Jon Holmes
May 28th, 2009 by sparky
Jon Holmes will perform at The Big Chill 2009.
Jon Holmes - Biography
The six-time Sony Award winning writer, comedian and broadcaster called Jon Holmes holds a joint degree in Radio, Film and Television and English from Canterbury. His first book Status Quo and the Kangaroo was published by Penguin in 2007 and is published in America in 2008. His own Radio 4 comedy series, Listen Against “the mischievous offspring of The Day Today and Feedback” (Guardian) has just finished its second run. The paperback book Rock Star Babylon (Penguin) was published the UK in 2008.
Upon graduating Jon somehow went to his own show on BBC Radio 4 called Grievous Bodily Radio which was “fast and furious… spot on” according to The Independent and “disgusting” according to the East Anglia Gazette. Since then his other Radio 4 credits have included co-creating and writing the multi award winning Dead Ringers, writing and being a regular panellist on The 99p Challenge, writer / performer on the Sony Award winning and Channel 4 Political Award nominated The Now Show and he’s a sometime cohort of Armando Iannucci, most recently on his Sony Award winning Charm Offensive for Radio 4 and Time Trumpet for BBC2. His own Radio 4 comedy series, Listen Against “the mischievous offspring of The Day Today and Feedback” (Guardian) has just finished its second run.
Over on Radio 2 he writes and co-presents The Day The Music Died and hosts his very own Saturday afternoon show on BBC 6 Music where he plays some very good music and messes around in the gaps. His music radio shows have earned him Sony Gold and Best New Presenter Awards but he’s no stranger to talk radio either, having hosted the Drivetime show on London’s LBC 97.3 where he could be regularly heard verbally jousting with mentals. He’s also had his own shows on XFM, Radio 1 and Virgin and it was from the latter that he quite notoriously earned the sack in 2002 when a phone in game called ‘Swearing Radio Hangman for the Under 12s went tragically expensive in terms of a record fine. Jon still holds the record for ‘largest fine ever for taste and decency offences in British broadcasting’. Sadly he didn’t get a certificate or anything. A comedy special Jon Holmes on Radio 1 aired on the station last year.
TV work includes writing, performing and presenting in various combinations on Time Trumpet (BBC2), Mock The Week (BBC2) 7 Days (BBC3), Dead Ringers (BBC2) The Impressionable Jon Culshaw (ITV1), Armando Iannucci’s Gash (CH4) , The State We’re In and Celebdaq (both BBC3), Have I Got News For You, 29 Minutes of Fame, ( both BBC1) and co-hosting Series 5 of The 11 O’Clock Show (CH4). He was also Programme Consultant on the multi award winning V Graham Norton (CH4), regular guest on The Wright Stuff (CH5), and Sky News where he makes the presenter Anna Botting go red and start giggling. He’s also been on This Morning (ITV1) a few times where he once called Phillip Schofield a “witch”. He was approached to see if he wanted to be stuck in the jungle for ITV1’s I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here but told them to sod off.
His first book Status Quo and the Kangaroo was published by Penguin in 2007 and was published in America in 2008. The paperback book Rock Star Babylon (Penguin) was published the UK in 2008 and is now published in Australia, Russia, India and the USA. He is currently working on a new book.
He wrote the script for the BAFTA Film Awards with, and for, Stephen Fry to great acclaim and was the host for the MOJO Awards. He has also written words for the likes of Keanu Reeves, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jamie Foxx and Bono. He has been variously described as “clever…but warped” by The Sunday Times, “a genius” by Heat, “wickedly funny” by The Times and “a tosser” by Martine McCutcheon in an interview in Smash Hits. He is most proud of that one.
Jon Holmes will perform at The Big Chill 2009.
