The Elis James and John Robins Experience: review

Those uninitiated into to the rituals and in-jokes of Elis James and John Robins's Radio X programmes and spin-off podcast face something of a learning curve at the live version, here at Latitude ahead of a fully-fledged tour in the autumn.

Opinion: mainstream v alternative - is the gap closing?

We live in interesting times for comedy. I never thought I'd see Sara Pascoe on The Graham Norton Show. Maybe the gap is closing between what we describe as alternative and what we describe as mainstream. Maybe one of the legacies of Comedy Vehicle is that it did attract comedy fans to more cerebral notions of the nature of comedy. Sadly not enough for BBC2's beancounters.

Isy Suttie and Elis James get engaged

Isy Suttie and Elis James are engaged to be married after she proposed at a launch party for her new book.

Elis James on doing stand-up in Welsh

Elis James has shot his first stand-up special... in Welsh. Rhacs Jibiders will air on Welsh language channel S4C on December 19, with an English subtitled version available on BBC iPlayer the same day.

Arriving as a series after a successful Comedy Feeds pilot, this amiable comedy follows the misfortunes of grumpy and frustrated Josh (Josh Widdicombe) who sees no way out of his life with his flatmates, the relentlessly cheerful Owen (Elis James) and childhood friend Kate (Beattie Edmondson). A pool party invitation horrifies Josh as he can't swim ("swimming is not about fun, it's about survival"), while Kate learns that she has a reputation as a bad kisser.

Stand-up Cymru: Elis James brings his comedy home

Elis James is recording a new stand-up show in his first language, Welsh.

This week's new live comedy

Previews of Tez Ilyas, Elis James and The Jeremy Corbyn Night.