Mike Myers has made his TV debut as his new alter ego, British comedic legend Tommy Maitland, on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, which was guest hosted by Will Arnett. Check out his appearance in the player below!
Maitland has been announced to host ABC’s irreverent talent show competition The Gong Show, which premieres on Thursday, June 22 at 10:00 p.m. EDT. The show is executive produced by actor/comedian Will Arnett. Every episode will celebrate unusually talented and unique performers on a primetime stage. A revolving panel of judges featuring Hollywood’s hottest stars praise, critique and gong contestants in one of TV’s all-time great variety shows.
Born on July 7, 1944, Thomas Winston Maitland (his middle name is a tribute to Winston Churchill) grew up in Neasden, GLC, Borough of Brent, where his father was an actuary and in the Merchant Marine and his mother was in the RAF. After a failed stint as a pipe fitter’s apprentice, Tommy joined the British Army at the tender age of 15. He later joined the Entertainment National Service Association (ENSA), where he got to know some of the U.K.’s biggest comedians. He played the ukulele, told jokes and drummed (though he drummed badly), and he ended up hosting the show – a talent he would later be known for. He was voted ENSA Entertainer of the Year, for which he was given a guarantee to appear on British radio. He later worked as an announcer for the British radio show, “The Whosey Whats,” and got small roles in the Carry On films – either as the over-anxious compart at a men’s club or the strict union pipe fitter. He also appeared in the TV series, The Lord Mayor, as the cheeky mayor of a mythical town in East Anglia who struck it rich because they sat atop an oil field.
In 1973, Tommy wrote a book about his time in the British Army fighting the Mau Maus called The Mau Maus are Revolting, and he also worked at a Butlin’s Holiday Camp at the same time, for two seasons, in Anglesea, Wales and Brighton.
Hugely popular in Italy, he made four of his 11 films there. Two of the four were Spaghetti Westerns, where he played the fastidious banker, and the other two were James Bond knockoffs – You Only Live Once, To Be Honest and From Russia, Luv. At the same time, Tommy continued to work the working men’s clubs across England, where he received top dollar as an emcee.
In 1976, Tommy starred in He Wore a Dustman’s Hat, about an upper-class London gent who discovers that his dad (Tommy Maitland) is a garbage worker for the council in Hackney. This show played on Canadian TV at 4:00 a.m. on Saturday mornings. Will Arnett saw this show in syndication on Canadian TV in 1980 and thought that Tommy was a comedic genius. Later that year, Tommy bought an estate in Kent called Serendipity, which he found by accident. Serendipity was a mega-celebrity hangout where people could escape, party, do or be anything they wanted to be, free from judgment and the prying eyes of the paparazzi.
In the ‘80s, Tommy hosted the British game show Tell You What, a charades-based adventure game. He later hosted an Australian game show called Dingo’s Got the Baby, in which one contestant would be the dingo and another the baby, and a chase would ensue. In 1990 he returned to England for a series of one-hour specials, called You’ve Still Got No Proof.
Tommy retired at the age of 55 but was still doing ENSA gigs. He loves comedy, so he often went to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival to watch young comics. Will Arnett, who was doing stand-up at one of the festivals, approached and befriended him. Desperately wanting to work with Tommy, Arnett tried for years to come up with a gig that was suitable for his immense talent and The Gong Show was the perfect match.
The Gong Show will be produced by Den of Thieves, Electric Avenue Productions and Principato Young Entertainment in association with Sony Pictures Television and will be taped in front of a live audience. The Gong Show is executive produced by Will Arnett, Evan Prager, Jesse Ignjatovic, Conrad Green, Peter Principato and Marc Forman. Jared Morell, Jordan Barrow and David Bohnert will co-executive produce.
