Tom Davis On Success, Setbacks & Being a Dad

7:02Romesh Ranganathan:I mean, obviously you do The Wolf for Now. Yeah, still. We'll talk about that. Yeah. But you've been doing a lot of interviews. You've done, I don't know if it'll have come out by the time this comes out, but probably Dish. Yeah. you've done another episode of Parenting Hell which I believe on the Wolf and Owl, your partner Romesh Ranganathan who you do that podcast with, were slightly aggrieved that you had given away so many juicy details on Parenting Hell.

7:28Tom Davis:Yes, he was furious

7:29Romesh Ranganathan:as is his way. He likes, he's very What is it like working with Romesh?

7:34Tom Davis:He's very possessive.

7:35Romesh Ranganathan:A lot of people sort of didn't know that you were such close friends but actually the dynamic that you two have got

7:40Tom Davis:Yeah. Yeah. Talk to us about that a little bit. He is very possessive and very clingy. He can be quite suffocating.

7:49Romesh Ranganathan:Do you find it difficult to breathe because of the way that he's put you on his back and carried you through?

7:57Romesh Ranganathan:Yeah, I'd be nothing without rubbish. It's sort of like the elevated success that the podcast provides alongside the live shows. Do you find that suffocating?

8:06Tom Davis:Yeah.

8:06Romesh Ranganathan:Or does it give you oxygen, particularly to your mortgage payments?

8:09Tom Davis:It certainly helps with the mortgage payments. I would say yeah I don't think I'd be here now if it wasn't from a stranger Nathan and helping me along the way I think he's an extraordinarily affluent and wealthy human being who helps out people along the way he's a bit like Batman

8:31Romesh Ranganathan:right yeah but instead of like so by which you mean sort of when somebody commits a crime i feel like he punishes the poor without really looking to the real sort of reasons that they've fallen

8:40Tom Davis:into yeah those circumstances i'd say that i'd be his alfred right yeah he's kept me on just sort of doing little chores around the house yeah he doesn't really like any food i cook do you think alfred makes meals for batman still definitely what now what now yeah because batman's dead now or he's living in France, I think. Yeah. Well, it depends which university you're going with. It'll only ever be Bale for me. Right. I can never move on unless I get a part in the Patterson one. In which case, he'll be fucking, oh, my God, this is a seminar one for me.

9:14Tom Davis:No, generally, I like it. There has been no Batman until... This is it for me. This is all I care about. Could I say, was there another Batman before you, Rob?

9:24Romesh Ranganathan:Don't call me Rob, please. um no look it's a real honor to have you on the podcast uh one of the things we haven't talked well we you know you and i haven't talked about is uh your route into comedy yeah what did you grow up watching like what what was your what were you inspired by uh so yeah i suppose stand-up

9:42Tom Davis:wise would have been def jam was one of the first i think bernie mack was the first eddie murphy but bernie mack i think billy connolly and then stuff a little bit more uh i guess things people people like Mike Reed. Yeah.

9:57Romesh Ranganathan:You've got a Mike Reed vibe about it. Yeah, that's what that was. I think people were slightly shocked when you said Def Jam and Eddie Murphy. But now we've moved on some more comfortable areas in terms of your influences. No, but we're the same in that. Def Jam comedy, Eddie Murphy, Bernie Mac. Unbelievable, right? Yeah. And I think you do, and by the way, I was being facetious there, I do think you have that in common with them in terms of like, you're a great writer and obviously your career has been testament to that. but on top of that you have got I think funny bones do you mean the way you say stuff is funny your mannerisms are funny and that's also true the people that we grew up really loving you know Eddie Murphy just the way he does the voices and you know Bernie Mac just as soon as he walks on before he said anything you're laughing right yeah I think like those guys I think now when I

10:46Tom Davis:look back that I think they just felt like stand-up was it just sort of elevated what I think is my favorite art form just to just to watch them come out and it was like an explosion

10:57Romesh Ranganathan:so then you watched that stand-up and then what did you how did you actually because then but

11:02Tom Davis:then also i was i was i was a obsessed with uh you know things like blackadder 40 towers um seinfeld was a big thing for like you know my my me and my dad would watch a lot of comedy i was like comedy was sort of our thing uh to watch together and and uh and i was i think because you know i was dyslexic at school i adhd i think like but i was always obsessed with you know making people laugh skits or before i even knew i was doing things i was even at work on on site or whatever that would be my that would be my defense mechanism it would be my way to get on with people would be to be funny impressions of people messing about it was always i was always doing that even before i was kind of doing it within the industry that was just always i'd rather than ever really having to uh sort of ever be myself in a sense it was a very easy thing to to play a part and be funny and you know like without sounding too old man about it do

12:01Romesh Ranganathan:you think that like when when you talk to new people coming through or newer people the ones that are really good i think or the ones that end up doing really interesting work and I include yourself in this, are the people that have got like an obsession with comedy and I don't mean performing it necessarily. Everybody wants to perform, you know, everybody that's in comedy wants to perform it, obviously. But watching it, you know, like the people that are really good are fucking obsessed with watching stand-up specials, obsessed with watching sitcom, obsessed with watching sketch. Like, I do think that's part of, you have to have watched, in order to be good, you have to have seen what's sort of out there or what's come before you, right?

12:40Romesh Ranganathan:Yeah, and also I think there's an important thing

12:41Tom Davis:to be said about what is your what are you reaching for and what like you know we talk about on our podcast a lot and i talk about it for now yeah openly but i think i'm very hypercritical of anything i've ever done or anything i'm and i don't say it for effect i constantly have a question of is that good enough from stand up to any show i've made i think i could have probably done that better than i did i'm always trying to i heard you talking on dish and i think we've talked about it but when you're taught, I've watched your stand-up from watching you in pubs and being blown away from you. So, you know, you go off to do arenas and think the evolution of Romesh Ranganathan is incredible.

13:22Tom Davis:Like, I generally can see it every time you go out, and I've no doubt the next tour will be even, you know, pushing yourself. But to hear you say, I don't think I've done my stand-up tour yet, is, I feel like that about everything. I feel that about, and I think it's, because I love it so much. I think it's the most, it's the funnest job to do in the world. There's stresses, whatever, but I feel blessed to do it. But also, I want to strive to push myself as hard as I can to go, I think there's more to me as a performer rather than just sitting there. And when I watch people, I'm always more inspired by the people I see now coming up, I go, wow, that's a really interesting performer.

14:04Tom Davis:That's someone who's doing something different. and now someone who's pushing the limits of this rather than just going, all right, I've found a bit of a level here and I think I could just tread water.

14:13Romesh Ranganathan:You've talked a lot about your wanting to see more stuff from people with your background or that plays to people from your background.

14:21Tom Davis:Yeah.

14:22Romesh Ranganathan:Whenever you're making stuff, are you thinking about that? Like when you write your stand-up and you write your sitcoms and stuff, are you thinking what is going to play with people who are like me or are you just doing what you think is funny? like what's the engine behind all that um i think he goes she's the most left field thing of that

14:41Tom Davis:like i genuinely think the thing that i always think is what's the thing furthest away from that you'd expect me to do like i think it's really easy and in spud gun i kind of deal with this a bit but it's a perception of when i walk into a room or open my mouth people have made a decision quite quickly about me before they've even met me and that's always going to be how you know stereotypically what they might think my background and what i'm going to talk about is so that's why murdering successful was a far more important show for me to make than king gary because it broke perception it wasn't it was very different and i think my thing is always you know trying to to get people yeah you might be from a very working class background king gary is important for for that because it reached a mainstream audience but actually doing something where you go that's different that's that's something that you wouldn't be expecting actually there shouldn't be the fact that just because you sound like me and you come from my background you you've got to make sitcoms about working class people.

15:36Tom Davis:You should be able to go out and do any flight of fancy you want. And I think that's been the moment someone gave me that bit of advice to try to break stereotype and try to do something different was the moment really for me that I was like, okay, let's have some fun with this and try and do something.

15:51Romesh Ranganathan:No, you mentioned murder and success, Phil. I've never said this to you, even though we've spoken a lot. In my opinion, it's one of the funniest things that's ever been on British television. I feel so awkward when you give me a compliment. Thank you very much. It's fucking unbelievable. It's so funny. And I think like, I don't know if I've said, you know, because I think being mates, you don't say this stuff to each other. And obviously we big each other up and stuff, but I'm talking to you as a fan and somebody interviewing me on this podcast. When Murder and Successful was being made, people didn't know what the fuck it was, what it was going to be, because they were just like, people go, have you heard about the show, Murder and Successful?

16:32Romesh Ranganathan:and I go like you know you go what is it and they go I don't really know it's just like and then when they describe it to be honest with you it sounded like a mess do you know what I mean you sort of go like it's sort of improv and then they're going to get a celeb in and the celeb won't know what's going on and like da da da and you just go that sounds like it could be a car crash do you know what I mean but what actually you were doing and I want to like properly give your flowers here what you were doing was making a show unlike anything that had been ever made before because you've got improv in it you're leading it script wise the lead character in yourself knows what's going on and is taking this person through it and then you've got a guest who is just reacting to what's happening all these amazing you've managed to find a way to take character actors and put them in a in a framework that makes them really really funny and you manage to get people cracking you know there's moments of like corpsing and cracking up on tv where you're watching it and you don't feel sometimes when that happens you feel like you're watching to some people having a good time that you're not invited to it's a masterpiece and i'm sure you've seen that and you've read that and whatever but it is you know i'll i've never said this before i'll never say it to you again and i certainly won't reiterate this if you ask me to repeat it i've got it now it's it's whenever i want yeah it's a it's a remarkable achievement and i think if you were to do I would go as far as to say if you were to do My Owners Successful and that was the only thing you ever did that's still an incredible career it's better than almost everyone could achieve it's that show is pinnacle comedy man it's unbelievable and I mean that and I just apologise for the level of disrespect I've shown you on every one of our podcasts since but that you know there's probably a part of it that's me again

18:21Tom Davis:I find that more easy to chat to you in that level when you're just absolutely roasting me than giving me props So what's the origin story, I guess? I was sort of in a... I suppose it was the first time... I was in that weird space, and I think probably a lot of acts go to where... I've done a few things, and there was a bit of heat on me, and I had a few different meetings with different production companies about having what could be my own project and my own thing. And one of the people I met was a guy called Andy Brereton. And I remember meeting a lot of really exciting people, but going into a room with Andy and just feeling like you saw I found my comedy person I found someone who got me and and sort of got what I was about I felt like of everyone I met he was one one person who really and also he didn't feel it felt like you know we're going to do something a bit different and and do so and he felt like you know he was really from more of an entertainment background in a sense but like myself he was a comedy nerd and and like we bonded with chat over like SNL and we'd chat over Key and Peele and stuff that we were watching at that time and then we just together with Apple Sperry this became the thing, this became the thing we started developing and it was never really from there to, you know we did like read throughs which were fucking shambolic, every channel I think apart from the BBC turned it down Turned it down?

19:50Tom Davis:Yeah, everyone turned it down every channel and what did they say what were the reasons they gave you no one could see it at all no one could see and we did read throughs which seems an insane thing to do for an improvisational show we get a celebrity guest in and give them a script to read so you could and subsequently I've spoken to people who did it and a lot of them you know they just there was something there but they couldn't quite see it and then we were lucky Zai Bennett came in and Zai got it straight away and Zai was like

20:17Romesh Ranganathan:so he was at the BBC

20:18Tom Davis:at that time so he gave us some money to he was like it's going to be better if you just shoot film something and was he was he excited about it straight away yeah i think so yeah and and and but then it was a weird thing and i don't know if you had this but i was i was conscious that number one i've been small parts and a lot of other things uh and this was probably going to be my one big chance to actually be a lead this is going to be a thing that i was going to sort of live and die on this um so it just i i've never worked as hard and probably never will again on something to make sure it says what you saw, then you've, in a very sweet way, which feels very weird to hear from you.

20:57Tom Davis:I mean, enjoy it. But, yeah, it was, so we pitched that, we shot something, James DeFront came on board, and from there we... You were already good mates with James DeFront. Yeah, yeah, yeah, we've grown up together, and it felt like everything came together at the time, and I think I was going through quite a lot in my personal, like, you know, I sort of lost, me and Catherine, lost our flat. We'd been through quite a tough time. We were living back at my mum's. It felt there was so much riding on this thing being a success. And at the time, as you said...

21:33Romesh Ranganathan:So, sorry, can I just stop? So before Murder, Sisters Phil got away, were you struggling then, career-wise?

21:41Tom Davis:Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'd made that transition from, you know, at the time i'd been selling t-shirts at festivals um whilst a bit doing bits of tv yeah bits of tv stand up whatever and i'd still doing your day here and there on site picking up a bit of work so this was the first thing this is the first first thing to go okay well and even then really it was murder and successful was out but and then i was like okay now i can i can crack on but it was but yeah i'd basically been tucked up i'd done a few jobs and i hadn't been paid and i sort of I was just struggling at that time financially. So there was so much emphasis on this.

22:22Tom Davis:I don't say it lightly. If it hadn't have worked, I wouldn't be in there. I'd have gone back to the building.

22:26Romesh Ranganathan:So if you married Cess Van and got away?

22:28Tom Davis:I'd have gone. I would have either. My relationship was at a time where I'd had so many pilots and I'd had so many things that hadn't worked and things that hadn't got, you know, you know how it is. We're very blessed. We've had those shows. we've had the things that have gone right but there's so many people that you and i can name

22:47Romesh Ranganathan:who are brilliant yeah who had that same knife edge and then it yeah it just didn't go that way

22:51Tom Davis:and there's people that i look at who i think are some of the best comedians i've ever worked with and i think that it's just luck that thing goes your way and at that time i was i was questioning my place in the industry i was like i don't think you know if this if this isn't the thing i don't know what will be so i put everything i had into that i was like and i kind of made a deal at the time with myself and with katherine that if this doesn't work then i guess i guess in many ways

23:15Romesh Ranganathan:if people hate you zaya bennett's a person to be annoyed with isn't that yeah yeah and he's still working in the industry so he's doing very well for himself

23:26Tom Davis:never ever mentions murdering successful i hold it in a lot more gravitas than he does um every time i see him i give him a cuddle say thank you for changing my life he doesn't know what I'm talking to him about. He doesn't remember commissioning it. He goes, fuck it, how many episodes of League of the Rone have you done? Why do we get a hamper from Fortnum and Masons every year from the Davis family? But, you know, I guess that's the thing. People, in that small, it's a small thing. It's a small jet. He's like, I think this might be all right. Yeah, he just got behind him. But for you, he doesn't realise what a massive thing it is.

23:59Tom Davis:Yeah, and it was, and it was, and then from there, it was like, I can tell you, like, no one, I knew in the industry everyone thought it was mad because everyone you went out to so many different names who didn't want to do it and you go to comedy nights and yeah we've just seen them do this with SNL and you know me and Andy and everyone people we go and try to get and people are like really good friends of mine I'd call and go I'm doing this show for BBC do you want to do it? No you're fucking mad it sounds insane so we were lucky that we had Yeah do you think you called all the people you know?

24:35Tom Davis:you still have an extra grind we didn't have comedians on the show like that

24:40Romesh Ranganathan:but who would you have played huh who would you have played i don't fucking know but i mean like at least find something create something you created an asian character in king gary didn't you called stewart williams why can you that character was so written for you how could that have been anyone else how could it have been it was you that was so written for you yeah no it was in every angle who's your favourite guest ever on murder

25:05Tom Davis:there's so many there's one there's one act we had that was it was the hardest two days we shot every all of them in two days right so you had to you're completely in it and you're rewriting constantly so you'd shoot a scene it would go a certain way then you'd go back in with James and Andy sometimes Nico and you'd be just writing well fuck okay we've got to change this maybe get Ramesh in or something I don't know if we're that desperate yet

25:32Tom Davis:um but uh but jamie lang man was jamie lang was and and deborah meadon with it to uh and it feels bad on everyone else but jamie jamie was the first one we filmed yeah and like no one kind of wanted him to do it and i was obsessed with made in chelsea at the time and i've watched and i thought he just if nothing else he'll be weird because he just seems like a good egg and yeah i laugh so he'll laugh along and he was yeah it was just kind of there's a scene in it where it just you're just about we were doing this we'd shoot it for so long and and like i say because i i've i've read so much about how different shows shows i'd love have made i'd sit there with with uh with jamie we're just doing this and i'm like oh this could actually and still even then you're not sure you're not sure if people are going to get it or but jamie was i was like this is

26:21Romesh Ranganathan:Is that when you realise that you're onto something?

26:23Tom Davis:No, it wasn't until the screening. James DeFong called me one day and he was like, everyone at the edit's kind of showing each other. All the runners are showing each other clips from some of the episodes. And then when we had the screening that you've been in, they're fucking awful, those press screenings. Again, I wasn't... Were you not inviting Caminas to the screening?

26:48Tom Davis:You're such a prick.

26:53Tom Davis:and I was terrified that it would just fall in its ass and you know like I said and I don't mean it like I would have just had to sort of you know fucking so was the screening were people losing their shit at the screening they just laughed people laughed and got it straight away there's a lot to get your head round with it and it's but it still it was a slow burn it wasn't really the series one did well and there was a buzz about it and I think series two is when it grew and yeah and obviously

27:20Romesh Ranganathan:won a BAFTA for that because we know because every year the BAFTAs are on you do a post on Instagram. No, no, no, I don't. But I'm thinking back to the...

27:26Tom Davis:No, no, you sly prick. You fucking dickhead. You always do that.

27:34Tom Davis:You always go, oh, this fray, this tacky hill, man. Makes me think it makes me think eight years ago, man. I was just up there myself. Just eight years ago I was getting ready myself, you know, to head on over to the... I just dusted this off today. I've only just put it out in the house yeah i kept it in the loft i was like yeah it's a weird thing um no real turned around to me it was such a bizarre thing that um as i came off stage he won an award that night and i was really really excited and i was like and obviously real x west ham i was like fucking hell man i can't believe i won that and he went uh are you so enjoy tonight then and then you need to put that away and march on to the next one.

28:16Tom Davis:And I went, what? Do you know how hard these are to win? Sorry, mate, this isn't the league. No, but that's how he talked about it. And you know what a football nut I am? He talked to me like that. He said, Alex Ferguson told him, you win, and then you go through it, you have to enjoy it over preseason. You had a good draw. You made it through the early rounds. And all I could think of for ages was like Rio was right. And then about a year ago, I thought, I'm probably never going to get work with another one of these. how fucking hard it was to do.

28:45Romesh Ranganathan:Just eventually you go, do you know what? I'm fighting relegation most years.

28:49Tom Davis:Well, to be fair, sometimes it feels that the club's gone into administration.

28:57Tom Davis:Let's fucking just put it out if I can't. But yeah, so, yeah. And there's a part of me as well that I find it very, even chatting now, I find it a very strange thing talking about success in a way.

29:09Romesh Ranganathan:And I would say anybody like watching or listening to this, if you do want to see what that moment looked like, just wait for the BAFTAs to roll around again. Tom will stick that paste up.

29:17Tom Davis:Or just scroll through the last eight years.

29:21Romesh Ranganathan:Let's talk about King Gary. Yeah. How did that come? Well, King Gary was like, how long were you working on King Gary?

29:27Tom Davis:So I did a show called Action Team, which everyone forgets about, which is my second album, I guess, if you're talking about, which I'm very proud of.

29:35Romesh Ranganathan:I thought Action Team came before. Okay, so we did Action Team.

29:38Tom Davis:Let's talk about Action Team then. So Action Team was like, we were told that they didn't want to do any more Madden successful which is, you know, and if I'm honest with you there was a part of me that we did three series and it had been amazing but I kind of was like it's time to move on to something different so we tried to do this thing Action Team and we did it on ITV2 and I don't think it necessarily was a right hand

30:00Romesh Ranganathan:Can you, because I think you should be proud of Action Team. Oh I'm there, it's taken a long time Yeah, because the thing is you made something you've you've like you could have done something like you just come off the back of murder and successful and then you make this fucking action comedy thing with explosions and stunts and shit like it's pretty amazing right do you know it was fucking crazy it was an insane thing and like itv2 who are really really supportive were kind of like um what is it and i remember i think it was

30:33Tom Davis:I had a few I think I was doing Paddington 2 at about the same time and I remember David Heyman saying why don't you just do it as a film and I was like oh no we're doing it for ITV2 and he was like and I talked to him about it a bit he's like just do it as a film and I was like no no it's cool we'll do it for ITV2 and I sort of didn't want to be like sort of like too thirsty or I didn't want to be like I just thought no no don't worry I would just do it. And every day, there's not a day that goes by and I thought, oh fuck, that probably would have been a better way of doing it. Me and DeFront doing it with David Heyman as a film.

31:09Tom Davis:But, um... Well done for Walking Pass, that's smart. Yeah, that was a really fucking clever move. Really showed my acumen there. Yeah, I think we're going to get the crying guys. That would be awful. I could talk about losing my house in quite a sort of different... Talking about losing the film with David Heyman and actually lose my shit. But he was actually, yeah, full of advice. But, but... I think that me and James are always trying to push. I mean, that show genuinely nearly killed us both in the sense that the stuff we put ourselves through, we had no money to make it, was evident when we all turned up in Bulgaria.

31:45Tom Davis:I mean, it was literally... You filmed it in Bulgaria. Yeah, if you'd filmed the documentary of it, it would have been like Apocalypse Now. It was an absolute fucking shit show. We had no money to make it. There was like just everything that could go wrong was going wrong. we were losing locations every day so we're having to find locations in the morning um just basically somewhere to go in bulgaria and shoot this thing um we had various members of the crew with uh different yeah we had people who like to drink let's put it that way who sort of disappear and then you go oh shit okay where's this person where's this hod um and it was so it was a fucking insane thing to shoot and for really like no money yeah and then you're sort halfway through it i think why don't we just set this in an office yeah like we're doing a car chase through plov dev in the fucking area and we had to close the town off and yeah um and people were like what is this and you're like i don't know what we're doing now um so it was a yeah it was i am proud of it i sit back i look at it and i think stylistically i i learned far more i learned as a producer and as a writer and anything i learned a lot on that i was like okay this is this is where limitation wise this is this is where we had and we've really tried to overreach here and it like genuinely i came back uh i think i'd like four broken ribs i tried to do my own stunts i'd like dislocate my shoulder uh i jumped from this bridge and fucking it was it was madness i was holding at one point i was on the back or the top of a train going through um the bulgarian countryside and i said uh is this safe to this bulgarian guy stuntman and he went we'll find out when the train starts what the fuck just held on to this footage of it i just held on to the top of a fucking train whizzing you know roy yeah the dop and roy is sitting there filming me and we go and fly it and i go right right branch and there's a branch across this thing void ducks and if he hadn't abducted it's decapitated him what the fuck when the train pulls over i turn around to the fucking stunt guy i go bro fucking you said that this is like safe and you checked the line i said there was a branch that could have taken his head off he went we checked check for bridges not branches and i'm so the fuck that and that was the that's where like they blew us up me and Jim Howick down this underground bunker thing and they set these explosions and I'm running down this thing and this guy's like basically every time as you're running the explosions will be just behind you it'll always be just behind you as you're running along and I start running and this explosion just hits me fucking smashes me into a wall and the guy behind me on the steadicam goes run Tom and it's right up behind us and James DeFront's like Tom and everything's just gone like all the fucking cameras have gone everything and the guy just went um too much explosion and we're like yeah it's like and but they couldn't see fucking it was like madness and but like yeah you're like this is just it and it felt so all of this work went in and you put the shit and itv couldn't have been i've got to say to them they couldn't have done they advertised the shit out and it's a real noticeable thing for i think comedy is that it murdering successful was being like this thing that no one really knew what it was and it came out with no fanfare literally just dropped onto i don't think i could get any press at the time to do it i was relatively unknown but then word of mouth grew and that's why i think comedy has to have that ownership i mean that's the most important thing with comedy i think but action team came out and it was you know we just won the bafta for murder and successful this is the next show you won the bafta didn't you yeah um and there was a fanfare for it and there was like there there was a bit of buzz around it.

35:38Tom Davis:And I think people don't wanna be told that this is gonna be a hit. Yeah, I get that. I think that all of a sudden - They wanna find it for themselves.

35:45Romesh Ranganathan:King Gary series two. Both two great series. You were unbelievable in that. DeFront was my first experience of working with you guys in that sort of context. And it was amazing. I mean, like you and I already, I feel like we had our dynamic. Do you know what I mean? Like we had a chemistry, didn't we? We've done a few -

36:04Tom Davis:We make light of Judge Romesh.

36:06Romesh Ranganathan:Yeah, but that forged our relationship.

36:10Tom Davis:I'm going to say now, I've never met anyone in my life. For the moment I've ever met you, there was something that I couldn't quite explain. I remember the gig we were at. I remember subsequent gigs. I used to just, as silly as it sounds, I just used to look forward to hanging out with you. From what I saw you do on stage, I thought, fuck, this guy's... and i've said this openly to anyone i spoke to there's very few people you watch and go that this person's going to go all the way i had no doubt i just knew i just thought you were everything that i love in a comedian but also everything that i just there was an assurance about you you but you had you had your voice it was just like you just knew exactly you said to me a really interesting thing and you've given me so much advice when it comes to stand up don't say things on stage or say things that you you're not willing to stand by and it's like you can't when I used to watch her, he's like, he is, this is it.

37:07Tom Davis:It's there. And I had so much respect for that. I just wanted, if someone had gone to me at that very moment, that's going to be the person you work with for the rest of your comedy career. I'd have gone, yeah, I'd have had no experience. I'd have been happy enough. No, I don't mean that. And I remember like, you know, the first thing we did together was we did Vic and Bob's thing. House of Fools. House of Fools. And I remember hanging out with you and it was a, it was a, It was a weird job. It was a difficult record. Yeah. Because...

37:40Romesh Ranganathan:It was a difficult record because it's a studio sitcom for which the audience loved every one of the characters and laughed uncontrollably at all of them except for two. Can I say the worst bit of it, right?

37:52Tom Davis:Is that we've been employed to do this weird dance. Yeah, we were doing a dance-off. There was a bit where, as well, the director, I remember walking into the room to rehearse with Vic and Bob, and it was me, you and Tony Way. And the director went to this dance teacher, take the kids away, practice with the kids. So we went and we didn't really ever practice the stuff with Vic and Bob. We just rehearsed this weird dance that we were having to do. And then anyway -

38:21Romesh Ranganathan:This is my first, by the way, my first, and I think, and only experience of being in a studio sitcom.

38:26Tom Davis:Yes, I've done the British version of everyone lost Raymond before that, and that was it. anyhow so we're doing it and then and it's like yeah you're working with comedy royalty and there's matt berries in it and everything like you know properly good at what they do and and then we get to the uh so in the afternoon they're rehearsing it um and we're doing a live studio rehearsal and it runs later and later and later and me and him are just waiting there to do we're waiting to

38:54Romesh Ranganathan:do our only fucking full rehearsal of this scene where we have to dance it's not even dialogue We've got to fucking do a dance off.

39:01Tom Davis:And Lisa Clark, lovely Lisa Clark, comes in and she's like, she's so sweet and she'd been such like an advocate to get me and you in it, as is Vic and Bob. And she came in and she went, we're running really late with the rehearsals and we're not going to get to you guys for the rehearsal. And we were like, what? And they were like, basically, yeah, we're not going to be able to get you. And we were like, well, what do you mean? And like, we had to rehearse. There's a dance that you do with Matt or Bob. I think so.

39:25Romesh Ranganathan:I can't remember, yeah. through therapy I've tried to black it from the moment

39:29Tom Davis:I had to do a dance with Vic Reeves I'm like oh my god anyway there's no rehearsal bit to it

39:34Romesh Ranganathan:so on the show you are seeing us do it with these guys for the first time

39:41Tom Davis:and also the rehearsal we had this dance teacher who got me, Rom and Tony Way and I hope Tony won't mind saying it I'd say Tony is as gifted a dancer as me and Romesh the three of us he literally spent 20 minutes and went, well, this is fucking shambolic and gave us all these stupid, like, literally, like, this will just do kind of thing. So then we just had quite a lot of time with me, you and Tony, hanging out. That was fun. Yeah, that was a funny... Tony's amazing, right? Tony's incredible. Love that guy.

40:10Romesh Ranganathan:So what was the dance?

40:12Tom Davis:I've never watched it back. Do you know what? I genuinely, like, I find it very hard to watch even the stuff that I think I've been okay in that. I find that really hard to watch. The thought of watching that back, and I don't say it lightly, just makes me now just...

40:26Romesh Ranganathan:I would say, to this day, I'm still not entirely sure it wasn't a prank. That is genuinely... I honestly think Vic or Bob might have gone, oh, these two think... Can I just say, by the way, these two think they're coming up... Your character that you're playing there. Okay, this is... I don't know if people have seen this. It's such a big move. So we... We go in... We go in for the read-through. No, sorry, it wasn't even a read-through. I thought it was an audition. I thought we'd be an audition. Yeah, yeah. But it turns out we'd got the parts. Yeah. But they just wanted to... A chemistry type.

40:59Romesh Ranganathan:A chemistry thing, yeah. So we go in and Bob's there. I've never talked to Bob about this, actually. No. And I just did last one after them. Anyway, so we do the read-through at the scripts, at the table read. Tom, you do it like you've got this kind of comedy character that you picked for it. Yeah, but also the weird thing was that But I'm the straight man in it. Yeah, so I read mine and I do it like how I do everything. Not everything, but like sardonic kind of dry thing. Which would have been fun. Which would have been fun and would have worked for the character. Yeah. So I do it. We do three reads.

41:39Romesh Ranganathan:And then Bob goes, oh, just for this last one, do it really camp. Right? He goes, like, really camp. So I'm like a bit like, I know Tom a little bit, but I don't know Tom enough to feel comfortable about this. You know, I don't know anybody. So for all I know, they've all fucking collaborated and gone, let's see if we can get this prick to do it.

42:01Tom Davis:I knew Bob, I never met Bob at this moment. I would say there was a slight element of me. My character was so boring. I'm like, what the fuck? I was like, he's a lad, cause Bob went, oh, that's great. You just keep doing that. Yeah, so I went from being like,

42:18Romesh Ranganathan:oh, look who it is. So to this, well, look who it is. Looks like we're going to be facing off against you in the big dance off, like that. And then I read it like that. And then Bob goes, yeah, do it like that. And I go, I nearly went, what the fuck?

42:35Tom Davis:Why'd you cast me in this? Like genuinely, like, I remember leaving me. Because me and Tony literally went in with these, I think my character's quite just boring. and then Tony's... Oh, God.

42:49Romesh Ranganathan:What's insane is... By the way, what's insane is that you're telling me you're the straight man in that.

43:00Tom Davis:Guys, the real trouble is I've got to sit here and debate whether they're in my own clothes or not.

43:09Romesh Ranganathan:Were you worried that your character wasn't wacky enough? how much attention did you want i was laughing it's tony i can't remember that you were

43:19Tom Davis:why was your character look i'm going to fucking sell some insurance yeah but this is the insane thing is why your character that guy that character's gonna this you better watch out

43:30Romesh Ranganathan:it's so crazy is that still on ipad please god oh oh thank god i've never seen that dance back No, never. Nor will I. No. That was the first time we'd worked in TV together. Yeah, we'd done gigs together. And then Judge Ramesh came about.

43:47Tom Davis:I do remember my favourite thing was, and it was what I think The Wolf and Hour. It was when we were coming back and we were on the train. And I sat with you on the train back. And I just remember just pissing off.

43:58Romesh Ranganathan:I think if you'd have set up some podcast mics on that train, you would have got a pretty serviceable episode of The Wolf and Hour. Yeah, yeah. like you were on you were on the whole way back yeah but what was what i loved was just like you

44:12Tom Davis:were just and still to this day and i i could and i say this to my wife you're one of the only people who can do and you don't even know like you just make me laugh until and i literally can't control my head like i just watch you do the smallest thing and even like on stage it just makes me And that's what I think, you know, yeah, I do almost anything.

44:36Romesh Ranganathan:I mean, it's very good of you to sort of make it out like I was the highlight of that train journey. But let's talk about what the main event of that, which is when I think you and I walked off to find some food. And then we bumped into member staff and you described a man that was sitting back a couple of carriages back and said that he'd been looking at some of the kids.

45:04Romesh Ranganathan:but that was all just so impressive there's a man that got questioned off the back of that you delivered it by the way you didn't do it in a way that sounded like funny you're like mate um yeah listen sorry just talk about it we're both a bit worried there's a bloke back there i used i think you might be a perv or some sort of perv i uh i used

45:27Tom Davis:to love phone pranks back in the day and that used to be a big thing that yeah well could you Like what? I remember calling up Downing Street as Tony Adams. On a building site when you're there all day, and I used to hate manual lever. Used anything to pass the time, so yeah, I'd call up different places. I remember like, yeah, Beckham or just phoning up mad places. Tony Adams as Downing Street, I think. What was your Tony Adams like? Just a bit like that. Just like Frank Brown. What was your David Beckham like? just a bit like that oh my god I can't remember they were probably better at the time I was never an impressionist no

46:09Romesh Ranganathan:now we've got big news yeah this is the main reason you're on this episode yeah yeah tomorrow yes as in tomorrow yes as in tomorrow we are back boom war finale is back baby we had a little break because we decided that we were too we were going to get left behind didn't we yes that's the kind of decision yeah and you know

46:33Tom Davis:that was a fair and it's been very exciting and i think the the show has been elevated with a it definitely has been elevated we're in a studio yeah but it's the same mode i mean

46:42Romesh Ranganathan:i might as well because i might as well spoil it now we're in audio visual yes yeah some sweet videos yeah to go alongside it new visuals yeah new sound better sound yeah yeah no worries about We're always face to face. Yeah, which is nice. Unless we can't be. Yeah. Then we've got better kit. You know, all of the stuff, all of the good shit. We've really pushed it. We've elevated it. Everything apart from the content. But the good news is we haven't elevated the content. So if anybody was worried about that, that the new slick look would be followed up with a new slick kind of stimuli and new things to talk about.

47:19Romesh Ranganathan:Yeah. And what's the other thing we can reveal? Two episodes a week. Two episodes a week, baby. Pow.

47:26Tom Davis:This is very exciting. Yes. This is what I'm like on the Rommel Shranganathan show.

47:33Romesh Ranganathan:You don't see this on Wolfram. I know, yeah, yeah. It's a different... I feel like the Rommel shit. I've got to grab it by the scruff of the neck. Do you know what I mean? Yeah. Episodes are coming out on a Tuesday and Friday. What will those episodes be like?

47:45Tom Davis:Oh, they'll be like... One's the normal... What do you mean normal? Chit chat. No, one's the normal... Normal chit chat, yes. Chit chat. And then one is the... And email chat. emails but also if you've got questions videos just general yeah observations uh yeah uh voice notes we'd love a voice or a little video note yeah even a little video note yeah yeah okay

48:07Romesh Ranganathan:here's mom's question for you we've got a question from mom oh i don't know what this is by the way

48:11Tom Davis:someone said to read your i think your brother told me a sweet story about your mom the other day really made me about when you two hugged no that's very funny but um uh i was doing a charity gig with your brother at the Palladium and your your mom uh sat down uh with Claire your brothers of a half uh and this is such a bad story so I turned around to her and said oh are you here who are you here to see and she went oh I'm here to see Tom Davis

48:45Romesh Ranganathan:yeah I mean that is something he's gonna have to deal with over the next few months

48:48Tom Davis:okay here is mom's question hi tom this is shandy you see my sons more than i do oh fucking hell you have a podcast with romesh and dinish tours with you if we were going to perform together what would we do please let me know and wish you all the best lots of love shandy I love your mum

49:17Romesh Ranganathan:do you know what I don't like about the mum's tone in that question it doesn't sound hypothetical it sounds like she wants you to pitch a thing that you two could do together

49:28Tom Davis:do you know what she'd be someone I'd love to work with I think like a road movie like a road trip together I would love to do that with Shanti she's genuinely she's one of the funniest people around she's quite funny she's hilarious she puts us all to shame you've yeah she's a very very funny person so quick i think you two would be good as like well actually maybe we just maybe that would be the travel show together be good a travel log that's what i mean or maybe we just go throw it all in and just do like a uh like a big sort of

50:03Romesh Ranganathan:like shiny floor sort of what floor is lava name any floor is lava yeah but we'd host it floor is lava yeah you two types floor is lava yeah oh my god hot hot hot hope you've got thick soles on those shoes because the floor is lava isn't it tom yeah it is shanti

50:26Tom Davis:today we've got bill and claire they're from manchester and they're ready to get their lava Okay, let's activate the lava.

50:35Romesh Ranganathan:It's lava time. It's lava time. It's lava time. Come on, shake our thing. It's lava time. It's lava time.

50:45Tom Davis:I'm lava, lava, lava. Yeah, that'd be a fun thing. Mr. Lava, lava. Yes. Yeah, pretty good. I think it would be amazing. Both getting lowered into the studio.

51:01Romesh Ranganathan:ITV, I am assuming that's probably the most likely home for that. Yeah. Get in touch, please. Or Amazon. Yeah, it's not a bad shout. Now, before we get into our game, I just want to talk to you a little bit about, obviously, your work ethic is, I mean, we've talked a lot about it on the wall for now, which is coming back tomorrow.

51:22Romesh Ranganathan:But, you know, it's fair to say that you having a child has changed your perspective on things a lot, right? Yeah.

51:30Tom Davis:yeah massively i think it's uh i mean you come from a very uh similar background we come from a very similar world from sri lankan families yeah yeah we don't actually know who my uh heritage was no we think you're um we actually think because i read a thing somewhere that your

51:47Romesh Ranganathan:real surname is Hadrasinga.

51:58Tom Davis:Tom, I just think I changed it.

52:06Tom Davis:Anyway, it's more exciting than Davis. Anyway, guys, sorry. I love the idea of someone listening to this and pulling me up in the street. I have no idea.

52:22Tom Davis:yeah I mean I think everything that I think that as soon as Grace was born and I think you know I've talked about this with you on our podcast and other podcasts but that the route to having a having a child was a long one and I think you know I was quite open with you about that um at the time and and so i think when when like i think when grace grace was born i made a lot of different life changes i made a lot of sort of i sort of wanted to make sure that i could give her the best possible life and that means not just financially and i work hard but i'm around as much i'm as present as i can be which still to this day i struggle with i think that's sometimes you know the internal dilemma of you know i think when you come from a place where you know you've you know struggled financially you know as as a child you know you're not you've not had a lot of money and and then when you get to a point where you're um you know like i say when we lost our flat and we were me and kaff kaffin struggled for quite a few years you know we'd run up debts and whatever that you get into a situation where you never want to feel that again and you certainly don't want to feel that when you're um you know as a father and i think that's the thing where you're like uh yeah and i realize quite how blessed i am in the opportunities in the life that i have now and and the world in which i'm working so i i i have to i probably have to at times and as much as i think like it can feel like you say yes to a lot i say no to a lot but then everything i look at is does this feel the right thing for me to do professionally does this feel like good like i think i've done jobs in the past where i look at and go i don't think i was very good at that and i i'd sooner like that that's the thing i can never that's the thing like kathryn will i'm unbearable to be around if i don't think like i you know i've done entertainment shows and stuff when i watch you do things and you know having what she do you play and you know what she the avoidance and chicken run and then but that when yeah i think when you watch you do like uh entertainment stuff that you know the weakest link and stuff you know you you you really excel at that as well and i look at me when i do that i go no that's not i'm not good at that side of things that's not in my and it's okay not to be good at something but it's you you kind of then have to make a deal with yourself to go all right that's not something i'm gonna do anymore because that feels like because it's you know it's it's not a nice feeling to to be doing a job and thinking i'm actually fucking the worst person on this this thing and feel like every time you you're stepping onto the set or you're stepping onto things you're you're just not very good at it and there's probably 25 30 other people that could be doing it better than you i just look at and think right that was that's a learning curve that i've learned over a few years ago i'd sooner go and do something that i feel actually not a short film or something that i feel and actually that's something i'll that's that's in my wheelhouse that's what i'm better at but i think work ethic wise it's just um i feel very lucky to do what we do and and you know i feel like you know the podcast that we do which we make life and we have a joke about but it's it's a genuine it's probably one of my favorite things that i've ever done it's just i sit i think it's around with you and have a laugh that never really feels like work most days i'm writing with james and wherever we're writing it never you know i love fucking taking something was just at one point a small idea and taking it to be any of the shows that we've talked about here that's there's something where you you know with the stuff we're doing now films and whatever you you're writing something that starts at the smallest embers and you take that that's i don't take that lightly and with with the stand-up it's i i when i talk to you about doing stand-up again and coming back and and i've been very lucky with you and flow to have you know i've never done stand-up again if if it hadn't been for you man i wouldn't have i'd like that was the thing where i'd sort of got so in my head about it and and really just thought that i'm not good at that and it wasn't really until i sort of felt that from you and from flow where i sort of felt like actually also it takes people when people do believe in you and they show you about that and you you've done that on this tour as well i find that the bit where i'm like yeah i've never really had that my whole life i've never had anyone you know as silly as it sounds sort of written off at a very young age as being stupid or or not academically bright so to have someone who in your corner who and james has done that for a lot of stuff to have people who do that you you feel like i actually when people believe and i think that's where we fall down i think in society a little bit at times i think we it's very easy to look away or not encourage and to sort of dismiss and and bring people down that's a very easy thing to do but you know with you and you know flo and ollie the people around me that i have now i feel like you know you put those energies into the right place and that is you know that so i pick the things i do and i think that i want to excel at and i think okay that's something i think i can i can be a bit better than i was on the last tour it's not going to be a great leap it's not going to be amazingly better but you know it'll be i can keep on trying to just just get a little bit better that thing uh for some reason when i'm talking about stand-up i know yeah that was no no but i don't know what it is it's such a weird thing

57:46Romesh Ranganathan:no but it means a lot you know yeah generally does i mean i think yeah i mean look people haven't seen the show i've seen the show it's a very strange thing though yeah you're talking about yeah i know i mean look i didn't know that it'd be that they got you but we've got we've got the clip now

58:03Tom Davis:what a sad fucking sight of affairs if someone's nice to you it makes you cry

58:07Romesh Ranganathan:we call it the CEO moment

58:08Tom Davis:actually I wanted to ask you there Tom because you were saying about Roman Flo's support I just wondered what does that support look like

58:15Romesh Ranganathan:oh well I can tell you this I can answer this okay if you don't mind I know that you're a guest but it was three nights at the horse wasn't it and I asked you to open for me and what followed was hours and hours of you know because one of us was one of us was about to embark on a nationwide tour of a show he wasn't sure about the other one was doing 20 minutes for a mate

58:50Romesh Ranganathan:but most of and you think most of the conversation would be a pep talk from one to the other and it was unfortunately not in the direction that you might be thinking

59:09Romesh Ranganathan:gig no in all seriousness to be honest with you it was uh it was a little you know what the

59:15Tom Davis:what the fucking insane thing is it never dawned on me how that would have been up until uh i was on my own tour and the idea of having a warm-up act that you've got to go, all right, mate, that's going to be okay. That's like the complete opposite of what I'm there to do. My job is to go on and get the audience, get you to feel relaxed. Tom was the first,

59:42Romesh Ranganathan:in the history of comedy, Tom was the first require support act.

59:48Tom Davis:You okay? How are you feeling about the show? No, I've just done 40 minutes. And also I insisted on getting there when you got there.

59:55Romesh Ranganathan:I was there like two hours before. No, but in all seriousness, so obviously I take the piss out of you about that. And rightly so. But the truth is it was during that time at the Hawth when that was the first time I'd realised that you had, what's the best way of describing it? You hadn't fallen out of love with stand-up. You'd lost your mojo with stand-up and you didn't think you wanted to do it. and um and so i just thought look you're one of the funniest people i've ever met and you got funny bones and that is really it's a really that's it would be a really sad thing to waste that you know i'm i was i remember being very surprised not surprised because you hadn't done it for a while yeah so i get why you're nervous in that regard i didn't get why you were nervous about your ability to do it because I just think you're so funny like you're so good at everything to do with comedy why would you have a doubt about this do you know I mean and and already I'm looking at somebody who's got the such a skill set such an array of natural ability and then you're worried about going out and doing 20 like you know and that's when I thought I don't want Tom to not do stand up you know not it's up to me but I just thought don't do stand up if you don't want to do stand up but don't do stand up because you don't not do stand up because you don't think you can do it that's crazy and so that's kind of why I had that you know I started saying to you you need to like why don't you just give it a go and get back out there and then you know and then obviously you ended up I think it was after that you started with Flo wasn't it no Flo

1:01:30Tom Davis:Flo had just been quite supportive

1:01:32Romesh Ranganathan:to chat about things I think I'd find her a lot going look we're going to have to think about I can't keep having Tom at the horse

1:01:42Romesh Ranganathan:i need some time i need some time to have to go over my material

1:01:51Tom Davis:i can't have time with a warm-up act you're gonna have to get him some more get someone else um yeah but it's it was uh it's a very yeah straight but then i think subsequently yeah i think flo flo was literally the first person though that was like there as well to to be kind of it's nothing it's as simple as you want to make it yeah and she's got a very matter-of-fact way of looking yeah in a good way yeah yeah and it has been like i'd say the best it's the thing i like now i can't imagine a life without it i think that you know i love it i you're a brilliant

1:02:26Romesh Ranganathan:you're listen you're a look i i don't want to keep bigging up it's like i don't think we'd i wouldn't have a return at one of these where i interview because it's sickening to have to keep saying stuff like this.

1:02:36Tom Davis:I'd love to interview you and just...

1:02:37Romesh Ranganathan:Yeah, but... Because I know how uncomfortable

1:02:39Tom Davis:it makes you as well.

1:02:41Romesh Ranganathan:You're a fucking brilliant stand-up. Oh, thank you. And, you know, it would be such a shame for you to not do it. Right, we're going to play Misquoted now. Let's get out of this fucking quamire of fucking man after big this prick up.

1:02:56Romesh Ranganathan:It's Misquoted. Do you know this game? I assume you've watched all the episodes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So these five quotes here. Yeah. And you have to tell me if you said it or not. oh god okay you ready yeah here's the quote some of them might be similar to something you might have said okay oh okay cool do you know what i mean yeah yeah so there's not what i've said but it's similar yeah here's your first one i wanted for a long time to be a small man

1:03:27Romesh Ranganathan:is that it no i'm doing a massive pause yeah that's it yeah but sometimes you like to build up to drama okay yeah what okay what i can tell you is you didn't say this no but you did say something with one word changed i wanted for a long time to be a small man yeah i wanted for a long time to be a small man yeah so is that what i said what yeah that's not what you said okay one word changed in that is what you said okay what what word changed well i mean okay i've got a Yeah, yeah. I'll give you a clue. You said it to Davina McCall on the Begin Again podcast. Oh, my God. Jesus. Really? I wanted to be a really small...

1:04:11Romesh Ranganathan:I wanted for a long time to be a really... You think that's the change? That's the change that we thought...

1:04:18Tom Davis:Oh, hold up. The words change. You've changed one word for another. Okay, now I'll get it now. Yeah, yeah.

1:04:23Romesh Ranganathan:Okay. A better. I wanted for a long time to be a better man. Yeah, I think that might. You've changed the right words. Yeah. but the replacement word is bin. Oh, okay. I wanted for a long time to be a bin man. Yeah, okay. It wasn't as profound and as deep as I thought. But that's true, isn't it? Yeah, I didn't want to be a bin man.

1:04:43Tom Davis:You did a day on the dust, didn't you? I didn't do a day on the dust.

1:04:45Romesh Ranganathan:I thought you were going to do a day on the dust.

1:04:47Tom Davis:I didn't know. Oh, no, I did it later on, but yeah, at the time, my dream, I never got to do that day. But eventually you did a day on the dust. Yeah, yeah, I did. I came back to do it. It was very fun. All right, okay.

1:04:56Romesh Ranganathan:So you did know you hadn't said that, so that's a point. not that there's a competition here's your next one it was a bit like Billy Elliot working on a building site during the week tight fitting sequined dress and Disney songs at weekends

1:05:12Tom Davis:yeah I have said that I'm just trying to think of the word

1:05:17Romesh Ranganathan:there's no word to change this is true now you've said it yeah okay cool Guardian 2020 yeah so this is when you were doing building site and then you were also doing a bit of drag a bit of drag on the site what was that like Big Mama that was your name yeah great name and did did doing drag kind of um help you with your comedy

1:05:35Tom Davis:sort of it was just a way of earning money i'd met someone at a festival and sort of fallen head over hills with them years before yeah uh and then just moved to moved everything i had up to manchester to be with this person really yeah i've met them at a festival and i just was like i thought they were the best person i'd ever met uh and it was just sort of a very one-way street um so i ended up renting a room in manchester and just sort of like cobbling about uh looking for yeah but it was kind of like yeah i sort of made i couldn't just go back with my toe between my legs like three days later and go back to my mates and sort of uh my parents and go oh yeah i just uh that didn't work out the way i thought it was gonna um uh so uh so i was getting some work up there and i was doing uh doing the drag and i was doing that building site and then I got a chat to this guy and he was like I was trying to do some stand-up I was doing open mics at a time and he said I might be I might be out getting some more work but it's doing some drag so I lip-synced so I go on stage I've lip-synced like Disney songs uh and I do little I do little routines in between.

1:06:42Tom Davis:Did it go well? Yeah. Do you know what I wanted to bring it back for the tour I wanted to come out and do that. Why didn't you do that? I think it's confidence I think that was I'd love to do that as the finale. Yeah. That'd be sick. Do it on the next tour show. I was going to do it. That was the idea originally for Spud Gum. Because it's all about perception. But anyhow. Yeah, but it was a good time. But it was a very weird time of like, you couldn't let the two worlds collide. Yeah, I might do it on my tour.

1:07:10Romesh Ranganathan:Okay. So you're two for two now. Here's your next one. I was very much the Shrek to his donkey. I was very much the Shrek to his donkey I was very much the Shrek I have said that

1:07:25Tom Davis:I'm just trying to think who I said it about I think

1:07:31Tom Davis:would I be saying it about you?

1:07:34Romesh Ranganathan:it's correct BBC Radio 2 Scott Mills asked you about my glow up and you said you're very much becoming the Shrek to my donkey or it might have been Zoe Ball I can't remember but look at you you look hot as guts mate hot as guts hot as my guts at the moment Christ

1:07:55Tom Davis:who about hot guts fucking hell this chair is fucking filling the force

1:07:58Romesh Ranganathan:yeah we're going to have to burn these by the way at least turn the cushion over yeah alright here's your next one I left school with no GCSEs and absolutely no fucks given no I never said that no you didn't you said something similar i fucking wish i had the weather rule to say something like that uh you said i left school

1:08:18Tom Davis:with no gcs and a very low opinion of myself so yeah i certainly said that no fucks given

1:08:25Romesh Ranganathan:the idea of fucking yeah let's go with no gcs and no fucks given oh imagine saying that seriously i'd love to i might do that on like one just like going with a different energy no not even for the whole podcast but just what just give one fucking absolute ball breaking answer yeah that would be a cool thing just something like well like

1:08:45Tom Davis:I was going with no just yesterday he's got a really low opinion of myself

1:08:50Romesh Ranganathan:just something like yeah I mean look it was it was a hard first couple of years but when you're a generational talent you know it's going to work out you have said that

1:09:01Tom Davis:I've heard you say that I've said

1:09:04Romesh Ranganathan:not this year I haven't okay well done you said that to the evening standing in 2025 wow okay here's your last

1:09:11Tom Davis:I think you've gone far back about his interviews over the last two years. Well, 2020 was six years ago. Okay, yeah.

1:09:18Romesh Ranganathan:Okay, this wasn't my first time at Buckingham Palace. I'd been there years before to do the scaffolding.

1:09:25Tom Davis:Yeah, that's me saying that in my last tour, Underdog.

1:09:29Romesh Ranganathan:From the Underdog tour? Yes. Great tour, by the way. On Sky. Still available on Sky. Yeah. You're still involved with the King's Trust? Yes.

1:09:40Tom Davis:How's that going?

1:09:41Romesh Ranganathan:Yeah, yeah.

1:09:41Tom Davis:It's like a pretty incredible thing to work with them and so many young people you work with.

1:09:46Romesh Ranganathan:It's pretty amazing. Yeah. And if you want to know Tom's work on The King's Trust, he's posting frequently about it on his Instagram account.

1:10:01Romesh Ranganathan:Right, Tom, listen, it's been an absolute pleasure to have you on the podcast. Thank you. Thank you for, by the way,

1:10:07Tom Davis:promising to make me cry and doing that. I didn't know that.

1:10:10Romesh Ranganathan:I wasn't. I didn't that wasn't

1:10:12Tom Davis:I jest but love you mate love you very much

1:10:16Romesh Ranganathan:you're genuinely one of my favourite people in the entire world

1:10:18Tom Davis:likewise so thank you for having me on

1:10:21Romesh Ranganathan:thanks for being on now Tom the last thing we always ask is if somebody can give us an exclusive or something they've never said publicly before oh wow is that something you're willing to do or able oh god he's leaning forward like he's about to do a wolf and ale closer

1:10:34Tom Davis:I'm trying to think of saying that I'm quite an open book when it comes to these things

1:10:38Romesh Ranganathan:just anything at all could be trivial um i feel like a trivial thing i mean i was about to say do you wipe standing up or sitting down but i know that yeah you know we've talked about it at length um talked about length as well haven't

1:10:55Tom Davis:we yeah we have we talked about length was anyone on murder and successful really difficult in a way that you'd be happy to talk about yeah i mean we had on murder and successful was the fucking worst it was he contacted us wanted to do the show we had another incredible person who was meant to do it but someone at the bbc got so excited about the prospect of having him on the show we had to let down this person uh who i'm not going to name because i'll tell you but also was was was would have been incredible would have been just like so funny uh and then turned up and told everyone that they'd never watched the show but someone that they'd heard someone say it was really good um and then spend the whole of the time questioning why they were there uh questioning what the fuck was going on um didn't want to get involved at all uh sort of like would stand on their phone during takes just going like that so it would be like i think colin holt did a scene and colin holt's you know colin fucking really talented brilliant actor and i was just that this is essentially just a sketch of me and colin with standing in the background just looking like we're a pair of fucking losers it was like it was a very straight it was the only time that ever happened on that show where you're like we got kind of bullied a strong-armed into having someone that we didn't want on the show like who didn't feel like they were the ethos of what the show was and a person there's not a day that goes but yeah i always think about that but the person was meant to do it was someone who loved the show and it was gutting because I had to do that awful thing of making a phone call and saying, oh no, we're actually...

1:12:37Romesh Ranganathan:But in some ways, you feel like you dodged a bullet with Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.

1:12:44Tom Davis:I still think he'd have been brilliant.

1:12:47Romesh Ranganathan:Please, can you give it up for the fantastic, legendary, one of my best friends of all time, Tom Davis! Thank you. Yay! Thank you so much for watching this episode of the Romesh Ranganathan Show. I've been told that some of you are watching this, enjoying it, wallowing in it, but you still haven't subscribed. That's mad behaviour. You're going to miss episodes. Very silly. So follow and subscribe to the Romesh Ranganathan Show on YouTube, Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts. We drop new episodes every Monday and Thursday. On Monday, I'm here with amazing guests talking about their career, what they're up to, having a laugh with them.

1:13:22Romesh Ranganathan:And then on Thursdays, I'm joined by my mum, widely regarded as the audience's favourite Ranganathan. And we answer your questions, your stories and your family dilemmas. So I'll see you on Thursday when I'm back here with my mum, Shanti. Send your questions and stories to podcast at rangabee.com voice note or text on 07731 623 355. We genuinely love hearing from you and there's a good chance you'll hear yourself on the show. See you next time. Oh, shut up, Romesh. Let's be real.

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