Bob-a-job: the joker turned sports pundit

Anyone turning on the football-focussed radio station Talksport on a weekday morning over the last few months will probably have heard Bob Mills waxing lyrical about the beautiful game. Now Bob is a man of many talents: he's still an in-demand stand-up, having enjoyed a splurge of TV fame in the 1990s as host of the post-pub TV clips show In Bed With Medinner, and a hangover-friendly daytime game show Win, Lose Or Draw. But he also wrote the screenplay for the acclaimed film drama Pierrepoint (among other scripts), starring Timothy Spall as Britain's last hangman. That was a change of pace.

As is the Talksport gig, which has grown from a Friday slot alongside presenter Jim 'deadline day' White and former Arsenal winger Perry Groves, to co-hosting with White pretty much every day. That seat would previously have been filled by an ex-pro, and at first you did wonder what the current players might make of him, as Talksport wafts from the speakers while they play cards on the team coach. But actually, it being 2018, if they're playing poker it's probably via online casinos such as Betway while wearing big headphones and listening to Drake (the Canadian rapper; not Charlie).

In fact, Mills has proven a popular addition to that show, and invariably holds his own with whichever old player is occupying the third seat. The big man clearly does a fair bit of research, and is particularly good on lower-league football. Ironically, the travails of his beloved Leyton Orient Football Club have probably helped in that respect: the East London outfit endured a disastrous few seasons which saw them plummet from the top of English football's third tier, League One, to the National League, its fifth. Which was no fun for anyone concerned, but certainly offered a crash-course in a lot of different teams and players, across three divisions.

That double relegation - and near bankruptcy - was chiefly due to a wayward owner, who thankfully was replaced by a hugely positive new board last summer: Mills helped highlight Orient's plight along the way, and he's become a useful voice for clubs in similarly dire straits (the situation, not the band). One thing comedians learn from years of gag-writing and storytelling is how to make a point as succinctly and powerfully as possible, so whether it's a political comic highlighting weighty issues or satirising the status quo (not the band either) or a passionate football fan voicing the plight of fellow supporters, it's a skill not to be sniffed at.

If comedians banging on about sport really isn't your bag, though, the increasingly ubiquitous Mills also hosts a regular comedy-based show on Talksport's sister station, TalkRadio, on Sunday evenings, called Tragedy Plus Time. It's proper comedy-geek territory, getting to grips with the nitty-gritty of the stand-up business. But would he return the favour and let a footballer on to knock out a few routines? It's only fair, really.