unique to me, it’s something everyone will see in themselves in as well.”

John destined himself for a career as a music journalist but soon realised that one, his taste in music was a tad niche and off the mark, second, the market was a lot tougher to crack than he had anticipated. A shameless attention seeker (“At uni I was the bar representative and when there was an event on like karaoke I would always host, even though there was absolutely need; I’d jump on the microphone and mess about,” he confesses.) he decided to give stand-up a try.

“I love this off-the-cuff when your brain is firing,” gushes John, who currently hosts the award-nominated RadioX Saturday Breakfast Show with BBC up-and-comer Elis James. “I tend to write my jokes on stage. I can’t sit down and write, I’m quite envious of the people who can. I just make a note to tell a story and see what comes out. If you stick to a script of all the time you feel like a fish out of water when things go off script.”

Don’t be fooled by this apparent lack of preparation. He may wing it in the writing department but you won’t catch him slacking on the job, lulled in a false sense of security– not anymore.

“It’s important not to be too relaxed, usually that’s when things start to go wrong,” he reasons. “It takes ages to realise what part you played into any mistake and to learn not blame other people when things go wrong on stage. You never stop learning. That’s the challenge.”

John Robins will perform at the Arts Centre on February 21. To book go to swindonthe atres.co.uk or call 01793 524481.

— MARION SAUVEBOIS