The Ballad of Mad Cap'n Tom: Part 1 

I swear tom’s life is just a story of “thought it would be funny. It was. It grew. I stuck around, and here I am”

Mad Cap’n Tom : I am not the messiah Everyone: He’s the messiah

Mad Cap'n Tom for prime minister 2022. Perhaps what we need is a reluctant leader.

Don't apologise, Tom. You treated student politics with exactly the amount of respect and dignity it deserves.

Fine, I got rid of the Comic Sans on the intro. Just be glad I didn't have a copy of Papyrus. - Tom

Speaking as a former student under President Mad Cap't Tom at York, he was by far the best President for YUSU I can remember probably because of what he said at 11:21 ish.

"You're winning by a landslide."" Concerned "ARRRR?"

"The plan was not to win, the plan was to come in second ... and to run just to annoy everyone. ... A perfect storm happened ... their supporters hated each other ... " You just described the 2016 US election results.

YOU ARE VERY WELCOME

I arrived at University of York to an induction ceremony from Tom. It was certainly an experience.

Matt's double-take around 10:31 about how you didn't need to sign the form to be nominated to run was kind of amazing. Just a complete "wow, that is ripe for abuse" expression.

Here we see that Tom has finally reached the age where he doesn't give any care about his embarrassing moments anymore and simply deals with it.

You inducted me and my fresher's year with your speech! I remember it to this day! Entering Central Hall on wheels to the Pirates of the Caribbean theme. Glorious! Thanks Tom. It put me at ease that I had chosen the right university :) I thought I'd recognised you from somewhere when I saw the long hair and it was bugging me until you posted this video!! Small world XD

"The best leaders are those that have leadership thrust upon them." -Dumbledore

This exact thing happened again two years ago at Queen's University Belfast. The original candidacy was probably inspired by Tom's story but the utterly useless and condescending efforts of the SU and the frankly dangerous and untrustworthy policies of the other tickets (especially since nobody but the novelty pirate candidate mentioned anything negative at all about the one issue the student body as a whole cared about treating negatively) drove major disillusionment with the system that year, which ended up driving Cap'n Gallagher to a landslide victory. He was a pretty good president, all told. Certainly far better than we should have got out of that terrible election.

Pretty much anything after "Do you want to tell what was happening in York, because *I* was in Latvia?!" is comedy gold XD

THAT WAS YOU! For some reason you keep on turning up in small parts of my childhood that I had completely forgotten about.

So Tom overachieved his way as a comedy candidate to become the real president, All I can say is that this is such a Tom Scott thing to do

Phil Lester was a student under Mad Cap'n Tom. This just blew my mind while I was booking my open day visit for a couple of weeks from now.

Where's the ballad? It happened this day, not long ago Dozen years passing as I remember The air was a-chill, the students were down 'Cus trouble was stirrin' in late September Lockhorn lubbers were havin' a feud For honorable office shows rotten behavior Then what masts poked o'er the horizon A wagon for sloop and an old-timey savior Damned be the time and damned be the place You can't stop a man of such aplomb Shouldn't have come to pass, but both feller and lass Made mark on the day for Mad Cap'n Tom

Now after reading Tom's wikipedia page, I know that he again ran as Mad Cap'n Tom for PM in the 2010 general election, and was voted on by Noel Gallagher

While most politicians run like they're serious and turn into jokes when elected, you did a reversal there. Good job! :-)

“You will remember this as the day you almost caught Mad Cap’n Tom!”

Worth noting that you didn't wreck everyone's life plan. Just the one person who would have won - and you probably improved their life by preventing them from becoming a politician. :)

In Denmark we have a guy (Jacob Haugaard, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_Haugaard) who ran for Parliament as a joke, with campaign promises as "Tailwind on the bike paths" and "Shorter queues in the supermarkets". He ended up getting elected!

This is such an amazing story, genuinely in tears laughing. I didn't really need any more reasons to have a little bit of a nerd crush on Tom Scott but Mad Cap'n Tom has absolutely topped the list.

Who Would win an Election: Motivated Student Council Members with a manifesto promising to make the school better using their political experience or One Piratey Boi

I spent the whole video mentally fixing the gap in that fence. Send help.

Praise be to Poseidon for Mad Cap'n Tom learnin' the lad to smile that smile, the dreamy bastard.

I know a rather significant number of ex York students and I had heard bits of this story from outside perspectives many times! It was nice to finally hear it from the horses' mouth. It would be interesting to see your speech after winning, though... :)

It's actually so weird to see all the mad stuff Tom has done, and he still acts normal - I mean, multiple TV quiz show appearances, Mad Cap'n Tom, made multiple viral quizzes, recognised by the British government, played an ancient game with some guy from the royal museum... it's MAD. absolutely MAD.

The mention of polyphonic ringtones and Nokias made me pause the video and just freeze up, gasp, and take a moment as the nostalgia hit me like a brick...phone. Those rubber buttons. The games of Snake. The very phrase "polyphonic ringtone" and the websites from which they were downloaded.... I'M AN OLD MAN, TOM, THANKS FOR REMINDING ME.

As someone who was involved in a student society both before, during, and after Mad Cap'n Tom's "reign" I remember that the few times I interacted with the student union were better during his time. In particular, the freshers fair at the start of the year he was president ran pretty smoothly, and when it came to tidying up at the end he got everyone organised and it was done in under an hour (as I remember it). The years after that I think I saw people inside still clearing up four hours after the event was finished.

Tom: "I don't know if there's copyright for that." Me: "Piracy.. "

i love how all of the comments from people at york university are all like "this guy was the best president in memory"

After seeing the golden duck, how could I have voted for anyone else? Although I now feel guilty to have caused you such stress. Too good for your own good..

You can just hear how reluctant Tom is to talk about this story.

let me just say that every great story starts with "I've stopped hating it now"

I know this is a two-year-old video, but at 18:36 what Matt said kinda made me feel something.

I am old. There has been a previous comedy SU president before. It was in the 1980s (1985 I think). A guy stood under the banner of the Penguin Liberation Front. He was a liked about as much as you were Tom! He was a damn good president!

As a student in York and a person that's lived in York for over 10 years, Mad Captain Tom deserves a statue outside the Minster

As someone whose Birthday happens to be September 19th, and has always dismissed 'Talk Like A Pirate Day' of never having anything really impactful come out of it, I HAPPILY stand corrected.

The 'learnt to smile' bit is genuinely lovely :)))

I went on a tour of York University, one of the student ambassadors mentioned this to me. It still lives on.

Alton towers: so what would you like Tom: I want a hat!

Talk like a pirate day *YOU WOULDN’T STEAL A MOVIE*

I'm at york uni now it's interesting to know

I knew I recognised you from somewhere, I was doing my masters at the time aswell, I voted for you!

Tom's description of his incoherent victory speech reminds me of the story about the news anchor who had a panic attack on air and you can't really tell what's going on, just that he looks terrified and he's not making sense. Can't imagine the stress of being pulled in front on an angry crowd like that. But it makes a very funny story altogether, especially with Tom's storytelling style.

That is a great story that vacillates between grim and hilarious. As a 23 year old PhD student, I wish I had been the kind of kid in college and high school that could have done stupid stuff like that.

4.5 hours by car. "Gee that's a long trek!". UK problems in a nutshell

One of the better, if subtle things about Disney's take on Pirates is that _only one_ of the cast actually talks like Robert Newton, and that's Barbarossa who's essentially filling the Long John Silver role anyway. All the others... wide array of accents and vocal styles. Someone on the staff actually did their research and thought things through.

Walking around campus today telling my friend the story of mad cap’n Tom when I saw a poster advertising your campaign. Was a funny coincidence.

Oh man, I go back to this every now and then just because it's fun. It's like re-reading that one epic arc of a comic book

that scar they put on his face is crazy accurate foreshadowing

It’s difficult to imagine Tom went from a pirate to an educational channel

That was a wild ride from start to finish. Embarrassment, delight, astonishment, and the sweetest damn ending imaginable. You're an excellent storyteller, Tom.

"I learned to smile" I didn't expect this story to make me cry but here we are

I swear the more I look into Tom Scott and what he's done, the deeper the iceberg gets

I think this where Tom learned the art of the bodge! :P

why did it take me this long to realise the significance behind an anual competition between York and Lancaster, called ROSES?!

I just got roped into being a pirate for a scene in a charity comedy show, and your video really gave me the courage to just go for it on stage. Thanks guys

Tom: "No comedy cnadidate has ever won! 2016: Hold my orange.

so did you keep up the act during the whole year?

i swear, tom has been relavent on the internet since the internet was invented.

If there is any power in the presidency, Tom was the perfect unwilling candidate. I suspect you had the right combination of serious and joking to do right by the students.

Sounds like a story straight outta the "Of all things that didn't happen, this didn't happen the most" tag... It's amazing what Fate has installed for you, and hopefully for all of us!

Imagine when Tom's kids possibly hear of this story in the future - he'd be the coolest dad with dad jokes!😂

Wait...was this what led to the original Techdif radio show and podcast getting started?

Never regret how you perform in stressful times in your life. It is those times in which you find out who you really are.

THIS SHOULD BE TELEVISED HOLY COW

Why is this the first I'm hearing of this amazing story?

tom trying valiantly not to laugh when matt is talking about tim filling out a form is weirdly endearing

"Give most of the power to the one who wants it the least!"

I really want Tom to write a book at some point. He has the best stories.

3:05 goddamn that laugh gets me every time. I really miss seeing Matt around more. I’ve been told by at least a dozen people that I look exactly like him. Except I live here in the USA so that’s really saying something… That it doesn’t people would approach me and say that even here in the US

That sound at 19:20 caught me by surprise! My heart was beating extremely fast.

I was expecting a sea shanty, but this is great.

Pretzels, "Weißwurst" (for the English guys arround: weishwursht), Beer and snoring at 3 am. Pretty accurate describtion of Germany^^ Also: Thanks for Matt laughing when someone who can be called "Matt" laughs aswell. We are one!

This is still one of my favorite stories on the internet. I call it up when I need some soothing comedy.

"no comedy candidate has ever won" *Ukraine 2019 presidential election has entered the chat*

Watching this in 2022 as a fresher at York is so very strange.

I don't think ambition can carry a student politician; from the sounds of it, you worked as hard as you should and you brought joy and you never meant to win. I recently saw a friend of mine win without ambition though for very much the opposite reason; having been part of a number of charities, he decided to win based on a personal fury and need to fix basically everything in the world, starting with the coast of Scotland. I have a lot of respect for him, and for you, because you've both done extremely well with the platforms you've earned. And you did earn it, by being the second-best candidate in an election where the best didn't show up, and being a damn good one too. Ambition seems... dangerous, in an environment like a Uni wherein many of the more significant decisions in peoples' lives are being made, yet everything still has that nice reassurance of things not going *so* wrong, right? You gotta believe in your position, not just yourself, even if your position is to talk like a pirate and make sure people are laughing. I don't have much basis for most of this other than observation and opinion, but it does ring true? I've been surrounded by taking student politics very seriously for the real benefits it can have for an area, and the idea of people doing it for personal gain is rather scary. Doing it for a lark and not intending to be a serious candidate should work well, but ofc sometimes the competition just isn't as good as Mad Cap'n Tom.

The SS unsinkable joke and I'm laughing more than I think I should be.

Jesus. It feels like this man was solely behind every internet thing in Britain

From the title alone... this is gonna be GOOD

:-D :-D :-D :-D this is the most hilarious thing I've heard in a long time :-D I had no idea Tom was a pirate mad captain :-D

Tom has lived an interesting life

the hardware store is selling their wood pre shivered?

Part of me is dead jealous and part of me is sympathetically wanting to give you a hug, not that this is neccesary or wanted probably listening to this. Small part is simply shaking my head. Definitely small honest.

God tom has such an interesting life wtf

why have i never heard of this even though I've watched Tom for years now...??? I keep finding out things i didn't know from YEARS ago.......... This man's internet presence is literally as undiscovered as the deep sea

I watch this once every one or two years and Matt at 18:36 always makes me tear up. It's cheesy, it's cliche, it's every one of those words... but damn, if it's not the best non-comedy line in the video.

Our former SU president did go on to stand at the General election last year. Fortunately he lost in the constituency. You're absolutely right about why most people enter student politics.

What a wonderful story,

I miss this channel.

The outro jingle made me jump! Someone actually told me this story just yesterday. Weird!

Tom, as a dumb American, I appreciate you translating your UK/European terms to American slang/terms, it allows me to better understand our two cultures and the similarities we share, hopefully lowering my level of dumb. To those that naturally understand his terminology, thank you for your patience in his brief yet frequent explanations. Thank you to both of you for these lovely conversations, I deeply adore listening to them while doing my morning medicine - they're a natural anti-anxiety.

Tom looked genuinely pissed off with the student president story...

My English teacher was talking about how he used to go to York uni and I realised he was there the same years as you ran for president and he was someone who voted for you 😂😂