...and how Romesh Ranganathan helped him back on stage

Tom Davis has told of how he quit stand-up after suffering a crisis of confidence – but was coaxed back on stage by his friend Romesh Ranganathan.

‘I took a long time out of stand-up’ he said on the Dish from Waitrose podcast. ‘I came into this industry to do that and loved it. Then through one thing and another, my confidence just drained and I got such anxiety… I wouldn't eat for the day of a gig, I'd be so anxious.

‘I just have so much fear of it going really badly wrong. I think you get to a place in this as a job where you put so much emphasis on, "I've had one bad gig" or "if this thing goes wrong is that going to be the end of everything?"

‘So, I just stopped and I concentrated on the acting, the writing, and I was very fortunate to do that. 

‘But then there was always this bit of me that was really wanting to get back to it. So, I was very fortunate. Really, Romesh was a big part of that, helping me as a friend.’

He said Ranganathan – his co-host on The  Wolf And Owl podcast –  helped rebuild his confidence by asking him to open for him on tour

‘I turned up and I was just absolutely so needy and pathetic, shaking,’ he told podcast hosts Nick Grimshaw and Angela Hartnett. And then Ranganathan calmed his nerves by saying: ‘This is actually about me’, and that audiences hadn’t come to see Davis.

‘He’s right there. It's a testament to Romesh as to what a beautiful human being he is,’ the King Gary star said.

‘I think that's the thing with stand-up. I was like, "how do I just try to get better at this thing? How can I be more open, more honest".’

He added that his current tour, Spudgun – named after his nickname when he worked on the building site – was more open, especially in talking about mental health.

‘It can be the hardest thing to do,’ he said of stand-up, ‘but it's also the [most rewarding as well]. 

‘If you're in a room and people are laughing and you're on a riff and you feel like we're sharing something here. It's pretty amazing. I'm very fortunate to now do this and to have done the things I've done.’

• Dish from Waitrose is available on all podcast providers

Published: 18 Feb 2026