After Dinner SpeakersIan Stone is a highly sought after stand up comedian, broadcaster, podcaster and writer.
Ranked amongst the top ten stand-ups in Britain by The Independent, Ian Stone is one of the most talented topical comedians and comperes in the UK.
He presents The Football’s On, on BT Sport and has appeared many times on Fighting Talk (BBC Radio5 Live) as well as Mock the Week (BBC2), The Now Show and Political Animal (BBC Radio4).
He also appears regularly on TalkSport and presents the Handbrake Off Arsenal podcast for The Athletic.
Ian is an experienced host for events with corporate audiences. He is particularly adept at awards ceremonies and sporting dinners. He recently entertained guests at a Gareth Southgate lunch at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel. He can accommodate all types of events, whether for big audiences or intimate events, and he can tailor his material to who’s in the room.
He has performed worldwide, including Comedy Festivals in Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, South Africa, Holland, France, Ireland and Germany.
He’s entertained the troops in Kuwait, Bosnia, Kosovo, Cyprus and Afghanistan. He was the first British stand-up to perform in Moscow and the first performer to appear for The Comedy Store in Mumbai.
Television:
On ESPN in 2013, Ian presented Off The Ball, a weekly comedy sports panel show. The guest list read like a who’s who of the nation’s favourite comedy talent and included Alan Davies, Dara O Briain, Lee Mack, Omid Djalili, Ardal OHanlon, Phil Jupitus and Milton Jones. On FA Cup Final Day in 2013, he presented a version of the show as part of ESPN’s coverage from Wembley Stadium. In May 2014, the show was renamed The Football’s On, moved to BT Sport and ran for two seasons. Guests included Frankie Boyle, Mickey Flanagan, David Baddiel, Romesh Ranganathan, Omid Djalili, Sean Lock and Alan Davies. It’s back for the second half of the 2021/22 football season.
Ian’s many TV appearances include:
- Mock The Week (BBC 2)
- The World Stands Up (Paramount Comedy 2005)
- The Comedy Store (Ch5 and The Comedy Channel)
- Never Mind The Buzzcocks (BBC 2)
- The Stand-Up Show (BBC 1)
- Saturday Live (ITV)
- Live at Jongleurs (ITV)
- The Katy Brand Show for ITV2
- The 11 O’clock Show (CH4)
“Ian Stone is intelligent and likeable and has the audience in the palm of his hand from the second he steps on stage. This type of comedy leaves you giddy and on the highest high. After seeing him last night, I totally understand why the punters were returning for a second dose.“ Broadway Baby
Radio:
On Radio 5 Live, Ian has been a regular guest on their flagship sports panel show Fighting Talk. In 2010, he presented Christmas Up The Front, a documentary about performing comedy for the troops in Afghanistan.
During the 2010 World Cup, he was part of the team that presented six shows of The Armchair World Cup. The show was revived for a one-off Christmas special, Armchair Premier League and returned for a series of shows during the EURO 2012 championship.
Ian was part of the team on The Alan Davies Saturday Morning Show. He also guest presented Radio 5 Live’s topical Sunday morning show The Back End of Next Week.
On Radio 4, Ian was a special guest on Shappi Talk and The Now Show, and he has also appeared on Political Animal and Four at the Store.
He presented a critically acclaimed football documentary entitled “Football’s Home Fans” in December 2012 and a follow-up show called “Football’s Loyal Fans” at the end of 2013.
On Radio 4 Extra, Ian Stone has presented The Comedy Club.
On Radio 2, he appeared in Hot Gossip, Claudia Winkleman’s top-rated panel show.
He also co-wrote and performed in a broadcast sitcom pilot, The Sharp End starring Alistair McGowan and Michelle Gomez.
On Absolute Radio, he co-presented Rock n Roll Football with Ian Wright every Saturday afternoon throughout the football season for six years. The show was awarded a Sony Silver Award for best sports programme in 2012 and in 2015 won the Gold Award for Best Specialist Programme of the Year at the Arqiva Commercial Radio Awards.
Most recently, Ian presented the breakfast show on LoveSport Radio. “
“…like a cross between Tony Hancock and Frankie Howerd. Stone is probably better than we deserve. Ultimately, it is the sheer quantity of funny material that really impresses” The List.
Writing:
At the start of the 2011-2012 football season, Ian became a regular columnist in the Official Arsenal Magazine. This coincided with Arsenal’s worst start to a season in thirty-six years, although Ian believes these two things are entirely unconnected!
Ian has written for Russell Howards’ Good News on BBC3, You Cannot Be Serious for ITV1, The Omid Djalili show on BBC1, The Sketch Show on ITV1 and Alistair McGowan’s Big Impression on BBC 1.
His book To Be Someone was published in 2020
Podcasts:
Ian Stone is a founder member of the Alan Davies Arsenal podcast ‘It’s Up For Grabs Now‘. This show was a huge success. In the first week of October 2012, it was the third highest-rated podcast of any sort in Britain. After a short break, the show is back as ‘The Tuesday Club‘. After fifty episodes, it has become one of the top-rated sports podcasts in the country with an average of sixty thousand downloads a week, a fantastic achievement for an independent podcast.
