Tom Allen: Which moment embarrassed you most?

Which moment embarrassed you most?

Originally asked

The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A

A verbatim recurring question in The Guardian's Q&A series.

You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.

Recorded Tom Allen said elsewhere, not written here

I did a corporate gig early in my career, and they opened the buffet in the middle of my set and everybody left.

The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 25 November 2023 source ↗

Others on this question

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Mark Steel

When I was 16, my dad got drunk at the Oval cricket ground and harangued Sir Garry Sobers, possibly the greatest cricketer of all time, because he didn’t agree with who he’d given as man of the match.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 1 February 2025 source ↗

Liev Schreiber American actor

When I was 19 I worked at a gay bar while I was at drama school in London. One of the guys I worked with was Glaswegian and I learned the dialect from him. The acting teacher at the school said, “Liev, you’ve got the region but you’ve missed the character entirely” because I played Jimmy Boyle in a very camp Glaswegian accent.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 14 September 2024 source ↗

Seann Walsh

At school, I got my head stuck in a balustrade on the stairs at lunchtime. I had pupils laughing at me, parents laughing at me, teachers laughing at me and eventually, at the end of the day, the fire brigade laughing at me.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 31 January 2026 source ↗

Fay Ripley English actress, television presenter, cookbook author