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British panel show comedians

The British panel show is its own ecosystem. Mock the Week, Would I Lie to You?, 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown, QI, Taskmaster — these shows built careers, and the same faces keep turning up on them for 15 years at a stretch. Which is why UK viewers spend so much time Googling how tall these people actually are. When Greg Davies stands next to Alex Horne, the height gap is the joke.

Right now Romesh Ranganathan, James Acaster and David Walliams are all over British TV and ticket sites at the same time. So here’s a rundown of the panel show regulars worth knowing, with the body stats, the fitness stories and the health scares that don’t usually make it into the punchlines.

1. Greg Davies

Image: PhilipRomanoPhoto / CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Davies is the tallest man in British comedy and it’s not close: 6 ft 8 in (203 cm), a fact he’s mined for material since his Edinburgh days. Born in 1968 in Wales, he taught drama in secondary schools for 13 years before quitting at 33 for stand-up.

He’s hosted Taskmaster since 2015 and starred in Man Down, Cuckoo and The Inbetweeners as Mr Gilbert, plus years as a Mock the Week fixture. He’s joked repeatedly about back trouble and the knees of a much older man.

2. Romesh Ranganathan

Image: Bryan Berlin / CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Ranganathan stands about 6 ft 1 in (185 cm) and has built half his act around self-deprecation about his fitness. The Crawley-born comic, born in 1978, taught maths and didn’t start stand-up properly until his thirties.

He went vegan years ago and talks endlessly about being a “bad vegan” who lives on chips. He’s hosted the Weakest Link revival, A League of Their Own and Rob & Romesh Vs, which has thrown him into boxing, rugby and sumo training on camera. He’s also run marathons for charity — proof the lazy persona is partly a bit.

3. James Acaster

Image: Sriya Sarkar / CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Acaster, born in Kettering in 1985, is listed at around 5 ft 9 in (175 cm) — slight build, enormous presence. He was nominated for the Edinburgh Comedy Award five years running, from 2012 to 2016, which nobody had done before.

He’s a Taskmaster series 7 alumnus and co-hosts the food podcast Off Menu with Ed Gamble. Acaster has been unusually frank about mental health, describing a 2017 breakdown and the therapy that followed in his book Perfect Sound Whatever. His 2024 show and book Hecklers Welcome dug into the same territory.

4. David Walliams

Image: ProtoKiwi / CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

At 6 ft 2 in (188 cm), Walliams is the best endurance athlete here by a distance. The Little Britain star swam the English Channel in 2006 in 10 hours 34 minutes, crossed the Strait of Gibraltar, and in 2011 swam 140 miles of the River Thames over eight days for Sport Relief, raising more than £1 million.

The Thames swim came with a price — a nasty stomach infection dubbed “Thames tummy”. A regular on Would I Lie to You? and QI, he spent a decade judging Britain’s Got Talent before leaving in 2022.

5. Jimmy Carr

Image: Marcus Liversedge / CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Carr is listed at about 5 ft 11 in (180 cm) and has fronted 8 Out of 10 Cats since 2005 and Does Countdown since 2012. Born in 1972, he worked at Shell until he was 26, then walked out to do open mics.

He’s refreshingly blunt about the cosmetic work: a hair transplant, veneers, and what he’s called his midlife “MOT”. He talks about all of it on stage rather than pretending it didn’t happen.

6. Lee Mack

Image: User of Waffle TV YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/user/waffIeTvUK/) / CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Mack has been a team captain on Would I Lie to You? since 2007 — nearly two decades of improvised nonsense. He’s around 5 ft 9 in (175 cm), wiry, and born in 1968 in Southport.

Before comedy he was a stable lad for racehorses and a bingo caller at Pontins. He’s written and starred in Not Going Out since 2006, one of the BBC’s longest-running sitcoms, and has spoken about cutting right back on alcohol as he’s got older.

7. Katherine Ryan

Canadian-born and London-based since 2008, Ryan is listed at around 5 ft 7 in (170 cm). She’s a staple on 8 Out of 10 Cats and Mock the Week, with multiple Netflix specials including In Trouble and Missus.

In 2023 she revealed that a mole she’d been flagging to doctors for years was malignant melanoma. She had it removed and went public to push people to get second opinions. She’s equally open about fillers, Botox and what she has and hasn’t had done.

8. Bill Bailey

Bailey, born in 1965 and around 5 ft 9 in (175 cm), was a Never Mind the Buzzcocks team captain from 2002 to 2008 and a long-running QI favourite. Then he did something nobody saw coming.

At 55 he won Strictly Come Dancing in 2020 with Oti Mabuse, the oldest male winner in the show’s history. Months of training stripped weight off him and he’s said the fitness gains stuck. He’d already climbed Kilimanjaro for Comic Relief in 2009.

9. Rhod Gilbert

The Welsh comic hosted Never Mind the Buzzcocks in 2014 and 2015 and appeared on Taskmaster series 7 alongside Acaster. Born in 1968 in Carmarthen, he didn’t start stand-up until his thirties.

In 2022 Gilbert was diagnosed with stage 4 head and neck cancer. He filmed his chemotherapy and radiotherapy for the documentary Rhod Gilbert: A Pain in the Neck, and later confirmed there was no evidence of disease. He’s since returned to touring.

10. Rob Beckett

Beckett is listed at about 6 ft (183 cm) and is best known for the teeth, the Mockney delivery and being on every panel show going — 8 Out of 10 Cats, Mock the Week, Would I Lie to You?

He narrates Celebs Go Dating and co-hosts Parenting Hell with Josh Widdicombe, one of the UK’s biggest podcasts during lockdown. His 2022 book A Class Act dealt honestly with anxiety, therapy and the weirdness of fame.

Panel shows reward quick thinking, not six-packs — but this lot have swum the Channel, won Strictly, beaten cancer and talked openly about therapy. The jokes are the day job; what happens off camera is often the more interesting story.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is the tallest British panel show comedian?

Greg Davies, the Taskmaster host, at 6 ft 8 in (203 cm). The height gap between him and sidekick Alex Horne is a running gag on the show.

Which British comedian is the best athlete?

David Walliams by a distance. He swam the English Channel in 2006 in 10 hours 34 minutes, crossed the Strait of Gibraltar, and swam 140 miles of the River Thames in 2011.

How tall is Romesh Ranganathan?

Romesh Ranganathan stands about 6 ft 1 in (185 cm). He built much of his act on self-deprecating jokes about his fitness, though he has run charity marathons.

Which panel show comedian has spoken most openly about mental health?

James Acaster. He detailed a 2017 breakdown and his therapy in the book Perfect Sound Whatever, and revisited the subject in 2024’s Hecklers Welcome.

How were the comedians on this list chosen?

They are long-running regulars on UK panel shows such as Taskmaster, QI, Would I Lie to You?, Mock the Week and 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown, selected for documented height, fitness or health stories.