Milton Jones
Welsh wizard Milton Jones is the simply the king of one-liner comedy. The likes of Jimmy Carr and Tim Vine might also have a pen chance for the quick, seemingly off the cuff gag, but Milton
He may have been born and grown up in Kew, west London, and still lives just a step down the road in Richmond, but thanks to the influence of his father and so many grandfathers before, this latest Mr Jones is very much a boy from the valleys although at times it seems as if he lives in a world completely of his own making.
Billed as the "sultan of the surreal", his stage act, be it a full one-hour theatre performance or a short 20-minute club set is a non-stop barrage of puns, gags, jokes, one-liners, call them what you will, with only slight pauses to allow Jones to draw breath and his audience to catch up with the punch lines that hit them so incessantly. Because much of the delight of watching or listening to Milton Jones is in the joy that your brain is on the same wavelength as his - although whether you would want to be there full time is another matter.
In fact so sure is Milton Jones of his audience, and so keen to get on to the next one liner, that he doesn't even finish many of his gags, but leaves them to tail off in a sort of vocal ellipses ... sure that his audience will sort out the punch line for themselves.
And even if you have seen Milton Jones and heard one or two of those gems before, such is their beauty it is like renewing your acquaintance with a favoured friend, food or drink that you’d half forgotten, but still love.
Now 45 and married with three children, Milton Jones' career has been a relative slow-burner - unlike his act.
Milton Jones made his Edinburgh debut back in 1996 with the show Head and immediately scooped the prestigious Perrier Best Newcomer Award and followed it just a year later to become a 1997 Perrier Nominee and enjoy back-to-back appearances in the Pick of the Fringe shows at Her Majesty's Theatre.
In 1998 top stand-up comedian Milton Jones was nominated for a British Comedy Award for his show The Very World of Milton Jones and then in 2003 was the winner of the Time Out Best Comedy Performance 2003.
By then, as well as conquering the stand-up comedy circuit either on his own or with political impressionist supremo Rory Bremner, he had also come to the notice of those discerning chaps at BBC Radio 4.
After early outings alongside Phill Jupitus and John Shuttleworth, The Very World of Milton Jones was signed up for the first of three series to date, earning that British Comedy Award nomination for Best Radio Series along the way. The House of Milton Jones followed in 2003 followed by two series of Another Case of Milton Jones in 2005 and 2006 as well as other work alongside fellow radio loving comedians like Lee Mack and Griff Rhys Jones.
Milton Jones is no stranger to television either, kicking off with a spot in seminal ITV show Saturday Live back in 1996 and continuing on the likes of Planet Mirth, The Stand-Up Show (BBC), three series of The Comedy Store and as a panelist on both Tibs and Fibs and Bring Me The Head of Light Entertainment for Channel 5. He also starred as The Supervisor in Sky 1's sitcom, The Strangerers.
A couple of successful outings on the BBC's flagship current affairs comedy quiz, the launch pad for many a modern British comedian, have seen him called back for further outings in the current and future series. In a show where the one-liner rules and puns are applauded like mannah from heaven, born again Christian Milton is like a comic messiah.
His new novel Where Do Comedians Go When They Die is out now as is the DVD Milton Jones Live Universe. Both of them are of course puntastic.
WHAT MILTON SAID
"I'd just like to say to the old man who was wearing camouflage gear and using crutches, who stole my wallet earlier - you can hide, but you can't run."
WHAT THE CRITICS SAID
"The master of the oneliner" - Telegraph
Welsh wizard Milton Jones is the simply the king of one-liner comedy. The likes of Jimmy Carr and Tim Vine might also have a pen chance for the quick, seemingly off the cuff gag, but
He may have been born and grown up in Kew, west London, and still lives just a step down the road in Richmond, but thanks to the influence of his father and so many grandfathers before, this latest Mr Jones is very much a boy from the valleys although at times it seems as if he lives in a world completely of his own making.
Billed as the "sultan of the surreal", his stage act, be it a full one-hour theatre performance or a short 20-minute club set is a non-stop barrage of puns, gags, jokes, one-liners, call them what you will, with only slight pauses to allow Jones to draw breath and his audience to catch up with the punch lines that hit them so incessantly. Because much of the delight of watching or listening to Milton Jones is in the joy that your brain is on the same wavelength as his - although whether you would want to be there full time is another matter.
In fact so sure is Milton Jones of his audience, and so keen to get on to the next one liner, that he doesn't even finish many of his gags, but leaves them to tail off in a sort of vocal ellipses ... sure that his audience will sort out the punch line for themselves.
And even if you have seen Milton Jones and heard one or two of those gems before, such is their beauty it is like renewing your acquaintance with a favoured friend, food or drink that you’d half forgotten, but still love.
Now 45 and married with three children, Milton Jones' career has been a relative slow-burner - unlike his act.
Milton Jones made his Edinburgh debut back in 1996 with the show Head and immediately scooped the prestigious Perrier Best Newcomer Award and followed it just a year later to become a 1997 Perrier Nominee and enjoy back-to-back appearances in the Pick of the Fringe shows at Her Majesty's Theatre.
In 1998 top stand-up comedian Milton Jones was nominated for a British Comedy Award for his show The Very World of Milton Jones and then in 2003 was the winner of the Time Out Best Comedy Performance 2003.
By then, as well as conquering the stand-up comedy circuit either on his own or with political impressionist supremo Rory Bremner, he had also come to the notice of those discerning chaps at BBC Radio 4.
After early outings alongside Phill Jupitus and John Shuttleworth, The Very World of Milton Jones was signed up for the first of three series to date, earning that British Comedy Award nomination for Best Radio Series along the way. The House of Milton Jones followed in 2003 followed by two series of Another Case of Milton Jones in 2005 and 2006 as well as other work alongside fellow radio loving comedians like Lee Mack and Griff Rhys Jones.
Milton Jones is no stranger to television either, kicking off with a spot in seminal ITV show Saturday Live back in 1996 and continuing on the likes of Planet Mirth, The Stand-Up Show (BBC), three series of The Comedy Store and as a panelist on both Tibs and Fibs and Bring Me The Head of Light Entertainment for Channel 5. He also starred as The Supervisor in Sky 1's sitcom, The Strangerers.
A couple of successful outings on the BBC's flagship current affairs comedy quiz, the launch pad for many a modern British comedian, have seen him called back for further outings in the current and future series. In a show where the one-liner rules and puns are applauded like mannah from heaven, born again Christian Milton is like a comic messiah.
His new novel Where Do Comedians Go When They Die is out now as is the DVD Milton Jones Live Universe. Both of them are of course puntastic.
WHAT
"I'd just like to say to the old man who was wearing camouflage gear and using crutches, who stole my wallet earlier - you can hide, but you can't run."
WHAT THE CRITICS SAID
"The master of the oneliner" - Telegraph