During a Twitter exchange in which Manford defended strike action undertaken by British Railway workers in the ASLEF trade union, Manford recalled the various workplaces he had worked in before his current career including building sites, call centres, shops, bars, warehouses and offices, stating "I didn't just leave school and say 'right, I'm off to play the arena!'".
[15] He presented his own show, Tonightly, which aired every weekday from 1 to 22 August 2008 and appeared as a celebrity supporter for inventor Kin Kam in a special charity edition of BBC Two's Dragons' Den for Sport Relief.
In November 2022, Manford presented Children In Need alongside Mel Giedroyc, Ade Adepitan, Alex Scott and Chris Ramsey.
[citation needed] He toured the UK with "First World Problems", between June and December 2013 and produced a DVD of the same name.
On 25 November 2022, Manford released the single "Assembly Bangers", a song he had been closing his standup show with.
The track, a medley of songs nostalgically associated with school assemblies including "This Little Light of Mine", "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands" and "Lord of the Dance", will donate all profits to the Trussell Trust's Emergency Fund Appeal.
[36] In late 2013, Manford was the voiceover artist for the Jet2.com[citation needed] and Churchill Insurance adverts[37] and is one of the voices in the BBC comedy sketch show Walk on the Wild Side.
In July 2012, Manford took over the role of Pirelli for a month (followed by a few dates in August) in the London revival of musical Sweeney Todd at the Adelphi Theatre opposite Michael Ball and Imelda Staunton.
Manford has a minor voice role in the Xbox 360 video game Fable III, playing Jammy, who teaches the player how to use mortars.
In 2015, Manford played the role of Marty in the BBC One drama series Ordinary Lies, starring alongside Michelle Keegan, Max Beesley and Sally Lindsay.
In 2015, Manford starred in his second musical as Leo Bloom in the 2015 UK tour of Mel Brooks' The Producers opposite Louie Spence, Phill Jupitus and Ross Noble.
In 2019, he starred in Curtains, a musical whodunnit by Fred Ebb and John Kander, which toured the UK.
It moved to the Wyndham's Theatre in London's West End mid-December until mid-January 2020, after which it began a further UK tour.
[39] In December 2020 he was due to make his pantomime debut as Muddles in Sleeping Beauty at the Manchester Opera House alongside Billy Pearce, Jodie Prenger, Eric Potts and Louis Gaunt, however, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the government's guidelines the performances were cancelled.
He eventually made his panto debut in December 2022 at the Opera House as Captain Hook in Peter Pan alongside Ben Nickless, where he closed each performance by singing "Assembly Bangers".
Manford is starring as the Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz from June to September 2023 at the London Palladium with Ashley Banjo as the Tin Man.
In February 2024, it was confirmed that Manford had joined the cast of BBC's Waterloo Road as the school's new Headteacher, Steve Savage.
[41] In August 2024, Manford played Nick Bottom in the UK premiere of the Broadway musical Something Rotten!
[7] In 2009, in an interview on Friday Night With Jonathan Ross, Manford talked about his passion for musicals, expressing an interest in taking a singing and acting role on stage, and giving a short, impromptu performance of "Suddenly Seymour" from Little Shop of Horrors.