# Glenn Robbins
**Glenn Robbins** (born 1956) is an Australian comedian, actor, and producer whose signature television characters, the pensioner Uncle Arthur on *The Comedy Company*, the accident-prone outback tour guide Russell Coight, and Kel Knight on *Kath & Kim*, have made him one of the most widely recognized figures in Australian television comedy.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0730350/) • [2](https://www.nfsa.gov.au/collection/item/comedy-company-uncle-arthurs-home-movies)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | 1956, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0730350/) |
| Breakthrough | *The Comedy Company* (Network Ten, 1988–1990), as pensioner Uncle Arthur[2](https://www.nfsa.gov.au/collection/item/comedy-company-uncle-arthurs-home-movies) |
| Signature characters | Uncle Arthur, Russell Coight (*All Aussie Adventures*, 2001–2002, revived 2017), Kel Knight (*Kath & Kim*, 2002 onward)[2](https://www.nfsa.gov.au/collection/item/comedy-company-uncle-arthurs-home-movies) • [3](https://tvtonight.com.au/2016/11/how-glenn-robbins-became-russell-coight.html) |
| Sketch comedy career | *The Eleventh Hour* (1985), *Fast Forward* (from 1991), *Full Frontal* (1993), *Jimeoin* (1994–95)[4](https://clpr.com.au/pdf/work/SLTIS_Media_Kit_as_at_9.2.15.pdf) |
| Panel television | Regular panelist on *The Panel* from 1998[4](https://clpr.com.au/pdf/work/SLTIS_Media_Kit_as_at_9.2.15.pdf) |
| Film roles | Pete O'May in *Lantana* (2001), Benny G in *Boytown* (2006), Kel Knight in *Kath and Kimderella* (2012)[4](https://clpr.com.au/pdf/work/SLTIS_Media_Kit_as_at_9.2.15.pdf) |
| Recent television | Wayne Wheeler in *Upper Middle Bogan* (ABC TV)[4](https://clpr.com.au/pdf/work/SLTIS_Media_Kit_as_at_9.2.15.pdf) |
## Early path into comedy
Robbins was born in Melbourne, Victoria, in 1956[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0730350/). Before performing, he trained as a town planner and turned away from that profession, taking a drama teaching degree and then appearing in commercials before moving into comedy.[5](https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/s1e55-glenn-robbins/id1033015748?i=1000532842900)
His first television sketch work came on *The Eleventh Hour* in 1985.[4](https://clpr.com.au/pdf/work/SLTIS_Media_Kit_as_at_9.2.15.pdf) That late-night series grew out of an Australian Film Commission workshop experiment that brought together a group of young writer-performers including Mary-Anne Fahey, Ian McFadyen, Peter Moon, Mark Mitchell, Robbins, Alan Pentland, and Steve Vizard, and it served as a bridge from Melbourne's 1970s and 1980s theater-restaurant scene, where comedians emerging from university revue honed their timing before live audiences, to national television.[6](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1329878X261459252)
## The Comedy Company and Uncle Arthur
Robbins came to wide attention in 1988 on the Network Ten sketch series *The Comedy Company*, which ran from 16 February 1988 until 11 November 1990.[2](https://www.nfsa.gov.au/collection/item/comedy-company-uncle-arthurs-home-movies) The series was set in suburban Australia and featured recurring characters including schoolgirl Kylie Mole (Mary-Anne Fahey), greengrocer Con the Fruiterer (Mark Mitchell), the bickering couple Maryanne and Ian (Mary-Anne Fahey and Ian McFadyen), the terminally unemployed Col'n Carpenter (Kym Gyngell), Russell the postman (Russell Gilbert), and the pensioner Uncle Arthur, played by Robbins.[2](https://www.nfsa.gov.au/collection/item/comedy-company-uncle-arthurs-home-movies)
**Uncle Arthur.** The character is an affectionate portrait of an eccentric, old-fashioned uncle that audience members of the time might have recognized from their own families, and Robbins played him with a relentless upbeat jocularity even in absurd situations, such as being beaten up by his neighbor in a home-movie sketch from Series 1, Episode 11.[2](https://www.nfsa.gov.au/collection/item/comedy-company-uncle-arthurs-home-movies) The National Film and Sound Archive's curator notes read the character as a comic observation of the "she'll be right" attitude, a kind of old-fashioned stoicism and avoidance of uncomfortable emotions.[2](https://www.nfsa.gov.au/collection/item/comedy-company-uncle-arthurs-home-movies)
The series itself became a ratings event. Catchphrases such as Kylie Mole's "I go, I go… I just go" entered popular use, and *The Comedy Company* generated headlines by out-rating Channel Nine's *60 Minutes* after six weeks on air, maintaining record ratings for an Australian television comedy through its run. Much of that success followed a move from a lukewarm Tuesday-night slot to the prime family viewing slot of 7:30 pm on Sunday.[2](https://www.nfsa.gov.au/collection/item/comedy-company-uncle-arthurs-home-movies)
## Fast Forward and the 1990s
In 1991 Robbins joined the team of *Fast Forward* on the [Seven Network](https://www.edgepedia.org/seven-network), the sketch comedy that ran from 1989 to 1992 and is often described as the flagship of the late-1980s and early-1990s boom in Australian television comedy.[4](https://clpr.com.au/pdf/work/SLTIS_Media_Kit_as_at_9.2.15.pdf) • [7](https://www.iwriteidirect.com/short-history-of-australian-comedy-tv/) He went on to appear in the sketch shows *Full Frontal* (1993) and *Jimeoin* (1994–95).[4](https://clpr.com.au/pdf/work/SLTIS_Media_Kit_as_at_9.2.15.pdf)
In 1998 he became a regular panelist on the weekly talk show *The Panel*, a Working Dog production, and it was through his work on that program that his best-known later character emerged.[4](https://clpr.com.au/pdf/work/SLTIS_Media_Kit_as_at_9.2.15.pdf)
## Russell Coight and All Aussie Adventures
The idea for Russell Coight came from Working Dog's Tom Gleisner, who told Robbins he was playing with a comic world combining [Steve Irwin](https://www.edgepedia.org/steve-irwin), Troy Dann, and the Leyland Brothers and thought there was a character in it. Robbins initially responded with self-deprecation, saying "You don't want me in thaaaat", before a few days of test filming led to the series.[3](https://tvtonight.com.au/2016/11/how-glenn-robbins-became-russell-coight.html)
*All Aussie Adventures*, an outback adventure parody, ran from 2001 to 2002 with a telemovie in 2004, and returned in 2017 ready for more of the character's trademark bushcraft mishaps and self-injury.[3](https://tvtonight.com.au/2016/11/how-glenn-robbins-became-russell-coight.html) Robbins co-created the series with Working Dog for its first two series.[8](https://www.celebrityspeakers.com.au/speakers/glenn-robbins/?speaker=Glenn+Robbins)
## Kath & Kim and later work
From 2002 Robbins played Kel Knight, the sausage-making fiancé of Kath ([Jane Turner](https://www.edgepedia.org/jane-turner)), in the comedy series *Kath & Kim* opposite Jane Turner and [Gina Riley](https://www.edgepedia.org/gina-riley), a mockumentary-style sitcom about a Melbourne mother-daughter duo.[4](https://clpr.com.au/pdf/work/SLTIS_Media_Kit_as_at_9.2.15.pdf) • [9](https://www.tomsguide.com/entertainment/streaming/one-of-the-funniest-sitcoms-ive-ever-watched-is-a-hidden-aussie-gem-streaming-on-netflix) He continued as Kel Knight in the 2005 telemovie *Da Kath & Kim Code* and reprised the role in the 2012 feature *Kath and Kimderella*.[4](https://clpr.com.au/pdf/work/SLTIS_Media_Kit_as_at_9.2.15.pdf) • [1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0730350/)
His film roles include Pete O'May in the award-winning *Lantana* (2001) and Benny G, an eighties pop star making an ill-advised comeback, opposite Mick Molloy in *Boytown* (2006).[4](https://clpr.com.au/pdf/work/SLTIS_Media_Kit_as_at_9.2.15.pdf) On television he later played Wayne Wheeler in *Upper Middle Bogan* for ABC TV, credited by IMDb over 24 episodes from 2013 to 2016, and appeared as Dean in the comedy series *Fisk* (2021–2024).[4](https://clpr.com.au/pdf/work/SLTIS_Media_Kit_as_at_9.2.15.pdf) • [1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0730350/)
## Standing in Australian comedy
Robbins is one of the few Australian television performers whose fan base spans several generations, from *Comedy Company* viewers who knew him as Uncle Arthur, to Russell Coight fans, to *Kath & Kim* audiences who followed Kel Knight.[5](https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/s1e55-glenn-robbins/id1033015748?i=1000532842900) Beyond performing, he has worked behind the scenes nurturing emerging writers and performers, most notably on *The Ronny Johns Half Hour* and *Thank God You're Here*.[5](https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/s1e55-glenn-robbins/id1033015748?i=1000532842900) His career spans more than four decades.[8](https://www.celebrityspeakers.com.au/speakers/glenn-robbins/?speaker=Glenn+Robbins)
## References
1. [Glenn Robbins, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0730350/)
2. [The Comedy Company: Uncle Arthur's home movies, National Film and Sound Archive of Australia](https://www.nfsa.gov.au/collection/item/comedy-company-uncle-arthurs-home-movies)
3. [How Glenn Robbins became Russell Coight, TV Tonight (David Knox, 4 November 2016)](https://tvtonight.com.au/2016/11/how-glenn-robbins-became-russell-coight.html)
4. [A Screentime Production media kit, Screentime/ABC TV](https://clpr.com.au/pdf/work/SLTIS_Media_Kit_as_at_9.2.15.pdf)
5. [S1E55: Glenn Robbins, Out of the Question with Adam Zwar, Apple Podcasts (23 August 2021)](https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/s1e55-glenn-robbins/id1033015748?i=1000532842900)
6. [Fast Forward and the high broadcast moment: television sketch comedy and the conditions for democratic nationalism, Mark Gibson, Tony Moore, Steve Vizard, Media International Australia](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1329878X261459252)
7. [Short History of Australian comedy TV, I Write I Direct (28 March 2013)](https://www.iwriteidirect.com/short-history-of-australian-comedy-tv/)
8. [Glenn Robbins, Celebrity Speakers](https://www.celebrityspeakers.com.au/speakers/glenn-robbins/?speaker=Glenn+Robbins)
9. [One of the funniest sitcoms I've ever watched is a hidden Aussie gem streaming on Netflix, Tom's Guide](https://www.tomsguide.com/entertainment/streaming/one-of-the-funniest-sitcoms-ive-ever-watched-is-a-hidden-aussie-gem-streaming-on-netflix)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Theater and dance › Stand-up comedy and comedians › Australian and New Zealand comedians*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license