Xfm had a tradition of having weekend shows hosted by male comedians and after their agent submitted a demo, James and Robins were granted a weekend slot, following in the footsteps of Ricky Gervais & Stephen Merchant, Adam and Joe, Jimmy Carr, Russell Brand and Josh Widdicombe.

[2] The Elis James and John Robins show debuted on Xfm London on Sunday 16 February 2014 in the 10:00am–1:00pm slot and was produced by Dave Masterman.

[5] It was revealed on 27 March 2019 that James and Robins were leaving Radio X and the show would be ending after five years on air, stating that they had "not left under a cloud of unproduceability".

[6] On 2 April 2019, it was announced that James and Robins would begin broadcasting on BBC Radio 5 Live on Friday 31 May, reuniting with Masterman.

With no music or advert breaks on Radio 5 Live, almost the entire show is released in a weekly podcast, with an additional intro recorded for it.

[2] The show is mainly conversational and comedic with anecdotes based around John's obsessions (Frank Zappa, the rock band Queen, farthing collecting, bushcraft, session ales, pubs, Bristol, Golf) and Elis's obsessions (the Wales football team, Swansea City, the past, Welsh Socialism, Gorky's Zygotic Mynci, Super Furry Animals) forming a backbone of material.

John's persistent support of Queen paid dividends in 2017 when their single "Bohemian Rhapsody" was voted Radio X's Best Of British.

Named The Elis James and John Robins Experience, the show began in October in Norwich and finished in the Kentish Town Fourm in November.

On 28 July 2018, Elis and John broadcast the radio show live from the Kendal Calling music festival, which was put out as episode 230 of the podcast.

[23] It was announced that the 250th episode of the radio show would be broadcast in front of a live audience at the Comedy Store London on 22 December 2018.