Tom Mayhew is a familiar face on the stand-up scene. He has won a host of awards and on 24th and 25th July, he makes his way to Salford to perform an exciting, new and politically driven show...
Tom was unemployed for three years from the age of 18, and this show is his take on rejections, the Jobcentre, being working-class and fighting for your place in the world.
Taking clear inspiration from Ken Loach's incredible I, Daniel Blake, the show is a welcome, timely and all-new swipe at the powers-that-be. I asked Tom if he still gets nervous about performing new material. "A little bit, yeah. It's a mixture of nerves, but also excitement. It is such an amazing feeling when it pays off, but you feel very silly when it doesn't!"
In the show, Tom spins some desperate topics and finds that there's no austerity of humour. He writes stand-up that is a mix of the brutally honest and the utterly ridiculous. Thankfully, I, Tom Mayhew is no exception. It's a show packed with a whole host of relevant jokes that are bang on the zeitgeist, as he explores what life is really like in 2019 with a surreal wit.
Current resonant topics including pansexuality, the working-classes and mental health all get the Tom treatment. Other bugbears that surface during I, Tom Mayhew include the Government and living with your parents as an adult.
Tom is an avid comedy fan and pinpointing his style is difficult: "I love Nish Kumar, Mae Martin and Zoe Lyons" he says "but there are just three names out of hundreds that I could have chosen, to be honest."
He himself is a well respected performer on the comedy circuit and won The Comedy Store's King Gong in 2016, was nominated for the Leicester Mercury Comedian of the Year 2017, and, last year, reached the BBC New Comedy Award Semi-Finals.
He has also performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and had his work broadcast on BBC Radio 4 Extra and Radio 1, while writing for The News Quiz (BBC Radio 4) and Newsjack (BBC Radio 4 Extra).
I ask if he still has unfulfilled ambitions? "I try to keep myself grounded, so right now my ambition is just to make a living from it" he responds "The ultimate ambition would be to be able to buy my parents their house; I would love to do that."
In summing up the show, Tom offers, "I wanted to write something that fights against the negative stereotype of those on benefits. This is a show that is standing up for those at the bottom, while mocking the system that holds them down."
I, Tom Mayhew sounds like a welcome and much-needed show that addresses the current political climate whilst tipping the hat to Ken Loach...
I, Tom Mayhew (Work In Progress)
Wednesday 24th and Thursday 25th July 7pm
The Kings Arms: Vaults - 11 Bloom Street
Tickets £5 – for more info and to book – click here
Words by Ian Leslie
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