Robert Garnham

Who is Robert Garnham?

He’s a revved up raved up rocket propelled Poundland Pam Ayres, a randy raunchy rhyming buy one get one free bargain bucket Alan Bennett, Professor of Whimsy, consumer of biscuits, spoken word artist and comedy poet Robert Garnham has been performing all over the UK for the best part of the last ten years, at fringes and festivals, poetry nights and comedy cabarets, bringing his own brand of LGBT whimsy and humour to audiences anew.

Wordplay and silliness combine with social sensibility in poems that have been honed and crafted over the years, accompanied by jokes and japes and all manner of high jinx. As a performer, he is utterly unique!

Acclaimed as having one of the funniest one liners of the 2018 Edinburgh Fringe, Robert has recently been seen in adverts for a certain building society on ITV. Robert has supported John Hegley, Arthur Smith and Paul Sinha, among others. His books, Nice, Zebra and Yay!, were published by Burning Eye Books. His shows Static, Juicy, In the Glare of the Neon Yak, Spout and Yay!, toured extensively and he is currently working on a new show.

As a writer he has had short stories published widely in magazines such as Stand, Defenestration and Eggplant Emoji, and he writes a humour column for the Herald Express newspaper. He was nominated for the Pushcart Prize in 2021 and 2022.

“What I love most about Robert Garnham is that he seems naïve and childish enough to believe that poetry can be for the actual pleasure of the reader. His work is an invitation to spend time in his world, looking at things differently. He is excellent company. In short he’s an excellent poet with an inimtable voice and a nice smile. There’s warmth in his whimsy, it’s sturdy not flimsy. Where others might proffer inanity he offers humanity”. Matt Harvey.