Spencer Jones (comedian)

Spencer Jones is an English actor, comedian and writer. He has performed regularly at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and in 2017 and 2019 was nominated for the main prize in the Edinburgh Comedy Awards. He was co-creator and co-star of the BAFTA-nominated CBBC comedy Big Babies, and has a regular role in the sitcom Upstart Crow.

Spencer Jones
Spencer Jones, Glastonbury Festival, 2019
MediumTelevision, stage
NationalityEnglish
GenresCharacter comedy, physical comedy, prop comedy[1]
Notable works and rolesBig Babies
Upstart Crow

Career

Jones co-created with Jon Riche and co-starred in Big Babies for CBBC in 2010.[2] The series was nominated for the BAFTA award for best children's comedy that year.[3]

In 2011 he appeared in the play Wedding Band at the Edinburgh Fringe.[4] Subsequently, he has performed in solo shows. He first performed his own show at the Fringe in Bob Slayer's Bookshop in 2014, performing as his character, The Herbert.[5] In 2015 he came joint second (with Jenny Collier) in the New Act of the Year final.[1] He won the Comedian's Choice award (also known as The Barry Award) for both "best show" and "best performer" the same year for his Edinburgh show, The Herbert In Proper Job at another of Bob Slayer's Heroes of Fringe venue, The Hive.[6]

In 2015 Jones wrote and starred in the comedy short Spencer Jones's Christmas for Sky TV's on demand service, which won the 2016 Broadcast Digital Award for Best Scripted Online Short.[7] Jones performed his comedy act on British television for the first time in Live from the BBC, which was broadcast on BBC Two in March 2016.[8]

In 2016 he was nominated for "breakthrough act" and "music and variety award" in the Chortle Awards.[9] However, these categories were won by Joseph Morpurgo and Pippa Evans, respectively.[10]

Jones plays Shakespearean actor William Kempe in the sitcom Upstart Crow, which was broadcast on BBC Two beginning in May 2016. Jones plays the character as a parody of Ricky Gervais using his manner and speech patterns.[11] He was asked to play the character this way to draw a comparison between Kempe, a popular comic actor of the 16th century, and Gervais in the present day;[12] according to the show's producer Gareth Edwards, "what we tried to show was that every era has its own maverick comedy guy who's slightly ahead of his time and is following the beat of a slightly different drum".[11]

In 2016, he again performed his Fringe show in character as The Herbert in a new show called Eggy Bagel, at The Hive.[13] Then, in 2017, he was one of a record nine nominees for the 2017 Edinburgh Comedy Award[14] for his show The Audition at the Monkey Barrel comedy club, a year in which the final award was shared by Hannah Gadsby and John Robins. He returned to the Fringe in 2019 with a new show called The Things We Leave Behind, this time at The Pleasance and was again nominated for the Comedy Award.[15] He also ran an experimental music/variety show at Monkey Barrel called The Spencer Jones 50 Minute Disco Experiment.

Jones starred as the titular character in the pilot episode of The Mind Of Herbert Clunkerdunk in 2018, which returned for a four-part series in 2019.[16] In 2020 he starred as Leslie Winner in Mister Winner on BBC Two, which had previously had a pilot episode broadcast in 2017.[17] Lucy Pearman co-starred as his girlfriend in both series.

Jones's other television credits include Still Open All Hours,[18] Skins, Pulling, Count Arthur Strong,[19] and Hollyoaks Later.[20]

Edinburgh Festival Fringe shows
YearShowVenueAwards
2014Spencer Jones is The HerbertBob Slayer's Bookshop
2015Spencer Jones is The Herbert in Proper JobHeroes @ The Hive
2016Spencer Jones is The Herbert in Eggy BagelHeroes @ The Hive
2017The AuditionMonkey BarrelEdinburgh Comedy Awards Main Prize (nominated)
2019The Things We Leave BehindThe PleasanceEdinburgh Comedy Awards Main Prize (nominated)
2019The Spencer Jones 50 Minute Disco ExperimentMonkey Barrel

Filmography
Year Title Role Notes
2010 Big Babies Brooks 13 episodes
2012 Skins Doctor Proctor Series 6 Episode 6 ("Nick")
2012 Hollyoaks Later Dave 5 episodes
2015 Spencer Jones's Christmas Dad
2016 Still Open All Hours Kevin Series 2 Episode 5
2016–present Upstart Crow Kempe
2016 Live from the BBC Himself (stand-up) 1 episode
2017 (pilot), 2020–present (series) Mister Winner Leslie Winner Also writes additional material
2018–present The Mind of Herbert Clunkerdunk Herbert Clunkerdunk 5 episodes
2020 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown Himself (Dictionary Corner) Series 19 Episode 5
2020 Worzel Gummidge Reggie 1 episode (“Saucy Nancy”)

References
  1. "Spencer Jones, comedian". Chortle. Retrieved 26 August 2016.
  2. "Spencer Jones and Jon Riche interview – Big Babies". British Comedy Guide. Retrieved 31 August 2016.
  3. "Children's in 2010: BAFTA Awards". BAFTA. Retrieved 31 August 2016.
  4. "Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2015 – Spencer Jones is The Herbert in 'Proper Job'". The Edinburgh Reporter. 14 July 2015. Retrieved 31 August 2016.
  5. "Fringe Favourite Spencer Jones Props Up In Soho". Londonist. 9 December 2015. Retrieved 31 August 2016.
  6. "Spencer Jones is the comics' favourite... twice". Chortle. 31 August 2015. Retrieved 26 August 2016.
  7. "Best Scripted Online Short: Spencer Jones's Christmas". Broadcast. 29 June 2016. Retrieved 31 August 2016.
  8. "Live from the BBC, Spencer Jones and James Acaster". BBC. 9 March 2016. Retrieved 31 August 2016.
  9. "Vote in the 2016 Chortle Awards". Chortle. 26 February 2016. Retrieved 26 August 2016.
  10. "Chortle Award 2016 winners named". Chortle. 22 March 2016. Retrieved 26 August 2016.
  11. Dowell, Ben (3 May 2016). "Upstart Crow: Ricky Gervais mocked in new Ben Elton Shakespeare comedy". Radio Times. Retrieved 31 August 2016.
  12. Spencer Jones on channeling Ricky Gervais in Upstart Crow. London Live. 24 May 2016. Event occurs at 2:45. Retrieved 31 August 2016.
  13. Peacock, Robert (23 August 2016). "Review: Spencer Jones is The Herbert in Eggy Bagel". The Wee Review. Retrieved 19 October 2017.
  14. "Record NINE nominees for Edinburgh comedy award". Chortle. 23 August 2017. Retrieved 19 October 2017.
  15. "2019 Edinburgh Comedy awards 2019: surrealists, standups and sausage act vie for prize". 21 August 2019. Retrieved 1 September 2019.
  16. Guide, British Comedy. "The Mind Of Herbert Clunkerdunk series and episodes list". British Comedy Guide. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  17. Guide, British Comedy. "Mister Winner - BBC2 Sitcom". British Comedy Guide. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  18. "BBC One – Still Open All Hours, Series 2, Episode 5, The Groom Kevin". BBC. Retrieved 31 August 2016.
  19. "Spencer Jones is The Herbert". Chortle. Retrieved 31 August 2016.
  20. "Hollyoaks Later Episode 1 Series 0 cast list and preview". Radio Times. 16 June 2016. Retrieved 31 August 2016.
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