Born in Lowestoft, Suffolk, Karl Theobald was a stand-up comedian before graduating from the Drama Centre in 2000, and subsequently joining theatrical touring companies such as Complicite. In both 2000 and 2001, he appeared at the Edinburgh Festival; in 2001, as a member of the prestigious Comedy Zone. He has also travelled throughout Great Britain performing his one-man show, entitled Mr. Tinnamen's Travelling Medicine Show. In addition to his appearances as a comic actor, notably on television's Green Wing, 2012, and as the grasping landlord in Roman set Plebs, he is also a writer; in 2002, he was part of the team who collected a British Academy award for Best Television Comedy Series for scripting The Sketch Show.