Gregory Daniel Davies ( ; born 14 May 1968) is a Welsh comedian, actor, presenter, and writer. He is best known for his roles as Greg in ''

We Are Klang ''We Are Klang'' is a British comedy sketch show, starring Greg Davies, Steve Hall and Marek Larwood, and produced for BBC Three. The programme was short-lived, only running for six episodes in 2009, between 30 July to 10 September, and focused ...

'', Mr Gilbert in ''

The Inbetweeners ''The Inbetweeners'' is a British coming-of-age television teen sitcom, which originally aired on E4 from 2008 until 2010 and was created and written by Damon Beesley and Iain Morris. The series follows the misadventures of suburban teenager ...

'', Ken Thompson in ''

Cuckoo Cuckoos are birds in the Cuculidae family, the sole taxon in the order Cuculiformes . The cuckoo family includes the common or European cuckoo, roadrunners, koels, malkohas, couas, coucals and anis. The coucals and anis are sometimes separ ...

'', the Taskmaster in '' Taskmaster'', Dan Davies in '' Man Down'', and Paul Wickstead in '' The Cleaner'', the latter of which he also wrote. He has appeared as himself on ''

Mock the Week ''Mock the Week'' is a British topical satirical celebrity panel show, created by Dan Patterson and Mark Leveson. It was produced by Angst Productions for BBC Two, and was broadcast from 5 June 2005 to 4 November 2022. The programme was present ...

'', '' Fast and Loose'', '' Live at the Apollo'', and '' Would I Lie to You?'' For his performance in ''Cuckoo'', Davies was nominated for the BAFTA Television Award for Best Male Comedy Performance in 2013.

Early life

Gregory Daniel Davies was born in

St Asaph St Asaph (; cy, Llanelwy "church on the Elwy") is a city and community on the River Elwy in Denbighshire, Wales. In the 2011 Census it had a population of 3,355, making it the second-smallest city in Britain in terms of population and urban ...

Denbighshire Denbighshire ( ; cy, Sir Ddinbych; ) is a county in the north-east of Wales. Its borders differ from the historic county of the same name. This part of Wales contains the country's oldest known evidence of habitation – Pontnewydd (Bontnewy ...

, Wales, on 14 May 1968. His Welsh parents lived in England at the time, but his father drove his mother across the border to make sure he was born in Wales so that he would be eligible to play rugby for the Wales national team. He grew up in Wem, which he regards as his home. His father's origins lie in

Porthmadog Porthmadog (; ), originally Portmadoc until 1974 and locally as "Port", is a Welsh coastal town and community in the Eifionydd area of Gwynedd and the historic county of Caernarfonshire. It lies east of Criccieth, south-west of Blaenau F ...

. Like many people in North Wales, he also claims descent from Owain the Great. Davies was educated at Thomas Adams School in Wem, before studying English and Drama at

Brunel University Brunel University London is a public research university located in the Uxbridge area of London, England. It was founded in 1966 and named after the Victorian engineer and pioneer of the Industrial Revolution, Isambard Kingdom Brunel. In Jun ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. Prior to embarking on a career in comedy, he taught Drama for 13 years at a number of secondary schools: Langleywood School in

Slough Slough () is a town and unparished area in the unitary authority of the same name in Berkshire, England, bordering west London. It lies in the Thames Valley, west of central London and north-east of Reading, at the intersection of the ...

, Orleans Park School in

Twickenham Twickenham is a suburban district in London, England. It is situated on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historically part of Middlesex, it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames since 1965, and the boro ...

, and Sandhurst School in Sandhurst.

Career

In 2003, Davies made an appearance on the children's TV show Dick and Dom In Da Bungalow, playing a caricatured version of himself named "Massive Greg". In 2005, Davies played a caricature of cricketer W. G. Grace in a series of adverts for

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

's television coverage of

The Ashes The Ashes is a Test cricket series played between England and Australia. The term originated in a satirical obituary published in a British newspaper, '' The Sporting Times'', immediately after Australia's 1882 victory at The Oval, its first ...

. In 2007, Davies was nominated three times in the Chortle Awards, in the categories "Breakthrough Act" (for his solo stand-up act), "Best Sketch, Variety or Character Act", and "Best Full-Length Show" (both as part of sketch team

). From 2008, Davies played head of

Sixth Form In the education systems of England, Northern Ireland, Wales, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepare for ...

Mr Gilbert in the E4

coming-of-age Coming of age is a young person's transition from being a child to being an adult. The specific age at which this transition takes place varies between societies, as does the nature of the change. It can be a simple legal convention or can be ...

British

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

''. He also appears in the follow-up films '' The Inbetweeners Movie'' (2011) and ''

The Inbetweeners 2 ''The Inbetweeners 2'', is a 2014 teen coming of age adventure sex comedy film and sequel to '' The Inbetweeners Movie'' (2011), which is based on the E4 sitcom ''The Inbetweeners''. It was written and directed by series creators Damon Beesl ...

'' (2014). In 2010, Davies' first solo stand-up show ''Firing Cheeseballs at a Dog'' was nominated for the Fosters

Edinburgh Comedy Awards The Dave's Edinburgh Comedy Awards (formerly the Perrier Comedy Awards, and also briefly known by other names for sponsorship reasons) are presented to the comedy shows deemed to have been the best at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland. ...

at the Edinburgh Festival. The show was subsequently taken on his first ever tour the following autumn. He was also nominated for the Edinburgh Fringe's

Malcolm Hardee Malcolm Hardee (5 January 1950 – 31 January 2005) was an English comedian and comedy club proprietor. His high reputation among his peers rests on his outrageous publicity stunts and on the help and advice he gave to successful British Altern ...

"Act Most Likely to Make a Million Quid" Award. From October 2013, Davies starred in

's sitcom '' Man Down'', as Dan, a man who hates his job as a teacher, with

Rik Mayall Richard Michael Mayall (7 March 1958 – 9 June 2014) was an English actor, stand-up comedian and writer. He formed a close partnership with Ade Edmondson while they were students at Manchester University and was a pioneer of alternative ...

as his father. Channel 4 commissioned an additional 25-minute Christmas special before the first series aired, and a second series was announced during Davies's live tour "The Back of My Mum's Head", although this was before

's death in June 2014. Following Mayall's death, Davies met with Channel 4 to discuss the future of the show. Mayall had been intended to have a more prominent role in the second series. Channel 4 later announced that ''Man Down'' would return for a second series in 2015. The classroom used in the show is the same classroom in which Davies taught at Sandhurst School. Since July 2015, Davies has been the host of the panel game show '' Taskmaster''. In December 2015, he starred in

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream a ...

's comedy drama ''

A Gert Lush Christmas ''A Gert Lush Christmas'' is a British one-off comedy-drama film first broadcast on BBC Two on 26 December 2015. It was co-written by Russell Howard and Steve Williams, and features Howard in his acting debut. The programme also stars Kerry H ...

'' where he played Tony, the uncle of Russell and Kerry Howard's characters. On Christmas Day he played King Hydroflax in the 2015 ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the ...

'' Special "

The Husbands of River Song "The Husbands of River Song" is an episode of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. First broadcast on BBC One on 25 December 2015, it is the eleventh Christmas special since the show's revival in 2005. It was written by St ...

". In November 2017, Davies recorded a

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a ...

stand-up comedy special at the

Hammersmith Apollo The Hammersmith Apollo, currently called the Eventim Apollo for sponsorship reasons, and formerly known as the Hammersmith Odeon, is a live entertainment performance venue, originally built as a cinema called the Gaumont Palace. Located in Ha ...

during his Magnificent Beast UK tour. It was released as ''You Magnificent Beast'' in 2018. In 2021, Davies wrote and starred in the BBC One comedy series '' The Cleaner''. He is also the current host of Never Mind The Buzzcocks on

Sky Max Sky Max is a British pay television channel which launched on 1 September 2021 along with Sky Showcase. It is owned and operated by Sky Group, a subsidiary of Comcast. The channel was announced on 28 July 2021 to replace Sky One, which had been ...

which was revived in 2021.

Personal life

Davies is noted for his height, standing tall. He lives in the

Kennington Kennington is a district in south London, England. It is mainly within the London Borough of Lambeth, running along the boundary with the London Borough of Southwark, a boundary which can be discerned from the early medieval period between the ...

area of

. He was in a relationship with Labour Party politician Liz Kendall from 2007 to 2015.

Comedy specials

Filmography

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Davies, Greg 1968 births Living people 21st-century English male actors Actors from Shropshire Alumni of Brunel University London British male film actors British male television actors British male voice actors British people of Welsh descent British stand-up comedians Comedians from Shropshire Edinburgh Festival performers People educated at Thomas Adams School People from St Asaph People from Wem 21st-century British comedians Taskmaster (TV series)