Born in Stratford-upon-Avon, Holmes was raised in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, having been adopted at one month old. He attended Canterbury Christ Church College, where he graduated with a joint degree in English with radio, film and television. During his time there, he presented on the student radio station C4 Radio, wrote, directed and performed in student revue shows, and later became a presenter on Canterbury local radio station KMFM Canterbury (then CTFM).
Holmes began his broadcasting career while working in sound and lighting at the Marlowe Theatre in Canterbury. During this time, he submitted comedy demo tapes to BBC Radio, leading to his first commission, Grievous Bodily Radio. Initially developed for BBC Radio 1 before moving to BBC Radio 4, the sketch show was written and performed by Holmes and Andy Hurst in 1997. The pair later presented The Jon & Andy Show on Power FM between 1998 and 2000, winning the Gold Entertainment Award at the 2000 Radio Academy Awards.
In 1998, Holmes became a regular writer and performer on BBC Radio 4's The Now Show, appearing on the programme until 2016. During his time on the show, he became affectionately known as "the short one".
Holmes was also a regular writer for BBC Radio 4's The 99p Challenge, the spoof panel game hosted by Sue Perkins, which ran from 1998 to 2004. He also appeared as a panellist on the programme in 2003 and 2004.
Radio
In January 2000, Holmes joined the writing team of BBC Radio 4's satirical impressions programme Dead Ringers. In 2001, the programme won the British Comedy Award for Best Radio Comedy, a Gold Sony Radio Academy Award and the Broadcasting Press Guild Award for Best Radio Programme. It was adapted for BBC Two in 2002, where it ran for seven series until 2009, before returning to BBC Radio 4 in 2014. In 2025, Holmes was asked to re-join the programme as producer following the death of creator Bill Dare, coinciding with its 25th anniversary and a nationwide UK tour. As of 2026, the programme has reached its 27th series.
From 2001 to 2002, Holmes presented a late-night programme on Virgin Radio. He was dismissed after the station was fined a record £75,000 by the Radio Authority following a series of controversial broadcasts, including "Swearing Radio Hangman for the Under-12s", in which Holmes persuaded a nine-year-old girl to spell out and repeat the phrase "soapy tit wank".
From 2004 to 2005, he fronted The Milk Run, an experimental late-night sketch show for BBC Radio 1, blending comedy sketches with music and sound design as part of the station's Oneclick strand. From 2006 to 2012, he hosted a weekly Saturday show on BBC Radio 6 Music.
In November 2007, Holmes created the BBC Radio 4 satirical series Listen Against (a play on the BBC’s Listen Again service) which he co-presented with newsreader Alice Arnold. The programme ran for four series between 2007 and 2011, taking a surreal look into the week’s radio.
In October 2011, Holmes and Miranda Hart stood in for Chris Evans on BBC Radio 2's The Chris Evans Breakfast Show. The pair attracted criticism from some listeners, prompting the BBC to defend the broadcasts, describing Holmes as "a highly experienced presenter" and emphasising the importance of introducing new talent to the network.
From January 2013, Holmes hosted the XFM London Breakfast Show alongside Matt Dyson, Dave Masterman and a series of interns. The weekday programme aired between 6am and 10am, with a companion podcast launched on 11 January 2013. During his time at the station, Holmes made headlines following a controversial joke about the Irish during the Winter Olympics.
Following XFM's relaunch as Radio X in September 2015, Holmes moved to the station's weekend breakfast show after Chris Moyles was appointed to host the weekday breakfast programme. He later joined TalkRADIO, presenting the station's weekday afternoon programme from 21 March 2016 until 12 January 2018. In August 2017, Holmes also joined BBC Radio Kent to present the station's Saturday morning programme, replacing James Whale. The show featured live music from a session studio.
Later in 2018, Holmes wrote and appeared in Jeremy Vine: Agony Uncle for BBC Radio 2, playing Tim the Producer alongside Lewis MacLeod, Terry Mynott and Jess Robinson. The programme offered a behind-the-scenes parody of The Jeremy Vine Show and returned later that year for a Christmas special.
Company
Holmes founded Unusual Productions in 2010, an independent production company specialising in comedy, documentary and factual programming.
Since its formation, the company has produced programmes for the BBC and commercial broadcasters. Comedy productions include The Naked Week, Jeremy Vine: Agony Uncle, TheThe One Show Show, What? Seriously??, Off Script, Rockanory, Cool Skool Sketch Show, Cold Case Crime Cuts and We Forced a Bot to Write This Show and The Skewer. Its documentary and factual output includes Generation Shame, Jon Holmes Says the C-Word, The Island, Lost Voices, Fantasy Park: Fifty Years On, Marco Pantani: Death of a Pirate, Father Figuring with Darren Harriott and Mary Bourke: Who Cares.
Following a successful pilot in 2019, BBC Radio 4 commissioned The Skewer as a full series, which debuted in January 2020. Created, written and produced by Holmes through unusual productions, the programme combines news, archive audio, music and sound design into a satirical audio collage of the week's events. Since its debut, The Skewer has received honours from the ARIAS, British Podcast Awards, Audio Production Awards, BBC Audio Drama Awards and the New York Festivals. In 2024, its BBC iPlayer television adaptation, The Skewer: Three Twisted Years, received a BAFTA nomination. As of 2026, the programme has reached its seventeenth series.
Holmes's first book, Status Quo and the Kangaroo, was published by Penguin in 2007 before being released in Australia, Canada, the United States, India and Russia.
His second book, Rock Star Babylon, was published in 2008. Holmes subsequently toured the UK with a live show based on this book, including a run at the 2009 Edinburgh Festival Fringe in which Stephen Fry provided the voice of the footnotes. Thirteen years later, stories from Rock Star Babylon, including Status Quo and the Kangaroo, were adapted into the Absolute Radio comedy series Rockanory. Produced by Holmes through unusual productions and co-written with Gareth Ceredig, the series featured performances by Shaun Keaveny, Jon Culshaw and Jake Yapp.
In 2009, Holmes co-authored The Now Show Book of World Records with Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis, followed by The History of the World Through Twitter with Mitch Benn.
His comedy memoir, A Portrait of an Idiot as a Young Man, was published in 2015.
Holmes has also written as a columnist for The Sunday Times and contributed to publications including The Guardian, The Times and the Radio Times.
Advocacy
In 2023, Holmes was diagnosed with prostate cancer. His experience formed the basis of the BBC Radio 4 documentary Jon Holmes Says the C-Word, in which he explored his diagnosis and treatment while encouraging more open conversations about men's health.
Since his diagnosis, Holmes has become an advocate for prostate cancer awareness. Through interviews, public speaking and media campaigns, he has encouraged men to seek testing and discuss their health more openly. In 2026, he partnered with GenesisCare to launch The Big C QuizCast, a campaign designed to help prostate cancer patients better understand their treatment options following diagnosis.
Sporting career
Before establishing himself in broadcasting, he enjoyed a brief career as a competitive trampolinist. Representing Great Britain at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, he reached the men's individual final, where he narrowly missed out on a medal after finishing fourth. His routine, noted at the time for its technical difficulty and unusually composed execution under pressure, was widely praised despite a small deduction on landing that ultimately proved decisive
2001 – British Comedy Award for Best Radio Comedy, Gold Sony Radio Academy Award and Broadcasting Press Guild Award for Best Radio Programme (Dead Ringers).
2019 – Silver, Best Comedy Producer, Audio Production Awards (The Skewer pilot).
2020 – The Skewer won Gold at the New York Festivals, Gold at the Audio Production Awards (Best Comedy Producer), Bronze at the Audio Production Awards (Best Sound Design) and Silver at the British Podcast Awards. It was also nominated for Best Comedy and Best Use of Sound at the BBC Audio Drama Awards and for a Chortle Award.
2021 – The Skewer won Gold for Best Comedy at the BBC Audio Drama Awards, Gold for Best Comedy and Silver for Best New Show at the ARIAS, Gold for Best Radio Podcast at the British Podcast Awards, Gold in the Comedy, Sound Art and Innovation categories at the New York Festivals, and Gold (Sound Design) and Bronze (Comedy) at the Audio Production Awards. Cold Case Crime Cuts was shortlisted at the New York Festivals.
2022 – The Skewer won Gold for Best Comedy at the Radio Academy ARIAS for the second consecutive year. Cold Case Crime Cuts won Best Comedy at the British Podcast Awards, while The Skewer and Rockanory won six awards between them at the New York Festivals, including Comedy, Innovation, Sound Design, Comedy Podcast and Script. Cold Case Crime Cuts, Rockanory and The Skewer were also nominated at the Radio Academy ARIAS, and Cold Case Crime Cuts received a VoiceOver Award nomination.
2023 – The Skewer won Gold for Best Comedy at the Radio Academy ARIAS for the third consecutive year, Gold for Best Comedy at the British Podcast Awards and two Gold awards at the New York Festivals for Best Comedy and Best Editing. It was also Highly Commended at the BBC Audio Drama Awards and was a finalist at the British Comedy Guide Awards. Cool Skool Sketch Show was nominated for Best Comedy at the Radio Academy ARIAS.
2024 – Holmes won Gold for Comedy Producer of the Year and Silver for Producer of the Year at the Audio Production Awards. Generation Shame won Gold for Best Single Documentary at the Radio Academy ARIAS and two New York Festival awards for Best Investigative Documentary and Social Justice. The Skewer won Silver for Best Comedy at the Radio Academy ARIAS, three awards at the New York Festivals (Best Editing, Best Sound Art and Best Comedy), and its BBC iPlayer adaptation The Skewer: Three Twisted Years received a BAFTA nomination and was shortlisted at the British Comedy Guide Awards. We Forced a Bot to Write This Show won Best Writing and Best Comedy at the New York Festivals and was shortlisted at the British Comedy Guide Awards. Marco Pantani: Death of a Pirate won a Documentary Award at the New York Festivals.
2025 – The Skewer won Gold for Best Comedy at the Radio Academy ARIAS for the fourth consecutive year. The Skewer and Jon Holmes Says the C-Word were nominated at the British Podcast Awards, while The Skewer was also nominated at the British Comedy Guide Awards.
2026 – The Skewer won Silver at the Audio Academy Awards. The Skewer, Father Figuring with Darren Harriott, Mary Bourke: Who Cares and Fantasy Park: Fifty Years On were nominated at the New York Festivals. The Naked Week was nominated for Best Radio Comedy at the Chortle Awards.
