Greg Davies, comedian

Desert Island Discs

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

Presenter Lauren Laverne Producer Paula McGinley