Earlier in his career he was a finalist in So You Think You're Funny 2010 and winner of Leicester Mercury Comedian Of The Year 2013.
...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
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Book (2023)
Lil' Muffin Drops The Mic by Romesh Ranganathan
DVD (2016)
Romesh Ranganathan: Irrational
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