Tom Basden

Tom Basden (b. England, 1980) is a British actor and comedy writer, and a member of the British four man sketch group Cowards. He has written and performed extensively for comedy shows on the BBC and Channel 4 and often collaborates in two-man shows with fellow Cowards member Tim Key.Basden was educated at King's College School, an independent school for boys in Wimbledon in South West London (in the same year group as actors Khalid Abdalla and Ben Barnes), followed by Pembroke College at the University of Cambridge. He was vice president of the Footlights and his contemporaries included Stefan Golaszewski, Sarah Solemani, Tim Key and Dan Stevens.Basden's one man show at the 2007 Edinburgh Festival Fringe Tom Basden Won't Say Anything won the if.comedy award for Best Newcomer. He also starred with Tim Key in the short film The One and Only Herb McGwyer Plays Wallis Island, which won the UK Film Council Kodak Award for Best British Short Film.Basden replaced Tim Minchin as the resident musician for the second series of Mark Watson Makes the World Substantially Better where he appears along with Tim Key and Mark Watson.He was a guest panellist on the BBC Two programme "Never Mind The Buzzcocks" on Wednesday, 4 November 2009.In 2011 he wrote There Is A War starring himself and Phoebe Fox for the National Theatre's Double Feature.In 2012, he appeared as musical side-kick to Key in his Radio 4 programme Tim Key's Late Night Poetry.From 2010 to 2012 Basden has written and starred in the BBC Radio 4 sitcom Party. It also stars Key, Jonny Sweet, Anna Crilly and Katy Wix and has just finished its third series.