Comedian Tom Houghton: ‘I discovered I was feet of the week on a foot fetish site’

A lot has changed since Tom Houghton brought his brand of soulful, thought-provoking and downright hilarious observational comedy to Cambridge last year.

The son of the ex-Chief of Defence Staff has moved away from his home at the Tower of London (yes, really), is about to embark on a second stand-up tour, titled Absolute Shambles, and has filmed a TV special for Netflix.

So we had a lot to catch up on as he heads back to Cambridge, where he received an extremely warm reception from the audience at his sold-out performance last March on his debut Honour Tour (‘on a tour’ – get it?).

“The Junction was my favourite show last year – it was such a good atmosphere,” he says. “It was reasonably early on in the run, but I remember there was such a positive vibe in the room, and I’m really looking forward to coming back to Cambridge and to the Junction itself.”

There was some interaction with the audience afterwards. Tom recalls: “I didn’t do many Q&As at the end but they did [in Cambridge]. Someone just went ‘How are you feeling?’, which was like a friend asking a question rather than a fan.

“So I really did feel like there was so much goodwill and people were really pleased to be there – and I thought the show was fun. I really do have a soft spot for Cambridge.”

There is an underlying sense of warmth that runs throughout Tom’s brand of comedy, which could be described as shocking and outrageous at times by those of a more nervous disposition. One might say his comedy has heart.

“I like heart, I like there to be moments of sincerity in a show,” he notes. “I think a lot of the funniest things you can say, they’re not actually just jokes but are revealing a truth and observing something about the human condition.

“We live in a world which would like us to believe that we’re all very different, but actually when it comes to human emotions there’s much more that binds us than separates us.”

Tom Houghton, or The Honourable Tom Houghton, to give him his full title, lived at the Tower of London from 2017 when his father, the ex-Chief of Defence Staff – the head of the British Military – was appointed constable upon his

retirement.

Although he has since moved out of one of London’s top tourist attractions, Tom has found somewhere else to call home within the English capital.

“It’s a new chapter in my life,” he says from his new flat in Borough Market, near London Bridge. “It was lovely while it lasted but it was time for me to get my own place and start establishing myself elsewhere, which is actually very nice. It’s nice to have your own place, properly. Borough Market’s a lovely spot.”

He adds: “Now I can decorate a place how I want it; when I come back home late at night, I don’t have to wait for two guards and cross a battlegate and go over a moat... I can just walk through the front door. It’s a lot easier.”

Following the success of his Honour Tour, Tom enjoyed a fruitful couple of weeks – half a run – at last year’s Edinburgh Festival.

“It was really nice,” he reflects. “I think I did it in the best way possible, because doing a whole month is a long time. You definitely get burn-out so just doing a couple of weeks was nice. I did the Free Fringe because it was a work-in-progress show.

“I had no PR, no real posters or flyers, I just relied on my social media to get people there and it meant that I could just work up the hour for the show for the tour, no pressure at all, and put a bucket out at the end and just get straight cash from people.

“The paid venues now [at Edinburgh] are becoming so expensive, it’s not financially viable for performers to do it any more. Maybe back in the day Edinburgh was a good way of getting recognition in the industry, but nowadays with social media it’s so easy to produce your own stuff and get it out there.

“I think this next year [2023] it will be interesting to see how many performers decide not to do Edinburgh, because actually you’d much rather spend the money you would have spent going to Edinburgh just filming one of your own shows and putting it out on the internet yourself.”

Having amassed a loyal fanbase of over a quarter of a million online followers, the man who memorably asked “Do you ski?” in his previous show (this emblematic phrase is emblazoned on T-shirts which are available on his website) is something of a social media sensation.

Does he think his online presence was the main reason he sold out the Junction’s J3, an impressive feat indeed, especially for his first ever stand-up tour?

“Absolutely it is, yeah,” replies Tom, noting that this time he will be bringing his second stand-up show, Absolute Shambles, to the larger J2 at the Junction in February – and that it’s not far off from being another sell-out.

“I think also I have to give a thank you to Milton Jones. I was his tour support for three years, over lockdown and everything. Whenever we did a gig in a city, my numbers would go up after I’d done his tour support. So I think that really helped, but absolutely my social media as well.”

So far Absolute Shambles, which is set to delve even deeper into Tom’s life as he tries to smarten up the not-so-honourable aspects of himself, has 44 dates booked in on the calendar, compared to 22 on his first tour. “And we’re adding possibly 20 more dates as well,” reveals Tom, “so I feel very, very lucky.”

Tom attended Sedbergh School in the Lake District as a boarder from the age of six – former England rugby captain Will Carling is among its other alumni. But the show picks up more recent themes and stories.

“It is a show sort of about the transition period of me coming out of the Tower and during lockdown trying to find internet fame, and getting a bit too caught up in it...

“I went back home and saw my family a lot, and my sister’s just had a kid so I got to be an uncle, and it’s basically a show about the trappings of social media and understanding – I don’t want to sound too contrite – how real happiness is found in the real world with real people, rather than trying to seek validation online too much.

“There’s routines about social media, about leaving the Tower, various things that happened to me on the internet during lockdown and just after, I found myself on a foot fetish website; I was Feet of the Week when they found pictures of me sunbathing on the Tower of London. Lots of things about my mum being scammed and a cat story that I think should be quite fun.”

Tom, a fan of fellow comedians Bill Burr and Milo McCabe (aka Troy Hawke of the Greeters Guild), also talks in the show about how “posh people aren’t the problem – it’s snobs who are the problem”, adding: “and you can always tell a snob because whenever you talk to a snob, everything they do and say has to have happened by accident.

“I met a woman a few months ago and she said, ‘Last year, we found ourselves in Tuscany’. Found yourself ? No you didn’t! Now I’ve pointed it out, people always go, ‘Oh my God, I have a friend and they always say ‘I found myself’!’ and ‘we happened upon’ and ‘as luck would have it’...

“I don’t know what it is about them, everything has to have come easily and by accident. They can never put any effort in; it’s never, ‘We booked a holiday and we went to Tuscany’.”

[Read more: Comedian Tom Houghton on life in the Tower of London, Harry Hill: ‘I’ll leave them punch-drunk with a very silly show’]

As well as potentially adding even more tour dates to what is already an eye-popping number, TV has also come knocking on Tom’s door. Previous television appearances include Comedy Central’s Roast Battle and Channel 4’s First Dates.

“The big news is that I’ve filmed a Netflix reality TV show. It’s called The Circle so I’m about to become a Z-list celebrity!” he says.

The show came out on Netflix on December 28. “It’s one of their biggest reality TV shows, and I’m playing myself on it. I filmed it about a year ago but they film you 24/7 and then they can edit you however they want to edit you, so my fate is in the hands of the editors.

“But it was a really fun thing to do, and it’s always nice to put Netflix on the poster, and it’s just the exposure to literally tens of millions of people, so fingers crossed that will be a real breakthrough for me.”

Absolute Shambles kicks off in Reading on January 26 and calls in at the Cambridge Junction on Saturday, February 4. For tickets, priced from £15.50-£18, visit junction.co.uk. For more on Tom, visit honourabletom.com.