We’re in for a treat this week because Greg Davies – star of Cuckoo, The Inbetweeners, and upcoming black comedy series The Cleaner – is a guest on The Graham Norton Show. The statuesque actor-comedian always has some killer anecdotes up his sleeve, so before he makes us all chortle, let’s get to know him a little better
1. He was a real-life high school teacher before he played one in The Inbetweeners.
Davies actually worked as a high school teacher for 13 years before leaving the profession to pursue a career in comedy. That gave him plenty of time to amass hilarious teacher anecdotes like one he shared during a previous appearance on The Graham Norton Show. Let's hope his old friend "Tony" didn't get in trouble afterward
2. He flirted with a comedy career in his early twenties, but his dad advised him to get a "proper job" instead, which is where teaching came in
"My dad was wonderful but that was his one piece of terrible advice," Davies told The Guardian, "although my mum and sister think I needed to toughen my hide before I entered this world and they were probably right because I would have crumbled back then. I wouldn't have had the guts for it. I've barely got the guts now."
3. He considers landing the role of sadistic Mr. Gilbert in The Inbetweeners to be his lucky break.
"The Inbetweeners was a massively lucky break for me, considering I'm barely in it," he told the i. "It was so ludicrously popular that it reached so many people. You must never underestimate the power of luck in this business. Luck has played a massive part in my career."
Still, there's no doubt that Gilbert made a big impression as the playful but also kind of terrifying Mr. Gilbert.
4. He once accidentally wore his mother's underwear to work.
Warning: This story that Davies shared on a previous The Graham Norton Show appearance is both very funny and very graphic.
5. He grew up in Shropshire in the east of England, but regards himself as a Welshman.
This is because when Davies's mother went into labor, his Welsh father insisted that they drive across the England-Wales border so that Davies would be born on Welsh soil. "Being born Welsh was incredibly important to my father, he wanted his heritage to live on," Davies told Celtic Life. "I don't know how my mother put up with it, or even said yes in the first place, but it all led to me today being able to say I am a Welshman."
6. He finds writing so difficult that he sometimes gets angry and breaks things.
"Like my sock drawer," he told the i. "I opened it so it was fully extended, and then I kicked it off its hinges. Like a psychopath. That drawer is now glued shut, a monument to my fury. I often look at it when I'm cross."
7. One of his first TV roles came as King Henry VIII in the BBC's children's entertainment strand CBBC.
We think you'll agree that Davies – who stands at 6'8" tall – makes for a suitably statuesque Henry VIII.
8. For several years, he was in a relationship with British MP (Member of Parliament) Liz Kendall.
Davies told The Times in 2015 that his time with Kendall “transformatively sharpened his interest in politics.
9. He doesn't feel remotely his age – which, incidentally, is 53.
"The notion that I'm an adult is just preposterous," he told the i. "The idea that there is a point when one becomes a fully functioning adult is endlessly fascinating to me. I just don’t think there is."
10. And finally, he got a bit of a shock when he worked with Helena Bonham Carter on his new comedy series The Cleaner.
Davies shares the story on this week’s episode of The Graham Norton Show, which airs Friday (October 8) at 11pm EST on BBC America, but you can watch an ever-so-slightly naughty preview clip below.
Does Greg Davies tickle your funny bone?