Elis was born in Haverfordwest, Wales, on 3rd November 1980 and brought up in Carmarthen. Before entering the world of comedy he had various stop-gap jobs, including as an office temp from which was sacked for being "absolutely terrible". He also played guitar with indie band Heck, with whom he released an EP in addition to live performances. He began his career as a comedian in 2005, the next year winning the best comedy prize at the National Radio awards. In 2010 he supported Rhod Gilbert on his national tour and appeared at the Edinburgh Fringe with another Welsh comic Chris Corcoran and in 2014 he appeared at the Hay Festival with his partner Isy Suttie, with whom he has a daughter also born that year .Also in 2014 he featured in a comedy pilot 'Josh' with Josh Widdicombe' which became a series as of 2016 running into a second season. In 2015 he took the lead in 'Crims', another sitcom in which he played a hapless inmate at a prison for young offenders and has also been a regular on comedy panel show 'Mock the Week'.