Payne continued school studies, despite a contact with a talent scout during that time. After his graduation, he enrolled in the National Youth Theatre for two seasons. Payne has described this experience as "Four hundred kids thrown together to work on 7 plays." In addition, he was occupied with the Edinburgh Festival Fringe for one season. He then auditioned for several fringe acting companies, but was told he was too young and lacked experience. However, in 1979, he was admitted to the "prestigious" RADA acting programme. Before being accepted at RADA, Payne worked as a joiner, a salesman, and a landscape gardener. Payne graduated from RADA in 1981 with seven major prizes for acting, comedy (Payne won the Fabia Drake Prize for Comedy) and physical presence.