Jordan Robinson: Heart Surgeries, Beat The Frog Triumph & Conan O'Brien?

Having started standup only six years ago, Jordan has packed quite a lot in to his career so far & has got some acknowledgements already by winning comedy shows & being shortlisted for the BBC New Comedy Awards.

Jordan was born with this heart disease which meant half of his heart wasn't working hard enough yet the other too hard. After seven heart surgeries he had his last in 2020 where he undertook open heart surgery.

"They did it as a preventive measure incase things got a little bit worse later on in life. So they thought they should do it now before later on when it's an actual problem."

Jordan also has an essential tremor which can sometimes be visible during his standup.

"The essential tremor is a mild tremor where there's a low level shakiness to my hands & head but in the grand scheme of things I sometimes forget I have it. It usually comes out when you're tired, hungry or in a high stress situation.

I didn't really do too well in the genetic lottery growing up."

In terms of Jordan's standup he has been successful thus far & usually finds himself gigging between the NI scene & down in Dublin. He has found himself playing gigs all across the UK & Ireland and has in fact won Beat The Frog at the highly acclaimed Frog & Bucket Comedy Club in Manchester.

"Beat the frog is the basic X factor/Gong show type thing; you last five minutes then there's a clap off at the end. I did it the first time & made it through the five minutes & the person who ended up winning quit standup after that gig & I got a bit annoyed at that. So I gave myself three goes at it & if I don't win by the third go then that's me I'm just not going to do it again.

Comedy is subjective at the end of the day it's not like a sporting competition where you see someone is clearly the best. So if I don't win it by the third go I'm not going to waste my money going over to do comedy competitions in England or Scotland etc. So I ended up winning on my third go & got through to the Semi Finals of their World Series & ended up coming third; so that was a nice way to end it."

Quite the achievement for any standup to win starting out, as it & the King Gong competitions are probably the biggest comedy competitions in the UK. 

It's safe to say it really was a 'rising from the ashes' moment for Jordan in the World Series Semi Finals as the crowd called him back on after completely disagreeing with the interruption of his set. 

Jordan has performed all over the UK including the highly rated Hot Water in Liverpool, Comedy Store in Manchester & The Stands in Glasgow & Edinburgh as well as one gig in London.

"It was March 2020 when everything was getting locked down. There was a St. Patrick's day/Irishmen sort of show & it was: me, Robbie McShane, James McKegney, William Thompson & Vittorio Angelone that was the cream of the crop."

What a lineup that is by the way!

He ended his year last December by opening for one of NI's biggest names in William Thompson for his Scotland shows of his tour 'The Hand You're Dealt'.

"I opened both the shows, it was class. It really was a bucket list moment because The Stand is one of the best comedy clubs or most historic. When you think of clubs in certain areas those are the ones you think of in Glasgow, Edinburgh & Newcastle so it was real cool to get to do them."

What would be the best venue you've played?

"Hands down it has to be Lavery's. The quality of audiences are probably up there with the best of any I've performed in front of. You're really well looked after there whether its the staff members on the day being sound or the green room which is probably the best in the country. Then also getting to gig with the best acts in NI & there's loads from down south starting to come to Lavery's now so it's nice to be getting to gig with proper great acts."

What's your favourite venue to play?

"Nowadays I find myself between down south & Belfast. There's a regular weekend club called the International in Dublin & I would say there is my favourite place to play. They do Thursday, Friday, Saturday & they do two shows an early & a late show on the Friday & Saturday. It's just a conveyer belt of audiences that are up for a laugh & it's a pleasure to get to gig there & if you go on early & the craic wasn't great there you have another opportunity half an hour later with a brand new crowd & a great room/low ceiling with great acts too."

What would be a dream venue/bucket list venue to play?

"I had a big list of things I wanted to achieve when I first started doing comedy & some of them seemed like a complete pipe dream. Then when you start getting a bit of a reputation about yourself you start thinking maybe if I stick at this I can get these. 

The main bucket list things I had when I started was I wanted to perform on Conan. Obviously that's a huge thing but there's an act called Colum Tyrrell who's from Dublin then moved over to the states & he ended up doing it. When I saw that I was like holy shit that's someone I've gigged with who's now doing Conan. Now Conan stopped doing that show so that's the end of that dream.

There's a comedy festival in Montreal called 'Just For Laughs' & that was a bucket list gig I wanted to do but they've just announced this month that this year is the last they're going to do so that's another dream taken away from me. So I don't know I probably need to reevaluate what it is but at the minute I'm very happy gigging all over the shop whether it be anywhere in the UK or Ireland."

At least Jordan's dreams haven't been halted due to anything he has done himself.

When did you first start Standup?

"I started the 30th April 2018/2019 I can't remember the exact year [It was 2018 Jordan]. I had been going to the Pavilion for about a year so & I had it in the back of my mind that I'd love to give stand up a go since I was a kid but you don't know the avenues to go down or contacts or how to write five minutes of material to begin with. So I went there religiuously I might've missed one or two Mondays for an entire year & the people like Adam Laughlin & George Firehorse kind of got to know you as the guy who turns up and sits in the front row.

After a year of doing that I was like no I would love to do a set so booked in with Luke [McGibbon] to do my first five minutes & loads of people when it's their first gig they don't want people they know to come incase it's a complete shit show or whatever but I was telling anybody who would listen you should come down to this I'm trying comedy for the first time should be a good time. Since then I've had it in my head if there's a gig going I'll do it, paid or unpaid. The only way I could get better and don't get me wrong I had a good first gig like looking back at it now you cringe at it & you think you should've done this or that better, I could've written a lot better jokes but it went pretty good. Since then I've had the bug for it & I'll take anything & everything going so at the end of the year I tally up all the gigs I have done its always near 150.

I don't think it's a work ethic thing because when it comes to outside work I'm notoriously quite lazy I think it's just because I super enjoy this or maybe a hyperfixation or whatever you'd like to call it."

What would your worst ever gig be?

"There's a couple permanently tattooed in my brain. We were doing a dry comedy gig in 2020 early January before the whole Covid lockdown happened & it was in the Armagh Market Place Theatre. The lineup was Mark McCarney, James McKegney, Me, Robbie McShane & William Thompson so like you usually couldn't get a better lineup than that & we all just went out there to a full room & eat shit for some reason. It's one that sticks with me to this day."

Who would you say is the best comedian in your opinion?

"I think it's weird because growing up I found my appetite for watching standup has diminished quite a lot from when I was younger because during say early 2006 onwards there was comedians releasing specials every Christmas & I collected those DVD's quite religiously like the likes of Michael McIntyre, Lee Evans, Russell Howard those sorts of people. But that's fallen by the way side a little bit now since I started doing comedy I guess the appetite to watch it in my spare time has kind of gone down.

I don't necessarily have a favourite one. I kind of enjoy in the age of social media now, you can go onto Instagram now & find a comedian you've never heard of before from the other side of the world that you watch a clip of there's then some more stuff & you're like holy shit this is just 100% to my liking more than anything you would see on Netflix or Amazon or something like that. 

So I don't necessarily have a 'Mount Rushmore' of standup comedians that I think are the best. If I think it's kind of a thing where we're all in the same boat trying to make good standup that's why I like seeing people off the beaten track."

Who would you say is the most underrated comedian in the NI scene or down south?

"That's a good question. There's people who have started to come through say in the last year or two like Ciaran Franco & Jazmynne Sierra that are now getting the gigs I guess they deserve, in terms of playing to bigger crowds & better lineups.

If I had to pick one I'd probably pick a guy called Cathaoir O'Hagan I don't know if he's came up on anyone else's interviews but I think he's consistently one of the funniest about. When you see you're on the lineup with him it's a good time, I have a feeling at the end of his stand up career he will be considered as a comedians comedian 

What would the goal be for in 2 years time?

"I think it's just getting to keep gigging at a consistent level, getting the catalogue of material that you have be as strong as possible. I like the idea of getting to gig in places that people wouldn't necessarily go that's a bucket list thing but just getting to gig all over the UK & Ireland is a thing on a more consistent basis.

I would say that I would love to do another one hour show of my own but I'm in no rush to do it because I would much prefer that I feel it's ready rather than rush to get it done. So I would really like to have a standalone special that I'm proud of.

I did my first solo show within the first 8 months or so & don't get me wrong I had a great time doing it & I was happy enough with the outcome I was able to do two sold out Sunflower shows. Looking back at it now it could've been a lot better if I had just kept doing what I was doing which was gigging as often as I could & write as much new material as possible rather than worrying that I need to do this now because this is supposed to be doing which was not the case."

Starbursts or Minstrels?

"I'm going Starbursts because I don't really like chocolate at all so yeah I'll go Starbursts."

Must say thanks very much to Jordan for the chat & interview. The man is a workhorse (in terms of standup anyways) he's always about gigging & I look forward to getting to see him live myself soon! Make sure you check out his socials listed below & if you see him on any lineup soon go give him a watch.

Upcoming Gigs:

23rd March - The Beehive Bar, Belfast