Rhod Gilbert

Rhodri Paul Gilbert (born 18 October 1968) is a Welsh comedian and television and radio presenter who was nominated in 2005 for the Perrier Best Newcomer Award.

Gilbert got into professional comedy in 2002, after taking part in the Amused Moose Stand Up and Deliver course, but only "thanks to a girlfriend’s constant nagging".

Gilbert was Paramount Comedy's continuity writer and announcer between September 2004 and October 2005, providing end-credit voice-overs for their peak time programme schedule.

Within 18 months, Gilbert had already won several different talent competitions and was nominated for the Perrier Newcomer award for his first solo show in 2005 at Edinburgh Fringe entitled 1984. He has since performed worldwide.

Many of Gilbert's stories are drawn from real life events, and his life in the wholly fictionalised village of Llanbobl.

In his 2006 Edinburgh Fringe show Knocking on Heaven's Door, Gilbert told stories from his life, weighing up whether he would be admitted to heaven.

His 2007 show, Who's Eaten Gilbert's Grape?, saw Gilbert return to Llanbobl and pick up the story following the 1984 show narrative.

In 2008 he was nominated for the main comedy award (as the Edinburgh Comedy Awards were then branded).

Gilbert appears on television and radio panel shows, has performed stand-up on the Royal Variety Performance, and hosted a weekly show on BBC Radio Wales.

In 2008, Gilbert wrote a sitcom about life in Llanbobl, which featured on BBC Radio 2.

His 2008 show, Rhod Gilbert and the Award-Winning Mince Pie, saw Gilbert question his sanity, his career and his life after suffering a mental breakdown brought on by the award-winning mince pie at a motorway services.

On 17 December 2008, he appeared at the 80th Royal Variety Performance.

In December 2008, Gilbert was signed for a campaign to promote tourism in Wales and became the official Voice of Wales for the country's tourist board, fronting the 2009 Visit Wales television advertising.

Gilbert has reported for the BBC One current affairs/human interest show The One Show.

In November 2008, Gilbert appeared on the BBC's Live at the Apollo as a guest.

On 18 and 19 June 2009, Gilbert made the last performances of Rhod Gilbert and the Award-Winning Mince Pie show at the Bloomsbury Theatre, which was recorded and released as a DVD on 16 November 2009.

The DVD also contains several special features, including his rant about lost luggage, outtakes from the performance, in which he chats with the audience and deals with hecklers and a mockumentary called Back to Llanbobl in which Gilbert shows the viewer around his fictional home town, filmed in Talgarth, Powys.

Gilbert's 2009/10 show, Rhod Gilbert and the Cat That Looked Like Nicholas Lyndhurst previewed around the UK in small venues before being performed at the Edinburgh Festival.

The show toured UK theatres from September 2009.

The tour included dates at many prestigious theatres such as London's HMV Hammersmith Apollo.

He has appeared five and three times respectively on the BBC Two panel shows QI and Mock the Week, and presented two episodes of Never Mind the Buzzcocks in October 2009 and December 2011 before becoming the permanent presenter for the final series of its original BBC run.

In December 2009, he hosted the show, introducing fellow comedian John Bishop.

On 6 June 2009 Gilbert appeared as the headline act on Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow on BBC One, and as a guest on 8 out of 10 Cats on 17 July 2009.

He also provided voiceover material for the sketch show Walk on the Wild Side.

A DVD of the tour was released on 15 November 2010.

On BBC One, Gilbert has made a number of guest appearances on Would I Lie to You?.

On 19 January 2010, Rhod Gilbert's Work Experience aired on BBC One Wales.

Zipline Creative Limited worked freelance as producer/directors, editors and also camera and sound on the series for Presentable RDF.

The four-part series saw Gilbert attempt a number of jobs including hairdresser, refuse collector, soldier and parent.

Following the show's success on BBC One Wales, the series aired nationally on BBC2 from 10 March.

In August 2010, the BBC commissioned eight episodes of Ask Rhod Gilbert following a successful pilot earlier in 2010.

The show featured Gilbert, Greg Davies and Lloyd Langford answering random trivia questions, such as 'Who would win in a race, Usain Bolt or a grizzly bear?', posed by the public and celebrities, with additional celebrity guests on the panel.

In September 2014, Gilbert started presenting the BBC Two panel show Never Mind the Buzzcocks, ending a run of five series without a permanent host.

Gilbert was born in Carmarthen, Wales, one of three siblings to two teacher parents, his father hailing from Ebbw Vale and his mother from Abertillery.

He attended Maridunum Comprehensive School and went on to study languages at Exeter University.

For the first three weeks, his extreme shyness meant that Gilbert could not eat with other students in the dining hall or even make friends with the student in the next room.

After graduating, Gilbert travelled for a year and a half around Australia and Asia before returning to Carmarthen and working as an admin assistant for the Welsh Office.

He later worked as a qualitative researcher for several market research agencies in London.

He hosted three episodes of Have I Got News for You in April 2011, October 2017, and May 2018; has appeared as a guest on Channel 4's 8 out of 10 Cats; and wrote and narrated BBC Three's 2007 Goals Galore, Pranks Galore, Football Gaffes Galore and TV Gaffes Galore programmes.

He also presented BBC 2W's Rhod Gilbert's Teen Tribes, providing an insight into the worlds of "Emos", "Chavs" and "Goths".