58 • The Sunday Times Magazine
The comedian on life without an audience
and sticking to his father’s strict mealtimes
Jack Whitehall
A Life in the Day
W
hitehall, 32, grew up
in Putney, southwest
London. He went to Manchester
University to study history of art
but dropped out to pursue a
career as a stand-up comedian.
He began his career at the
Edinburgh Festival in 2007 and
has since toured worldwide. His
acting credits include Decline &
Fall and Bad Education, and he
presents Travels with My Father
with his dad, Michael. He lives
in Notting Hill, west London.I wake at about 7am
at the moment, which
is much earlier than
I used to. I get a cup of coffee and
I don’t know why but I gravitate
towards putting on Good Morning
Britain and start the day with Piers
Morgan interrupting someone.
I’m a big breakfast person. I live
in Notting Hill, so you have to
have something avocado-based
for breakfast or else someoneWORDS OF
WISDOMBEST ADVICE
I WAS GIVEN
“Some are born to
drive, others are born to
be driven.” An excuse
I’ve used for yearsADVICE I’D GIVE
Learn to drive. It makes
life easier, especially if
the “driver” is your mumWHAT I WISH
I’D KNOWN
Blondes have more
fun? Not if they dye
their hair themselves
and it goes ginger. It
ruined my leavers’ ballfrom the council comes around to
your house.
I live in a house with my brother
and my brother’s girlfriend. There
is a sort of office space and who
has the most important work that
day will get the office space, which
means that I’m often relegated to
my bedroom or the living room.
I’ve been doing a lot of writing
recently, and I tend to do that over
Zoom with my writing partner,
Freddy Syborn. People have been
trying their best to find ways of
doing stand-up comedy without
an audience, but it’s very hard.
Without laughter, stand-up really
does suffer. It just becomes a
one-way conversation.
I started off doing stand-up in
Manchester, doing lots of pub
gigs, some of which were pretty
hard work. The worst ones,
I think, was when there was no
microphone. Then you’re just
the madman shouting in the
corner of the room.At some point in the week there
will be a random appearance at the
house from my mother. She will
turn up on her scooter in her
bright pink helmet at my front
door. She may have got wind that
something’s not right in my home
and has decided that she’s going to
take it upon herself to fix it.
I grew up in a sort of showbiz
world because my mum was an
actress and my dad was an agent.
My first on-screen appearance
came when I was three, in The
Good Guys, which was a show that
my father produced and managed
to crowbar me into. Now I crowbar
him into things that I do, so I guess
it has all come full circle.
I definitely have times to eat
ingrained into me from my dad.
You cannot have lunch before one
o’clock and you cannot have
dinner before eight. I am 32, I
haven’t lived at home for a while.
But even when I eat dinner at 7.55
I feel a bit naughty. I normally try
and stay healthy for lunch, so I’ll
order some sushi.
In the afternoon there’s always
the danger that I’m waiting for the
Americans to wake up and maybe
give me a call and blow some
smoke up my arse and then
suggest me for a film or a script.
Part of my world is trying to break
a country that I’m not currently
even allowed into.
I like to run most days, but I’m
also one of those people that are
good at putting off the jog, so
I might spend the whole day in
my kit. I have a very distinct
running style as well. It has been
described to me as like a wounded
deer. I’ve realised I’m not even the
most likely pin-up in the family.
Since my father started popping
up on “weird crush lists” in
magazines, I need to hit the gym
more if I want to reclaim my
position as the family sex symbol.
After dinner I’ll watch TV,
maybe a bit of true crime, and be
asleep by midnight — although
one time I was up till two
watching something about killer
bees on the Bravo channel.
I’m very close to my family, so
love being able to work with them.
That said, there are some shoots
where I wish I’d hired an actor to
play my dad. Maybe
Brian Cox in between
series of Succession? n
Interview by Roz Lewis
Jack W hitehall is the face of the Axa
Health Feelgood Health campaign,
axahealth.co.uk/feelgoodhealth JEFF MOORE