Comedian Greg Davies shares childhood influences, teaching struggles, and comedic journey. Discusses family dynamics, early comedic experiences, and transition from teacher to stand-up. Reveals survival skills, vegetarian diet choice, and musical picks for a desert island.
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question_answer ANECDOTE
Birthplace
Greg Davies's father drove his mother 45 miles while she was in labor to ensure he was born in Wales.
His father, a rugby obsessive, hoped Greg would become a Welsh international player.
question_answer ANECDOTE
Rugby Career
Greg's rugby career ended after one practice.
He panicked in the car park and his father drove him home.
question_answer ANECDOTE
Family Humor
Greg's father was a "sensationally silly man" who enjoyed playing hide-and-seek in the dark.
He also loved to tease his children, even using their anxieties as comedic fodder.
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Greg Davies is a familiar face on television as the host of Taskmaster, the BAFTA-winning game show, and he has achieved sell out national arena tours as a stand-up. His on-screen breakthrough came in 2008 when he played the head of the sixth form, Mr Gilbert, in the highly successful teenage comedy series the Inbetweeners. He wrote and starred in the black comedy the Cleaner and co-wrote the sitcom Man Down in which he played a man in the grip of a midlife crisis.
Greg was born in St Asaph in north Wales and grew up in Shropshire. At school he gravitated towards what he calls the silly boys who created characters and devised comedy sketches in the playground. When he was 18 he discovered Eddie Murphy whose stand-up routines about his relatives spurred Greg to look to his own family as comedic source material.
Greg spent 13 years as an English and Drama teacher – a time he looks back on with mixed emotions and which he has mined for his stage act. When he was 33 he left teaching and started performing stand-up gigs and performed his first solo stand-up show at the Edinburgh Festival in 2010.
Greg lives in south London.
DISC ONE: Baggy Trousers - Madness
DISC TWO: Wichita Lineman - Glen Campbell
DISC THREE: 100% Endurance - Yard Act
DISC FOUR: Circlesquare - The Wonder Stuff
DISC FIVE: Cemetry Gates - The Smiths
DISC SIX: Consider Yourself - Jack Wild (The Artful Dodger) and The Orchestra, conducted by John Green. From Oliver! [An Original Soundtrack Recording]
DISC SEVEN: She Sells Sanctuary - The Cult
DISC EIGHT: The Next Episode - Dr. Dre featuring Snoop Dogg
BOOK CHOICE: Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
LUXURY ITEM: Sausages
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: 100% Endurance - Yard Act
Desert Island Discs 