Phillip Michael Ellis

Phil Ellis (born Phillip Michael Ellis on 16 October 1981) is an English stand-up comedian, actor, and writer. His television appearances include Drunk History (2016), The Russell Howard Hour (2017), Roast Battle (2019), and Taskmaster (2025). He was born in Preston, Lancashire, attended Archbishop Temple School and Runshaw College, and graduated from the University of Staffordshire in 2002, afterwards working at an airbag factory and as a Domino's pizza delivery driver. He cites Rik Mayall, Bob Mortimer, Sean Lock, Lee Mack, Steve Pemberton, and Reece Shearsmith among his influences.

Ellis has performed at the Edinburgh Fringe every year since 2013. He won the Edinburgh Comedy Award Panel Prize in 2014 for Funz and Gamez, a children's game show featuring adult jokes. In 2023, his show Phil Ellis's Excellent Comedy Show won the Malcolm Hardee Award for Comic Originality and was nominated for the Edinburgh Comedy Award. His 2025 show Soppy Stern won the Malcolm Hardee Award for Act That Should Make a Million Quid and was a joint-winner for Best Show at the ISH Edinburgh Comedy Awards. Speaking about the win, Ellis said, "Winning one Malcolm Hardee award was a dream, but winning two is overwhelming."

In 2025, Ellis was a contestant on the 20th series of Taskmaster alongside Ania Magliano, Maisie Adam, Reece Shearsmith, and Sanjeev Bhaskar, ultimately coming joint-second. He wrote and starred in three series of his BBC Radio 4 show Phil Ellis is Trying, which ran for twelve episodes from 2018 to 2020. The Guardian described his work as "a helter-skelter hour of fun", and Broadway Baby called him "one of the finest and funniest comedians in the UK today".