# Dominic Holland
**Dominic Holland** (Dominic Anthony Holland) is an English stand-up comedian and author who won the Perrier Best Newcomer Award at the [Edinburgh Festival Fringe](https://www.edgepedia.org/edinburgh-festival-fringe) in 1993 and has since built a career across club stand-up, television panel shows, [BBC Radio 4](https://www.edgepedia.org/bbc-radio-4) comedy series, and a run of comic novels.[1](https://www.comedycv.co.uk/dominicholland/) In recent years his public profile has become entwined with that of his eldest son, the actor [Tom Holland](https://www.edgepedia.org/tom-holland), a relationship he has made the subject of a memoir and of his stage material.[2](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2017/aug/19/spider-man-tom-holland-and-his-dad-dominic-holland-spider-man-homecoming-eclipsed)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Stand-up debut | Comedy Cafe, Rivington Street, London, 1991[3](https://thecomedyagency.co.uk/artists/dominic-holland.html) |
| Awards | Perrier Best Newcomer Award, 1993; Perrier Award nomination, 1996[1](https://www.comedycv.co.uk/dominicholland/) |
| Radio | Four written and performed BBC Radio 4 series, including The Small World Of Dominic Holland, winner of a Comic Heritage Award[4](https://www.amfotalent.com/talent/dominic-holland) |
| Books | Nine books per his agency profile; ten books, mainly novels, per his own Substack[4](https://www.amfotalent.com/talent/dominic-holland) • [5](https://hollandsshorts.substack.com/p/hello-and-welcome) |
| Memoir | Eclipsed, on being outgunned in showbusiness by his eldest son before the boy was a teenager[5](https://hollandsshorts.substack.com/p/hello-and-welcome) |
| Style | Observational family material with no comic persona, delivered conversationally[6](https://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/special_report/1999/08/99/edinburgh_festival_99/425001.stm) |
| Current work | UK touring and corporate hosting, the novel Made in England (2022), and the Holland's Shorts newsletter[4](https://www.amfotalent.com/talent/dominic-holland) • [5](https://hollandsshorts.substack.com/p/hello-and-welcome) |
## Early life and career beginnings
In 1991, Holland first performed stand-up at the Comedy Cafe on Rivington Street, and he soon built a strong reputation on the London club scene, eventually ranking among the most admired club comedians of his generation.[3](https://thecomedyagency.co.uk/artists/dominic-holland.html) His first Edinburgh hour came in 1993 at the Attic, in front of 17 people; the run completely sold out.[7](https://www.onthemic.co.uk/interviews_list/dominic-holland/)
## Stand-up career and style
The 1993 Edinburgh run brought him the Perrier Best Newcomer Award, and he received a Perrier Award nomination in 1996.[1](https://www.comedycv.co.uk/dominicholland/) The 1993 newcomer award placed him at the center of a British comedy boom: [Lee Evans](https://www.edgepedia.org/lee-evans) took the main Perrier Award that year, [Steve Coogan](https://www.edgepedia.org/steve-coogan) had won it a year earlier, and [Frank Skinner](https://www.edgepedia.org/frank-skinner) beat Jack Dee in the same cohort.[2](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2017/aug/19/spider-man-tom-holland-and-his-dad-dominic-holland-spider-man-homecoming-eclipsed)
A 1999 BBC review of his Edinburgh show described the mechanics of his style plainly: he has no comic persona or set of characters, relying solely on his natural charm, and almost everything he says about his life on stage is actually true.[6](https://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/special_report/1999/08/99/edinburgh_festival_99/425001.stm) The same review found the material itself unremarkable, noting he had used most of it in earlier television slots, though he claimed he wrote the show for the Fringe.[6](https://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/special_report/1999/08/99/edinburgh_festival_99/425001.stm) His biography page describes an acute eye for people's idiosyncrasies, weaving minute details and observations into his material.[1](https://www.comedycv.co.uk/dominicholland/) [The Sunday Times](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-sunday-times) has described him as Britain's master of observational comedy, a label that has stayed with him across over thirty years of performing.[3](https://thecomedyagency.co.uk/artists/dominic-holland.html)
His Edinburgh output is counted differently by different sources: his agency credits him with seven solo shows at the festival,[4](https://www.amfotalent.com/talent/dominic-holland) while his comedy biography lists five critically acclaimed sell-out one-man shows.[1](https://www.comedycv.co.uk/dominicholland/) Away from Edinburgh he played regularly at [The Comedy Store](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-comedy-store) and Jongleurs.[1](https://www.comedycv.co.uk/dominicholland/)
## Television, radio and acting credits
Holland's broadcast work spans panel shows, radio series and small acting parts. He was a team captain alongside Lee Hurst and [Marcus Brigstocke](https://www.edgepedia.org/marcus-brigstocke) on Channel 5's panel show What in the World, appeared in both series of [BBC Three](https://www.edgepedia.org/bbc-three)'s Rob Brydon's Annually Retentive, and appeared in the film Tube Tales directed by [Armando Iannucci](https://www.edgepedia.org/armando-iannucci).[1](https://www.comedycv.co.uk/dominicholland/) Other television credits include The Clive James Show, The Royal Variety Show, Never Mind the Buzzcocks and regular spots on The Wright Stuff.[1](https://www.comedycv.co.uk/dominicholland/) His agency also lists Have I Got News For You, The Royal Variety Performance and The News Quiz.[4](https://www.amfotalent.com/talent/dominic-holland)
For radio, he has created and appeared in four series broadcast on BBC Radio 4, among them The Small World Of Dominic Holland, a program that earned a Comic Heritage Award.[4](https://www.amfotalent.com/talent/dominic-holland) Television work tapered off: in 2017 he said he had not been on television for 15 years.[2](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2017/aug/19/spider-man-tom-holland-and-his-dad-dominic-holland-spider-man-homecoming-eclipsed)
## Books and writing
Holland's first novel, Only In America, was published in 2002 to excellent reviews, with the follow-up, The Ripple Effect, the following year.[1](https://www.comedycv.co.uk/dominicholland/) His agency lists nine books including Only in America, The Ripple Effect, A Man's Life, I'Gabriel and Open Links, and notes that his latest novel, Made in England, was published on 3 July 2022.[4](https://www.amfotalent.com/talent/dominic-holland) Holland himself, writing on his Substack, says he has written 10 books, mainly novels, and many thousands of comic stories and essays; the nine-versus-ten discrepancy between the two counts is unresolved.[5](https://hollandsshorts.substack.com/p/hello-and-welcome)
His assessment of the books' commercial reach is blunt: they have been reviewed in national newspapers, won awards and been recommended by people whose opinions he admires, but to date, not bought by enough people.[5](https://hollandsshorts.substack.com/p/hello-and-welcome) His own site describes him as an award-winning author and stand-up comedian of funny books that make readers feel good, and describes one novel as concerning a playground incident thirty years later involving two broken men.[8](https://www.dominichollandbooks.com/)
## By the numbers
A quantified sketch of the career, with the two counting conflicts flagged:
- Stand-up debut: 1991, Comedy Cafe, London.[3](https://thecomedyagency.co.uk/artists/dominic-holland.html)
- First Edinburgh hour: 1993, the Attic, audience of 17, run sold out.[7](https://www.onthemic.co.uk/interviews_list/dominic-holland/)
- Awards: Perrier Best Newcomer 1993, Perrier nomination 1996.[1](https://www.comedycv.co.uk/dominicholland/)
- Edinburgh solo shows: five per one biography, seven per his agency.[1](https://www.comedycv.co.uk/dominicholland/) • [4](https://www.amfotalent.com/talent/dominic-holland)
- Radio 4 series: four, written, and performed.[4](https://www.amfotalent.com/talent/dominic-holland)
- Books: nine per his agency, ten per his own account.[4](https://www.amfotalent.com/talent/dominic-holland) • [5](https://hollandsshorts.substack.com/p/hello-and-welcome)
- Years without television as of 2017: 15.[2](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2017/aug/19/spider-man-tom-holland-and-his-dad-dominic-holland-spider-man-homecoming-eclipsed)
## How it compares with his contemporaries
Holland's 1993 newcomer award puts him in the same festival cohort as Lee Evans, Steve Coogan, Frank Skinner and [Jack Dee](https://www.edgepedia.org/jack-dee), all named in the Guardian's account of that comedy boom.[2](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2017/aug/19/spider-man-tom-holland-and-his-dad-dominic-holland-spider-man-homecoming-eclipsed) His subsequent path diverged from theirs: rather than a sustained television career, his visible work after the 1990s concentrated on live stand-up, radio series and novels, and by 2017 he counted 15 years off television.[2](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2017/aug/19/spider-man-tom-holland-and-his-dad-dominic-holland-spider-man-homecoming-eclipsed) His panel-show appearances did overlap with peers' formats, including team captaincy on What in the World and slots on [Never Mind the Buzzcocks](https://www.edgepedia.org/never-mind-the-buzzcocks) and Have I Got News For You.[1](https://www.comedycv.co.uk/dominicholland/) • [4](https://www.amfotalent.com/talent/dominic-holland)
## Public profile and family
Holland has four sons; the eldest is the actor Tom Holland, star of [Spider-Man: Homecoming](https://www.edgepedia.org/spider-man-homecoming).[5](https://hollandsshorts.substack.com/p/hello-and-welcome) • [2](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2017/aug/19/spider-man-tom-holland-and-his-dad-dominic-holland-spider-man-homecoming-eclipsed) In a 2017 interview he said that after more than 20 years as a professional comedian he was rapidly becoming best known for being Tom Holland's dad.[9](https://www.voicemag.uk/interview/2799/interview-with-dominic-holland) His Patreon page now describes him as an award-winning stand-up comedian and author of ten books and counting, best known nowadays for being a dad, more specifically dad to his eldest son, Tom.[10](https://www.patreon.com/dominicholland/about)
He has made the situation his material. His 2017 Edinburgh set, performed as a free show at the Voodoo Rooms in the year he turned 50, took as its subject how his success had been surpassed by that of his 21-year-old son.[2](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2017/aug/19/spider-man-tom-holland-and-his-dad-dominic-holland-spider-man-homecoming-eclipsed) The show was framed as the funny observations of family life by a 50-year-old dad of four sons, one of whom happens to be the new [Spider-Man](https://www.edgepedia.org/spider-man), and he endorsed the Free Fringe pay-what-you-enjoy model.[9](https://www.voicemag.uk/interview/2799/interview-with-dominic-holland) The theme extends to print: he wrote a memoir called Eclipsed about being outgunned in showbusiness by his eldest son before the boy was a teenager.[5](https://hollandsshorts.substack.com/p/hello-and-welcome) His own site describes the memoir as brutally honest and very funny, written with pride and bemusement by a dad whose son eclipsed him.[8](https://www.dominichollandbooks.com/) His agency puts the same fact without comedy: the cruel reality is that he has been severely out-starred by his eldest son.[4](https://www.amfotalent.com/talent/dominic-holland)
## Recent work
Holland continues to tour the UK and beyond and is available as a corporate event and awards host.[4](https://www.amfotalent.com/talent/dominic-holland) His most recent dated novel is Made in England, published 3 July 2022.[4](https://www.amfotalent.com/talent/dominic-holland) He runs the Substack newsletter Holland's Shorts, a direct-to-audience publishing outlet.[5](https://hollandsshorts.substack.com/p/hello-and-welcome) In a 2018 interview he noted that 25 years after his sold-out 1993 debut he was still working on becoming a star.[7](https://www.onthemic.co.uk/interviews_list/dominic-holland/)
## References
1. [comedy cv — Dominic Holland biography](https://www.comedycv.co.uk/dominicholland/)
2. [The superhero and the standup: Spider-Man Tom Holland and his dad Dominic (The Guardian, 19 August 2017)](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2017/aug/19/spider-man-tom-holland-and-his-dad-dominic-holland-spider-man-homecoming-eclipsed)
3. [The Comedy Agency — Dominic Holland](https://thecomedyagency.co.uk/artists/dominic-holland.html)
4. [Amfo Talent Limited — Dominic Holland](https://www.amfotalent.com/talent/dominic-holland)
5. [Hello and welcome... — Dominic Holland, Holland's Shorts (Substack)](https://hollandsshorts.substack.com/p/hello-and-welcome)
6. [Dominic Holland's insecure charm (BBC News, Edinburgh Festival 99)](https://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/special_report/1999/08/99/edinburgh_festival_99/425001.stm)
7. [Dominic Holland — On The Mic interview](https://www.onthemic.co.uk/interviews_list/dominic-holland/)
8. [Dominic Holland — official author site](https://www.dominichollandbooks.com/)
9. [Interview with Dominic Holland (VOICE Magazine)](https://www.voicemag.uk/interview/2799/interview-with-dominic-holland)
10. [Dominic Holland | About | Patreon](https://www.patreon.com/dominicholland/about)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Theater and dance › Stand-up comedy and comedians › British and Irish comedians › Alternative comedy generation*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 12, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license