Comedian Tom Allen, 39, grew up in Bromley and trained with the National Youth theatre. He started standup aged 22, winning So You Think You’re Funny and the BBC New Comedy award in the same year. He regularly appears on TV series including The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice, and as a host on The Apprentice: You’re Fired and Cooking With the Stars. He’s currently performing warm-up gigs before going on the road in February with a new standup tour, Completely. His second memoir, Too Much, is published this week.

Tom then started making retching noises while Matt introduced his "celebration of cauliflower" recipe, an ingredient he dislikes. Happily settled in a new relationship and with a dream house of his own, comedian Tom had finally moved on from the arrested development of millennial life and could at last call himself an adult.Join Tom Allen, star of stage and screen, as he discusses his hilarious, honest and touching new book Too Much, followed by the chance to ask questions in an audience Q&A. With his hallmark honesty and wit, Tom writes beautifully about those days, weeks and months following loss, and about how bewildering the practicalities of life can be in the wake of an upheaval – those moments, really, when everything can start to feel a bit too much . . . With moving honesty and wit, Tom Allen writes beautifully about those days, weeks and months following his family's loss, and about how bewildering the practicalities of life can be in the wake of an upheaval – those moments, really, when everything can start to feel a bit too much... Tom Allen also has a stand-up tour coming up. More details here. And this Thursday, October 20 on ITV1 at 9pm he can be seen on DNA Journey with Joel Dommett, where among other sensational revelations he discovers that he is related to none other than television legend Gloria Hunniford. The idea of “too much” takes on several meanings. “Dad and I were very different and at times I worried I could be too much for him,” Allen begins. “For example, I was brought up to resist any unnecessary dramatics. For my parents, this was an uphill struggle.” Elsewhere, it feels “too much” to ask straight friends to go with him to a gay bar. He worries that “if I started living my life too much, there would be a price to pay”. No favour was ever “too much” for his dad. His loss is “too much to understand”.

My dad’s funeral had a reassuring sense of ritual, but all high ceremony is camp. I’ve always quite fancied myself as a vicar: I like the outfits, you get a free house, there’s a lot of parading up and down aisles. In a way, church is like Drag Race. after newsletter promotion The funniest and most memorable chapter recalls Allen’s first trip to a gay sauna Just watched Saturday Kitchen and I was in hysterics.....had a tear in my eye too. I've never watched a SK episode twice but I will today." Happily settled in a new relationship and with a dream house of his own, comedian Tom Allen had finally moved on from the arrested development of millennial life and could at last call himself an adult. The comedy started just a minute in when Matt introduced Tom, with the stand-up star replying: "It's a real thrill... for you."He explained: “The door staff escorted the lady out, and she was furious. I think it was part of the loop that I was in: desperate for positive affirmation but also fixated on negativity. Your new book is inspired by your father’s death last year. Were you hesitant about being so honest?

I have always made a point of talking in the first person because, after all, how can you know what anyone else’s experience has been?

At one point he even questioned the point of the series, saying: "You've been doing this cooking show for a long time and I don't know if anybody cares.