“You’ll laugh a lot, you’ll smile a lot and, mark my words, you’ll want to see him again” ★★★★★
Bruce Dessau, Beyond The Joke
“Like a sunbeam from heaven in human form, Auton is a constant delight.” ★★★★
Mark Wareham, The Mail On Sunday
“beautifully crafted; just like Auton’s comedy… his act is well honed and his ease is infectious… Watching, you’d struggle not be swept up in the charm of it all” ★★★★
Isobel Lewis, The Independent
“heartfelt but packs some very big laughs… This is a finely crafted show, with great callbacks, and his last routine – delivered with passion – acts as a reminder that we all here for the human experience.” ★★★★
Veronica Lee, The Arts Desk
Off the back of a critically acclaimed and sell-out run at last year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe, award-winning comedian, writer and podcaster Rob Auton, (Starstruck, The End of the F***ing World, Stand-Up Central With Rob Delaney, The Russell Howard Hour) brings his 11th hour to the Fringe with The Eyes Open and Shut Show. Following on from his largest tour to date with his latest ‘must-see’ (Rolling Stone) show and having been selected to perform at the prestigious Melbourne International Comedy Festival for the past two years, Rob is performing his brand-new show at the Fringe at Assembly Roxy, Upstairs from 31st July – 25th August at 2.15pm.
Marking a new departure for Rob after having written ten hit Fringe shows on specific themes, Rob’s 11th show is a show about eyes when they are open and eyes when they are shut. Exploring what he could do to himself and others with language when eyes are open and shut, Rob thinks about what makes him open his eyes and what makes him shut them. Dubbed “the Fringe’s comedian laureate” (British Comedy Guide), Rob has earnt a cult Fringe following from his previous Fringe comedy/theatre/spoken word shows, including exploring the colour yellow in The Yellow Show, hair in The Hair Show, and time in The Time Show.
On television, Rob recently appeared on the latest series of Starstruck (BBC) and has also previously appeared on Miracle Workers (TBS), The End of the F***ing World (Netflix/Channel 4), The Russell Howard Hour (Sky), Cold Feet (ITV) and Random Acts (Channel 4). Rob also had a clip of him performing on Stand-Up Central With Rob Delaney (Comedy Central) go viral with over 11 million views on Facebook alone, where the clip has since found a new audience on TikTok with over 1.8 million views. Elsewhere on radio, Rob has appeared on Stewart Lee: Unreliable Narrator (BBC Radio 4), Front Row (BBC Radio 4), Sara Cox (BBC Radio 2), Craig Charles (BBC Radio 6 Music) and Nihal Arthanayake (BBC Radio 5 Live). On podcasts, Rob has been a popular guest on Films to Buried With with Brett Goldstein, The Moon Under Water with John Robins, Memory Lane with Kerry Godliman and Jen Brister and The Daily Grind with Shaun Keavney.
Three years since it’s last episode, earlier this year Rob relaunched his one-year special daily and critically-acclaimed podcast, which “makes you see the world differently” (Miranda Sawyer, The Observer), The Rob Auton Daily Podcast, for another year’s worth of episodes. At 500 episodes and with over 1.5 million downloads to date, The Rob Auton Daily Podcast, was announced as the British Podcast Awards 2020 Gold Winner for Best Daily Podcast (against competition from The Guardian’s Today In Focus, BBC Radio 4’s Beyond Today and ITV’s Love Island: The Morning After.) In 2017, Rob was a winner at the Three Weeks Editor’s Choice Awards and in 2013 won the Dave Funniest Joke of The Fringe award.
In 2021, HarperCollins’ Mudlark released Rob’s latest book, I Strongly Believe in Incredible Things, comprising of poetic prose, short stories and biro drawings detailing and celebrating a selection of some of our world’s everyday wonders, which he both wrote and illustrated. Previously, Rob had published three collections of writing and drawing, Take Hair, Petrol Honey and In Heaven The Onions Make You Laugh, with Burning Eye Books and released a spoken word album At Home With Rob on Scroobius Pip’s record label Speech Development Records.
Edinburgh Festival Fringe tickets are on sale now. Full dates and tickets at robauton.co.uk
Further praise for Rob’s last live show, The Rob Auton Show
“Another warm and wise themed show… signature soft-spoken comedy that leaves audiences feeling lighter… effortlessly funny” ★★★★
Rachel Cronin, The List
“both hysterically funny and quite moving… a master wordsmith at the top of his game” ★★★★★
David Cox, DarkChat
“remarkably insightful and uplifting. From the very start, Rob Auton holds the audience in the palm of his hand… a rarity to find a comedy show that will leave you feeling this rejuvenated and optimistic.” ★★★★★
Meta, EdFringe Review
“a rare talent for code-switching from bumbling humour to sincerity and back again… a thoroughly engaging and quick-witted comedian.” ★★★★★
Coco Cottam, EdFringe Review
“a joy to watch” ★★★★ ½
Steve Johnstone, One4Review
“whimsical wonder… certainly gets you in a proper mood to enjoy the human experience, both during and after the show.” ★★★★
Sean McCarthy, The Comic’s Comic
“Auton has a wonderful way of making everyday things seems magnificent and his clear love for life and its wonders is so beautiful… a delight to watch… A captivating and wonderful dive into the human experience” ★★★★
Esmé Violet Anderson, Entertainment Now
“The Rob Auton Show is unlike any other stand-up comedy show in existence… a very personal performance that mixes comedy with spoken word poetry in an expression of bittersweet nostalgia… It’s unlikely that there would be a dry eye left in the auditorium after hearing Rob Auton perform.” ★★★★
Katerina Partolina Schwartz, Broadway Baby
“Outstanding… his delightfully titled world-view is a joy for life” ★★★★
Will Quinn, The Quinntessential Review
“thoroughly enjoyable” ★★★★
Chris Poppe, The Real Chrisparkle
Further praise for Rob
“A genuine original…Poetical, philosophical, humane, completely charming and funny to boot”
Paul Fleckney, The Guardian
“Poetic, pithy and profound piece about what makes us human”
Bruce Dessau, Evening Standard
“an unexpected delight…makes laughter out of wonder”
Claire Smith, The Scotsman
“Funny, moving and relentlessly uplifting”
Gayle Anderson, The Herald
“He romantically seeks wonder and amazement in the everyday…an engaging, thoughtful show”
Steve Bennett, Chortle
“a tender and twinkling hour”
Brian Logan, The Guardian
“Another funny, beautiful show from the Fringe’s comedian laureate”
British Comedy Guide
“We need him”
Kate Copstick, The Scotsman
“Funny, baffling and deeply moving”
Tristram Fane Saunders, Telegraph
“Charming, eccentric and uplifting, Auton is a talent to watch.”
Alice Jones, The Independent
“He is entirely compelling to watch…I’m not entirely sure what it is but it’s great and it wallops you in the belly”
Daniel Kitson
“Brilliant.”
Stewart Lee
“combining stand-up, spoken word and the sort of emotional insight you don’t think you’ll get from a comedy show…you can bet he’ll turn out something unexpected”
Zoe Paskett, Evening Standard
EDINBURGH FRINGE LISTINGS INFORMATION
Rob Auton – The Eyes Open and Shut Show
Venue: Assembly Roxy, Upstairs
Date & Time: 31st July – 25th August at 2.15pm
Duration: 60 min
Web: www.robauton.co.uk
robauton.co.uk | Twitter @RobertAuton | Instagram @robauton | Facebook Rob Auton | TikTok @robauton
For more information, images, press tickets, or if you have interview requests, please contact: Perrine Davari at PDavari@avalonuk.com / 020 7598 8000
