Justin Lee Collins
Collins signing autobiography "Goodtimes"
Birth name	Justin Lee Collins
Born	(1974-07-28) 28 July 1974 (age 37) Bristol, England
Medium	Radio, Television, Music
Nationality	British
Years active	1997–present
Influences	Tommy Cooper, Les Dawson
Spouse	Karen Collins (2003[1]–2010, separated)[2]
Notable works and roles	FAQ U The Convention Crasher The Friday Night Project Bring Back... The Justin Lee Collins Show Heads or Tails Good Times Turning Japanese

Justin Lee Collins, commonly known as JLC, (born 28 July 1974) is an English comedian and television presenter, known for his strong West Country accent,^[3] shaggy appearance, and colourful shirts.^[4]

Collins is often associated with nostalgia programmes, such as Bring Back..., in which he discusses cult films, music and television programmes. Other notable works include his breakthrough show The Friday Night Project, which he co-presented with Alan Carr, its Sunday spin-off, and The Convention Crasher. In recent years he's presented travel documentaries for channel 5, like Justin Lee Collins: Turning Japanese.

In 2010 Collins made an unsuccessful campaign to represent Britain and Ireland in the annual Eurovision Song Contest with a song written by Ronan Keating.^[5] In the same year he also helped launch the Bristol charity Shine Together, which aims to benefit patients at Southmead Hospital.^[6]

Early life [link]

Collins was born on 28 July 1974 in Southmead, Bristol, to working class parents, Anita and Danny Collins, a self-employed electrician.^[3][7] Collins is an only child. In 1990, Collins left education at Speedwell Technology College (now known as Bristol Brunel Academy) at the age of 15 with no qualifications and started working at Marks & Spencer as a warehouse operative.^[7][8] Three years later he was accepted into Filton College and earned a BTEC in performing arts and drama, thanks to his father, who urged him to pursue his real passion.^[9]

As a child, Collins was fascinated with pop culture and cult television; his favourite film was Star Wars and he was influenced by Morecambe and Wise, Tommy Cooper and Les Dawson.^[9]

Personal life [link]

Collins' ex wife Karen (married 2003-2010)^[10] gave birth to their first child, a boy called Archie, on 16 May 2005.^[11] During his appearance on UK daytime television show This Morning on 17 January 2008, Collins announced that his wife had recently given birth to their second son, Harvey.^[12] Collins separated from his wife in late 2010.^[2]

Collins is a long time sufferer of psoriasis, which causes sores to appear on his body and scalp. Collins keep his hair long to cover up his irritated scalp.^[13]

In 2009, Collins reduced his weight from a reported 15 stone (210 lb; 95 kg) to a reported 12 stone (170 lb; 76 kg) while training for the Sky1 programme Justin Lee Collins: Dancer.^[14]

Collins is a Bristol City F.C. fan.^[15] He is a patron of the charity Bristol Kids, run by Heart Bristol, a radio station based in Bristol.^[16]

In December 2011, Collins was charged with Section 4 harassment (causing fear of violence), in relation to alleged harassment of a former girlfriend.^[17] The case will be heard in full in September 2012.^[18]

Career [link]

Stand-up comedy [link]

He started his path into performing arts started as a stand-up comic, whilst working part time as a double-glazing window demonstrator. winning best New Comedy Act at the Glastonbury Festival in 1997 and reached the finals of the BBC New Comedy Awards at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival the same year.^[19] Collins gave up stand-up comedy in 2002 to concentrate fully on TV and radio presenting, stating that he never intends to return to the profession.^[8]

In 2007 and 2010, Collins won "Funniest Man" at Loaded's LAFTA awards.^[20]

Radio [link]

Collins began hosting a radio show on XFM in 2003, initially on Sundays at 1 to 3 am, but later progressing to Saturday afternoons from 3 to 6 pm. He left in December 2005 and returned to host the Saturday 2 to 6pm slot during April 2011.

Collins was heard performing a Tom Jones impersonation on BBC Radio 1's Chris Moyles Show in January 2008.^[21]

Collins sat in for Dermot O'Leary Saturday show on BBC Radio 2 on 17 September 2011.

Television work [link]

Collins in 2007

In 2002, Collins made a number of shows for Bravo and MTV but his big break came when he became the host of the companion show for the first series of Strictly Come Dancing. He was replaced by Claudia Winkleman the following year and the show moved from BBC Three to BBC Two.

In 2005 and 2006, Collins presented The Games: Live At Trackside on E4 alongside Caroline Flack. The series was the companion show to Channel 4's sports-based reality programme The Games.

He was also one of the presenters of Channel 4 and Paramount's Flipside TV.

Collins is one of the current presenters of The Sunday Night Project (previously named The Friday Night Project) alongside Alan Carr for Channel 4. He has also hosted a number of Bring Back... shows in which he aims to reunite groups, normally who are associated with TV or music. He also made a series for Channel 4 entitled The Convention Crasher, aired in late 2007 and early 2008, in which he learned skills such as clowning and ventriloquism in an attempt to win prizes at professional conventions.

On 7 May 2007, he became the latest "celebrity friend" of Paul O'Grady to fill the comic's shoes as guest presenter on The New Paul O'Grady Show on Channel 4 whilst O'Grady took a break.

Collins appeared on Top Gear with Alan Carr on 22 June 2008, for the Star in a Reasonably-Priced Car segment.^[22] His most recent programme was entitled Bring Back Star Trek and featured him trying to bring back the cast of the popular 1960s television series.

He signed a £3 million deal with ITV for a show which focused on topical issues, but with a comedic twist, titled The Justin Lee Collins Show on ITV2 which ran from March to May 2009.

In 2009 Collins became the host of the Sky1 show Oops TV, which shows home videos of people doing stupid things and things going badly wrong. There is also an Oops TV 2 show on Sky2.

His catchphrases include "Good Times!" (and occasionally "Bad Times!"), "I love it!", "Get in!", "I'm the Honeyman!", "Rock On!" "Cheeky", "Acid Jazz!" and "Rock and roll!". Aside from his passion for cult television whether it is The A-Team and Mr. T or The New Avengers, he is known to be a big fan of classic rock music. He can often be seen wearing T-shirts depicting his favourite bands.

JLC Is, a six-part series on Sky1 HD in August 2009 showed the comedian taking on challenges to become a Mexican Wrestler, a Surfer, a Ballroom Dancer, a Ten Pin Bowler, a High Diver and a West End Star.^[23]

On 11 September 2009, whilst being interviewed on BBC Radio 1's Chris Moyles Show it was announced that Collins had signed an exclusive deal with Channel 5, and Collins confirmed that he would therefore not be making another series of The Justin Lee Collins Show for ITV2. On joining Five he hosted the game show 'Heads Or Tails', where players can win up to £1m by correctly calling coin flips and a chat show called 'Good Times'. 'Heads or Tails' has since been cancelled due to poor viewing figures.^[24]

Darts

Collins is known for his passion for darts and often cites it as his favourite sport. In June 2008, a show was aired on Sky One entitled Justin Lee Collins: 180, which followed his quest to be a professional darts player. In the show, he practised with Keith Deller and played in the BDO International Open, which took place on 15 June 2008. He lost in the first round 3-0 in legs to county player Stuart Bousfield, who was in the top 100 in the BDO rankings at the time.^[25] He is nicknamed The Bristol Flyer.

The Wrestler

In Justin Lee Collins: The Wrestler, Justin aims to be allowed to compete in a Mexican wrestling (Lucha libre) match. He trains for 10 days in Mexico with a Mexican transvestite Luchador (Mexican wrestler) who fights under the name Cassandro, as an exotico. Justin adopts a rudo (bad guy) Luchador persona, El Glorioso, or The Glorious One, with his own wrestling mask. His persona is given the blessing of El Hijo del Santo (The Son of Saint). Returning to London, Justin fights Cassandro in a Lucha libre event in The Roundhouse, ultimately losing and being de-masked.^[26]

Singing [link]

Eurovision Song Contest

After failing to be chosen to represent the United Kingdom in the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest, on 22 January 2010 Collins announced on RTÉ's The Late Late Show his intention to seek the nomination to represent Ireland. His proposed song has been written by Boyzone star Ronan Keating.^[27] However, RTÉ confirmed on February 9, 2010, that the song was not short listed for the Irish final.^[28] Two shows, Eurovision: A Song For Justin, aired on UK Channel Five on 19 May 2010 and 26 May 2010 and included contributions from Dana, Bucks Fizz, Maarja-Liis Ilus, Koit Toome, Ronan Keating and John Kennedy O'Connor.^[29]

Musical theatre [link]

Following on from the idea of learning to play professional darts, Collins has performed in professional musical theatre in London's famous West End. Collins learned the skills necessary to perform on the musical stage for a TV programme on Sky One, gaining a part in the hit show Chicago. Playing alongside Aoife Mulholland (as his wife Roxie Hart), Collins rehearsed for the role of Amos Hart at the Cambridge Theatre. Collins said of the role, "I'm over the moon to be playing the sexiest part in the best show on the West End stage. I've already gone through a dozen pairs of tights.".^[30]

From August 2011 Collins has been playing Dennis Dupree in the West End production of Rock Of Ages. It has been announced that his last performance on the show will be September 23rd 2012.

Book [link]

In September 2009 Collins' autobiography Good Times! was published by Ebury Press.

Television credits [link]

• "Sooty: The Great Race" (2011) (CiTV)

References [link]

External links [link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Justin Lee Collins

• Justin Lee Collins at the Internet Movie Database
• JLC Through the years Pictures