WHO IS? Mo Gilligan

With Mo, 32, now firmly in place on the panel for The Masked Singer (7pm, ITV), we look at the rise and rise of the south London comedian…

● Mosiah Gilligan was born on February 19, 1988 in Lambeth, south London; his parents split when Mo was just five years old.

● Mo became interested in comedy while attending a performing arts school in London. He said he could easily have gone off the rails had it not been for the support of his drama teacher, Mrs Simpson. ‘My reports used to say I was easily distracted, but she could see I was interested in hands-on stuff like performing. She was the first teacher to encourage me, and that’s all it took.’

● He was selling jeans in the Levi’s shop in Covent Garden when he began sharing his comedy videos online. His career took off in 2017 when one of his short films caught the attention of the world-famous rapper Drake, and the clip went viral.

● His big TV break came in 2018 when he co-hosted Channel 4’s The Big Narstie Show, with rapper Big Narstie, which has run for three series. In 2019, The Lateish Show With Mo Gilligan first aired, as did his Netflix comedy special, Mo Gilligan: Momentum.

● Mo became a regular on Celebrity Gogglebox in 2020, alongside actor and fellow comedian Babatunde Aleshe.