John Robins: Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven

Entering the cave room, my expectations were high. I had never left a John Robins show disappointed, and having seen Lift Your Skinny Fists..., the fact remains the same.

Walking out on stage, he is buoyant and grinning, welcoming and enthused to see a fuller room than he had thought. He sets the tone of the show with a ‘hooray!’ and disarms the audience with his wide-eyed charm.

His vocabulary helps create an innocent, loveable persona – all swearing come effing censored and his most used adjective is ‘smashing’ – as does his generous smile and confiding storytelling. But do not be fooled; Robins is very smart, very skilful comic. He tackles the subject of religion in a refreshingly level-headed way, not quite taking the middle ground, but actually posing the question in a different way. There is something thrilling about watching a deep thinker giggle at word play.

Robins is a joy to watch on stage. His show leaves you smiling for hours and with a Ready Brek glow. Unfortunately, it seems he is comedy’s best kept secret – he deserves to be selling out much larger venues. I urge you to see this show, you will be so glad you did.