# Sam Campbell (comedian)

Samuel Campbell (born 1991/1992) is an Australian stand-up comedian and actor. He won the Melbourne International Comedy Festival Award in 2018 and the main prize at the Edinburgh Comedy Festival in 2022.

## Early life and education

Samuel Campbell was born in 1991 or 1992 in the Atherton Tableland in Far North Queensland. In podcasts, he has mentioned growing up around the regions of Yungaburra and Atherton, and mentioned the town of Lake Eacham, Queensland.
He was a small child growing up, and his parents considered placing him under growth hormone therapy. On a February 2024 episode of the British panel show Would I Lie To You?, Campbell stated he was a body double for an Australian headlice comb advert called "Nitbusters" when he was around 10.
Campbell went to high school in Bundaberg, and studied animation at the Queensland University of Technology.
Campbell lived in Brisbane from the ages of 17 to 21, and in 2011 he was a Queensland finalist for the national Raw Comedy competition. By 2015, Campbell had relocated to Sydney.

## Career

Campbell performs stand-up comedy live as well as creating comedy web shows.

### Australia

He made a short series that was broadcast on Comedy Central Australia and was a guest on ABC TV's The Checkout.
In the 2010s, Campbell was part of the YouTube collective Skills in Time, with Australian comedians Greg Larsen and Henry Stone. In 2017, he had a regular weekly segment on Triple J radio, featured in the web-series Dayne's World, and performed stand-up at Sydney comedy clubs. In 2018, he was frequently appearing alongside Anne Edmonds as Connor Bidou, the son of her character Helen Bidou.

### UK

He moved to the United Kingdom, having acquired a Global Talent visa in 2022.
Campbell performed at the 2022 Edinburgh Festival Fringe with his show simply entitled Comedy Show, which won the main prize. It was praised by the judges for its originality, surrealism and unexpected jokes. The Times described him as "a nutball, but he controls his loopiness with deceptive precision" and said that the show was "exhausting, exhilarating and a touch of genius". Brian Logan in The Guardian said "Campbell's imagination produces wonderfully adhesive images... there is now and then a core of robust observational comedy beneath Campbell's loopiness... None of it has anything to do with anything: it's the incongruity, taken to uncommon lengths, that's funny". The Daily Telegraph review mentioned "one-liners and absurdist whorls of madcap".
In 2023, Campbell was a contestant on the sixteenth series of Channel 4 comedy gameshow Taskmaster, winning the series.
On 29 March 2024, Campbell started co-hosting the Lucy & Sam's Perfect Brains podcast with comedian Lucy Beaumont. In June/July 2024, he toured the UK with his stand-up set Wobservations.
In March 2024, it was announced that Campbell would be piloting a Channel 4 series called Make That Movie!, in which he will create films based on the dreams of strangers.

## Recognition and awards

In 2015 Campbell won Best Newcomer, then in 2018 the Most Outstanding Show award, at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.
He was the winner of the main prize at the Edinburgh Comedy Awards at the 2022 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
In February 2023, Campbell was nominated at the UK National Comedy Awards in the Best Stand-up category for his show Comedy Show.
In February 2024, Campbell was nominated in the Best TV Comic category and Best Breakthrough Act category at the Chortle Awards. He won in the Best Breakthrough Act category and was voted Comedian's Comedian by his peers.

## Personal life

On the Off Menu podcast with James Acaster and Ed Gamble in March 2024, Campbell said that he had been vegetarian for three years.

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2016 | Red Christmas | Cletus | Horror film |
| 2018 | Working Out - Donny Benet | Self | Music Video |
| 2023 | Eggerson Keaveney | Eggerson Keaveney | Music video, also writer |
| 2023 | The 2IC | Candidate | Short film |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2017 | Small Town Hackers | Devon Gout | Series |
| 2018 | The Trough | Self | Stand-up special |
| 2019 | Stath Lets Flats | Nile | Series 2, episode 3 |
| 2019 | The Paddock | Self | Online comedy show |
| 2019 | Get Real Dude - Comedy Blaps | Self | Online comedy sketch |
| 2020 | Know It Alls: History | Self | Series 1, episodes 11-13 |
| 2021 | Pls Like | Lesley | Series 3 |
| 2021 | The Hundred with Andy Lee | Self | Series 1 |
| 2021–2022 | Bloods | Darrell | Series |
| 2022 | Companion | Self | Stand-up Special |
| 2022 | Don't Hug Me I'm Scared | Writer / ID Card / Green Apple | Series |
| 2022 | Red Flag | Writer | Sketch series |
| 2023 | 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown | Contestant | Series 24, episode 2 |
| 2023 | Never Mind the Buzzcocks | Contestant | Series 31, episode 3 |
| 2023 | Taskmaster | Contestant | Series 16 |
| 2023 | Guessable? | Contestant | Series 4, episode 9 |
| 2024 | Would I Lie to You? | Contestant | Series 17, episode 9 |
| 2024 | Richard Osman's House of Games | Contestant | Series 8, episodes 16-20 |
| 2024 | Fisk | Bubby | Series 3, episode 3 |
| 2024 | Rhod Gilbert's Growing Pains | Contestant | Series 6, episode 2 |
| 2024 | The Wheel | Contestant | Series 5, episode 7 |
| 2025 | 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown | Contestant | Series 27, episode 5 |
| 2025 | Would I Lie To You? | Contestant | Series 18, episode 6 |