Tom Davis 'I was on the building site in the week, and in a dress at weekends'
over 5 years in The guardian
He swapped life as a builder for singing Disney songs in drag. Now the 6ft 7in comic is set to conquer the mainstream with family sitcom King Gary
n an upmarket London hotel lobby, Tom Davis is singing a number from The Little Mermaid. “I want to be where the people are. I want to see, want to see them dancing!” the comedian croons, curious guests looking up from expensive cappuccinos. He chuckles, reclines into a taupe sofa and reminisces. “I used to sing that when I was a drag act. It was a bit like Billy Elliot: working on a building site during the week, tight-fitting sequin dress and Disney songs at weekends.”
As journeys to becoming the star of a primetime BBC One sitcom go, Davis’s is pretty unusual. King Gary, a new six-part comedy about a family striving for social acceptance, is very much rooted in the tradition of mass-appeal humour – centred on family life, trauma-free and with a distinct lack of effing and jeffing. And Davis’s warm, down-to-earth charm makes him entirely believable as the lead in the kind of sitcom that unites parents and kids on the sofa. Continue reading...
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