The Daily Express likened him to "a rare exotic bird",[1] and six national newspapers including The Independent and The Age have described him as "a comedy genius".

[9] Graduating from Oxford in 1995, Foot was head-hunted by a computer software company in the run-up to the dot-com bubble, but he loathed the industry: "I had to read manuals on HTML and just write websites from scratch.

[12] Foot frequently performs live, with resident slots at various London comedy clubs, and his fans sometimes demand shows in particularly obscure parts of Britain.

He usually takes a show to the Edinburgh Fringe such as By the Yard (2009), Ash in the Attic (2010) (which was directed by Noel Fielding) and Words (2013).

Following Edinburgh, Foot usually tours Britain with his current show before taking it to Australia after Christmas for the Australian festival circuit.

[17] Foot's 2010 Edinburgh show Ash in the Attic was directed by comedian Noel Fielding[18][19] and enjoyed two sell-out runs at London's Soho Theatre in February 2011.

[5][33] In the secret shows, Foot often enters a surreal territory, taking on the personae of his own character creations such as "Penny" and "Skeleton Johnson", and sometimes improvising elaborate mini-dramas in which he plays all of the parts.

In July 2011, he scheduled an event at Stepney City Farm at which connoisseurs attempted to complete a 32,000 piece jigsaw puzzle.

[36] In 2009, Paul Foot hosted his own all-day festival at Bethnal Green Working Men's Club in East London with the help of arts and music collective HungaMunga.

Sketches included 'Foot of the Yard', a whodunnit, an Invisible Man Contest, Flamingo I-Spy, an Erotic Menu, and Paul's Rants.

He helped to devise his character in the campaign called "Robin Da Hood", a bizarre fusion of medieval eccentricities and modern-day Australian urbanity.

The first of these adverts featured an emergency phone conversation between Foot and head of the Virgin Group Sir Richard Branson.

It was originally the highlights from his show on Resonance FM, and featured fellow stand-up comedian Joel Dommett, among other regulars.