British Comedy Guide
Tom Mayhew
Tom Mayhew

Tom Mayhew

  • English
  • Actor, comedian, stand-up comedian, writer and podcaster
Tom Mayhew

Tom Mayhew is a critically acclaimed comedian, whose material about being working-class - mixing the personal and the political, with the punchline-rate of a one-liner comic - sets him apart from any other act on the circuit.

Year Production Role
2024 The News Quiz - Series 115
  1. E6 - Cleverly Timed Exits
Writer (Additional Material)
2024 The Camden Fringe Self
2024 Tunbridge Wells Fringe Festival Self
2023 Tom Mayhew: This Time Next Year, We'll Be Millionaires! Self
2023 The Camden Fringe Self
2023 ARG Com Fest Self
2023 Hastings Comedy Festival Self
2023 The London LGBTQ+ Stand-Up Comedy Festival Self
2022 Birmingham Comedy Festival Self
2022 Birmingham Comedy Festival Self
2022 Tom Mayhew: Trash Rich Self
2022 Are You Interested in a Comedy Compilation Show? Host / Presenter
2022 Tom Mayhew Is Benefit Scum - Series 2
View episodes
Writer
2022 Tom Mayhew Is Benefit Scum - Series 2
View episodes
Host / Presenter
2022 Greater Manchester Fringe Self
2022 Guildford Fringe Festival Self
2021 The News Quiz - Series 105
  1. E3 - Episode Three
Writer (Additional Material)
2021 Tom Mayhew Is Benefit Scum - Series 1
View episodes
Writer
2021 Tom Mayhew Is Benefit Scum - Series 1
View episodes
Host / Presenter
2020 Glasgow International Comedy Festival Self
2020 Vault Festival Self
2019 I, Tom Mayhew Self
2019 The News Quiz - Series 99
  1. E6 - Episode Six
Writer (Additional Material)
2018 The News Quiz - Series 98
  1. E3 - Episode Three
Writer (Additional Material)
2018 Tall Dark Friend Ensemble Actor
2018 Newsjack - Series 19
  1. E4 - Episode Four
  2. E5 - Episode Five
Writer
2018 Best In Class / Free Festival Guest
2018 BBC New Comedy Award - 2018
  1. E4 - Heat 4 - Manchester
  2. E7 - Semi Final 2
Self
2018 From Russia With Lou & Annie
  1. E13 - Matchday 13
Self
2017 Tom Mayhew: Fragile Fragments Self
2016 Adele and Tom's First Birthday Party! Self

Non-comedy TV and film credits may be found here:
Tom Mayhew on IMDb

Nationality
English
Home town
Tring
Resident of
England

Tom Mayhew is a critically acclaimed comedian, whose material about being working-class - mixing the personal and the political, with the punchline-rate of a one-liner comic - sets him apart from any other act on the circuit. His 2019 Edinburgh show I, Tom Mayhew, about being someone in their 20s living on benefits in austerity Britain, received 4 and 5 star reviews across the board, and transferred to a sell-out Soho Theatre run.

He adapted this show for his own radio series - Tom Mayhew is Benefit Scum - which aired on BBC Radio 4 in March 2021.

After dropping out of university, Tom found himself unemployed for three years. Living in a small Home Counties town with no access to a car, he got stuck in a poverty trap, trying to fight against a system that punishes the poor. He eventually found work at a national supermarket chain, and through a mix of talent, persistence and sheer bloody mindedness managed to develop his comedy career. He won the Comedy Store's legendary Gong Show in 2016, was nominated for Leicester Comedy Festival Comedian Of The Year in 2017, and made the semi-finals of the BBC New Comedy Award in 2018.

Tom is the voice of the Precariat, articulating the worldview of a generation of working class people who came of age in a UK dominated by austerity, the gig economy, an insane housing market, intern culture and bullshit apps. He has a unique voice, telling stories that are rarely heard in a media that seems to believe the working class should only be seen in Essex nail bars, street gangs or police cells.

Despite all of the social and economic cards being stacked against him, Tom finds hope and humour in his family, who have remained resilient and strong despite everything they have had thrown at them. He is fighting for a better world for people like them, one joke at a time.

​He has also written for The News Quiz (BBC Radio 4), NewsJack (BBC Radio 4 Extra), and performed on Radio 1 and BBC Radio 4 Extra.

Malcolm Hardee Awards 2023
Cunning Stunt (Nominee)
Dave Funniest Joke Of The Fringe Award 2021
Main Award (Nominee)
BBC New Comedy Award 2018
Main Prize (Semi-final two)
Leicester Mercury Comedian Of The Year 2017
Leicester Mercury Comedian of the Year (Nominee)

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