‘Let's try a freak': How this chaotic comedian landed TV's most wholesome show
Which is why many local comedy fans might have been a bit perplexed by the casting of Tom Walker this season. Not because he isn't talented. But because this 'unhinged' comedian, trained mime and Twitch streamer is, to my knowledge, the first co-host whose stand-up includes graphic sex scenes with a coat.
'After the audition I got a text that I read to my parents, and it made them laugh the hardest that they've ever laughed, which is kind of hurtful, as a comedian,' Walker says before the series' launch. 'The text said that everyone was 'pleasantly surprised'.'
He adds: 'There comes a time when a production has to throw up its hands and say, 'Let's try a freak on here!''
But, however unlikely off-screen, Walker isn't at all out of place in the Bake Off shed. In this upcoming eighth season, he perfectly matches the goofy and warm energy of returning co-host Natalie Tran – who also made her name in online comedy – and has a fresh haircut and rotation of bright cardigans to blend in.
'My mullet was the first casualty of getting to be in the Bake-Off shed – and I understand why they did it,' Walker says, laughing. 'Something to keep in mind is I am approximately triple the size of everyone else. I would have been quite an intimidating presence if they had not sanded down some of the rough edges.
'I'm a 'loomer': I naturally gravitate towards standing out of focus in the background of shot. If you've seen the movie It Follows [a horror film in which people are slowly stalked by others who are possessed by a supernatural entity], that's where my presence most naturally gravitates.'
Tran admits that, unfamiliar with his stand-up, she watched Walker's 2020 special Very Very (yes, the one with the coat) the night before meeting him and had some questions. 'It was fantastic! But I was like, 'Wow, they're going to let him [on the show]? OK, I love it.''
Of course, his usual material needed tweaking. Walker confirms there was a ban on him referencing poo or other bodily products, 'which is kind of like telling Tyson he can't uppercut'. But Tran says what stood out to her was how 'polite' and 'nurturing' he was after production started.
'I know that's probably not the first thing that you think of, but he brought such a caring energy to the shed,' she says. 'He was exactly what we needed.'
Walker is, after all, filling the spot held by Cal Wilson, who died after a short battle with a rare cancer in October 2023. The beloved comedian left the show abruptly in season seven, leaving Tran to host on her own, and died shortly after filming finished. This new season is the first time Tran and the rest of the crew were on set since Wilson's death.
'It was tough,' Tran says. 'The thing that I had to focus on was that Cal really loved the show, and it's a real privilege to be able to work on it. There were obviously sad moments, but it was a chance to feel closer to her, too. We now have a tree for Cal in the park [where we film].'
It also helped, Tran says, that Walker was longtime friends with Wilson and shared the loss. The pair had starred alongside each other in the short-lived Australian version of improv show Whose Line Is It Anyway? in 2016.
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'She was the most warm and kind person that I've ever met in comedy,' he says, slowly and with emphasis. 'Comedy is an industry populated by the meanest, funniest people that you could possibly meet, and no one had a bad word to say about Cal. Everybody loved her.'
Was there any pressure in being asked to step into her shoes?
'I just want to make her proud. She loved this show – she truly loved it. And I want to take this thing that she loved and shepherded, and keep it safe in some small way.'
Despite the absurd and ironic nature of much of his work, Walker has a real reverence for the franchise, which is arguably the most earnest show on television. He talks about looking up to Mel Buttle and Claire Hooper, who hosted for four seasons from 2015 to 2022, as well as the 'inspirational' original British hosts Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins, who helmed the show for seven years.
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It's worth noting, however, that the latter duo's epic run has now been surpassed by the show's present co-host, Noel Fielding. The Mighty Boosh co-creator was considered a similarly strange pick when announced in 2017 – this was the guy who created characters such as Old Gregg and the Crack Fox – but he's since become the pillar of the British version of the show, his spiky surreal comedy softened into whimsy. Strangely enough, it matches the chaotic energy of the kitchen – and it's hard not to see that as a road map to Walker's casting.
'[Each show] is allowed one weird guy,' Walker says. 'It's a goth over there. Here, it's some weirdo online fella who's also a mime and clown. We're duelling freaks! I know Cal would get a huge kick out of me doing this job because it's such a left-field pick. I know exactly the laugh she would be doing.'
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