Hawks first attemped to break into showbusiness as a serious singer-songwriter, but it was with a novelty record that he had his first brush with fame. As Morris Minor and the Majors, in 1988 he reached number 4 in the UK charts with the Beastie Boys pastiche, Stutter Rap. It went on to sell 220,000 copies, and was number one in Australia.
He performs stand-up comedy, and is a regular on TV and radio panel games in the UK, including I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue, Just A Minute, Have I Got News For You, and appeared in Red Dwarf.
Hawks has written three books. The first was an account of his quixotic attempt to hitchhike around Ireland with a fridge to win a bet. It was titled (naturally) Round Ireland With A Fridge.
His second book, also the result of a drunken bet, was Playing The Moldovans At Tennis, this time involving an attempt to beat each member of the Moldovan football team at a game of tennis. Although starting with a silly premise, the poverty that Hawks finds in Moldova leads to a darker and possibly more touching book than was his adventure in Ireland.
His third book, One Hit Wonderland, describes his attempt, over 10 years after his first, to write a number one hit, which at one point involves Norman Wisdom releasing a record in Albania.
Of the many people that Tony Hawks isn't, possibly the most notable is skateboarder Tony Hawk. Hawks features on his website many emails from people who have failed to notice the difference.