Rob Barratt is a Dudley-born and Cornwall-based comic poet, humourist and singer. His brain-tickling, word-mangling performance combines clever word play, verse and song with satire, parody and audience participation. Rob deals with such important topics as squid, data-driven education, chocolate, Neanderthal politics, the weather in Scotland, distressed furniture, pissoirs and his relationship with potatoes but beneath the humour lurk serious issues. In recent years Rob has appeared at folk, literature and arts festivals and venues all over the British Isles and Australia.

“This is not only clever but I think it’s very funny” (Mike Harding)

“Rob revels in wily wordplay & rogue rhyming but his conceits & surrealist forays into the imagination take the ruddy biscuit. Hilarious!” Adrian Mealing (UK Touring and Spooky Men’s Chorale)

“‘Comic Poet’ it says on the card. That’s not the half of it. The man is a velvet tongued assassin, using charm and humour as a subtle lever to highlight life’s absurdities. It’s all very light and sing-along jocular – but this man is dangerously subversive and his show should be witnessed at all costs at your earliest opportunity. Bloody Funny.” (Barrie Dimond of Festivals for All at Beardy Folk Festival, Shropshire, June 2022)

“What a night we had on Friday with the amazing wordsmith Rob Barratt. Funny, witty, poignant, thought-provoking poems and songs, we were laughing until our ribs hurt one moment and then thinking about the curved balls that life often throws at us the next. A great performer, Rob immediately engages with his audience and takes them on the journey into his world and it is a wonderful experience” (Watford Folk Club, 2024)

“A festival first last night, with an encore for the brilliant Rob Barratt” (Parracombe Arts and Literary Festival, May 2025)

“A cracking evening with a talented wordsmith who made audience participation voluntarily enjoyable.” (Liz Williams, Butterleigh Village Hall, Devon, May 2024)