Jason John Manford (born 26 May 1981) is an English comedian, presenter, actor and singer.
Manford was a team captain on the Channel 4 panel show 8 Out of 10 Cats from 2007 until 2010 and has presented numerous television shows for the BBC and ITV including Comedy Rocks (2010–2011), The One Show (2010), Show Me the Funny (2011), A Question of Sport: Super Saturday (2014), Bigheads (2017) and Children In Need (2022), and is one of four judges on ITV's Starstruck (2022).
Manford has starred in numerous stage musicals in the West End and across the UK such as Sweeney Todd, The Producers, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Guys and Dolls, Curtains and The Wizard of Oz.
Early life
Jason John Manford was born in Salford on 26 May 1981, the son of Sharon (née Ryan) and courtroom stenographer and trade union shop steward in the NHS Ian Manford. His maternal grandmother, Nora (née Peate), was an Irish Catholic from Dublin. Manford and his four siblings grew up in a terraced house in the Whalley Range area of Manchester. He attended St Margaret's Primary School in Whalley Range, and later Chorlton High School (at the time known as Oakwood High School). He formed a band in school with two friends, Simon and Neil, with his mother later saying that this was what got him into singing.
During a Twitter exchange in which Manford defended strike action undertaken by British Railway workers in the ASLEF trade union, Manford recalled the various workplaces he had worked in before his current career including building sites, call centres, shops, bars, warehouses and offices, stating "I didn't just leave school and say 'right, I'm off to play the arena!. While working as a glass collector at a local pub, Manford became interested in comedy after watching the likes of Eddie Izzard, Peter Kay and Johnny Vegas perform at the local comedy club. Kay recommended him to undertake an HND in media and performance at the University of Salford, which Kay himself had done. Despite not having the required A-level grades, he was accepted into the programme and eventually upgraded to a full degree. His brother Colin, also a University of Salford graduate, followed him into performing and is also a stand-up comedian.
Career
Television
From June to November 2007, Manford was on Ideal, where he had a small part as Jack, who had been dumped and cheated on by his girlfriend with 'little Darren', 'big Darren' and 'flu-strength Darren'. He later made another appearance in episode five of that series. He hosted a breakfast show on Xfm Manchester until May 2008.
From June to November 2007, Manford was Paramount Comedy's continuity announcer and writer. In June 2007, he took over from Dave Spikey as a team captain on 8 Out of 10 Cats. He presented his own show, Tonightly, which aired every weekday from 1 to 22 August 2008 and appeared as a celebrity supporter for inventor Kin Kam in a special charity edition of BBC Two's Dragons' Den for Sport Relief.
In March 2010, Manford was announced as host of a new comedy show called Comedy Rocks, featuring stand-up comedians and musical performances. A pilot was shown on ITV on 26 March 2010 and a full series began on the channel on 14 January 2011. On 26 May 2010, Manford was announced as the new presenter of BBC One's The One Show from July 2010. He resigned from the programme in November 2010 following allegations surrounding his private life.
He also made up one half of the Home Team with Peter Andre on the ITV game show Odd One In. In July 2011, Manford presented Show Me The Funny, a reality show on ITV involving ten comedians in which one is voted off each week. In 2013, Manford hosted three pilots: Good News, Bad News and Oh! What a Week for ITV, and You and Whose Army? for Sky1. None of them have yet been commissioned for a full series. He wrote and presented A Funny Old Year which was broadcast on ITV on New Year's Eve in 2012, 2013 and 2014. The show saw Manford take a look back over the past year's humorous events.
Since 21 June 2014, Manford has hosted a BBC One show called A Question of Sport: Super Saturday, a spin-off from BBC panel show A Question of Sport. On 21 September 2014, Manford guest hosted an episode of Sunday Night at the Palladium. He returned to present another show on 24 May 2015.
Manford played the role of Marty in the 2015 BBC Drama Ordinary Lies. In 2015, he hosted The Money Pit for Dave and It's a Funny Old Week for ITV.
In 2016, Manford joined Absolute Radio as their new Sunday morning show presenter.
In April 2017, Manford guest presented five episodes of The Nightly Show. He also presented the 2017 Laurence Olivier Awards for ITV, before returning to present the ceremony in 2019 and 2020.