Jack Whitehall says he’s nothing like his stage persona and is actually an introvert
His stand-up comedy sells out arenas, he’s a panel-show favourite, an in-demand actor and he’s created an epic new crime caper called Bounty Hunters
Jack Whitehall has been such a fixture on our screens for the last 10 years, it’s hard to believe how young he still is.
Success on the comedy circuit came when he was barely out of his teens – a fact that Jack, 29, is the first to admit may have actually been too early.
“I think I did get put on TV and accelerated through the ranks a bit too quickly,” the comedian tells TV Magazine.
“I think I ended up doing stuff I wasn’t ready for. When I first got on TV and started doing panel shows, I wasn’t as good a comic. I’ve done a lot of learning in the spotlight.”
So how did he get fast-tracked? Jack has never made any secret of the fact he’s from a wealthy family.
He trades off his posh image and recognises that connections have helped pave his way to stardom – his dad is a retired producer and talent agent, his mum an actress, but he hopes he’s proved to his critics that his success has been earned.
“I like to think, when I’m being positive about my industry, that fellow comedians and people I work with know that connections can only get you so far,” he reflects.
“They can open doors and obviously I come from a very privileged background and have had opportunities, more than other people. And I’m grateful and guilty about that in equal measure.
“But most comedians know that you can’t wing it. Audiences are very honest. The comedy circuit flushes out people who are stealing a living very quickly.
"If you can’t deliver, you will get found out.”
Has luck played its part?
“Yeah. I’m lucky that I got cast in stuff,” he nods. “It was lucky that [C4 comedy] Fresh Meat’s director liked me and I had a good day.
"I’m not very good at auditioning and I thought I’d tanked it. My first-ever TV job was doing Big Brother’s Big Mouth, which only happened because Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer pulled out at the last minute and they couldn’t find anyone else.”
And so to now, when Jack is everywhere. Series 12 of Sky One’s A League Of Their Own continues on Thursday nights – “Because of that show I get white van men shouting: ‘Tell Jamie Redknapp he’s a c**k’ at me on the street” – his Netflix series Travels With My Father is available now, he’s got a new Netflix stand-up special launching on Thursday (more on that later) and he’s created, written and stars in Sky One’s new six-part comedy/crime drama Bounty Hunters, which gave TV Magazine the inspiration for our exclusive photo shoot.
“It’s a hard show to explain – it’s not an out-and-out comedy, it’s a balancing act with the drama. I genuinely don’t know what you sell it as in the trailer or on the poster,” he says.
“That generally isn’t a very good sign for something, but I like to think it’s a good thing. It’s distinctive. We’re trying to write series two now but I think we wrapped up series one a bit too much!”
Jack plays Barnaby Walker, a posh boy (surprise, surprise) who finds himself tangled up with Mexican gangsters and Islamic State looters dealing in blood antiquities.
His unlikely co-star is Oscar-nominated Hollywood actress Rosie Perez, star of films such as White Men Can’t Jump.
“I met her years ago doing a pilot in America,” he explains.
“It wasn’t very good. But she was great, and the scenes with me and her were the most fun. So we said: ‘Let’s write a show for us both.’ The dynamic between me and Rosie was at the heart of it – this fiery, heart-on-sleeve, possibly violent character rubbing up against me.”
The worlds of antiques dealer Barnaby and bounty hunter Nina (Rosie) collide and the adventure takes them all over the world – to 110 different filming locations, to be precise.
Somehow, he fitted that into his packed schedule, which includes the aforementioned Netflix special.
“Netflix let you do what you want to do and make it look nice,” he smiles.
“It looks quite sexy – the content might be rubbish but it looks good. We’ve really glittered the turd.”
It’s live comedy that still seems closest to Jack’s heart. He can’t imagine not doing it and misses his early days of playing to small rooms at places like the Edinburgh Fringe.
“Nothing beats the buzz,” he says.
“I don’t think it will ever go away. In Edinburgh this summer I said to a young comic who’s just starting out: ‘You realise it doesn’t get better than this?’ While I enjoy what I’m doing now, I enjoyed it more then.
There’s a sweet spot and that’s definitely it.”
That said, Jack knows better than to list ‘comedian’ as his occupation.
“‘Writer’ is best because it’s general, and you can be a quiet, introverted writer,” he explains. “If you put ‘comic’ you end up having to tell a US customs official a joke.
"I did and it was horrendous. He asked me if I thought I was funnier than Jerry Seinfeld. I said I wasn’t and he told me: ‘Correct’.”
Jack’s well aware of people’s expectations at meeting comedians.
He laughs that it often means he’s a disappointment in person.
“I am a show-off on stage, definitely. But that is an outlet for me, so in real life, not at all,” he reveals.
“I’m an introvert and a let-down when you meet me. But if I was my stage persona in real life, I’d be unbearable.
"Whenever I read an interview of myself, I think: ‘Jesus, this guy sounds so depressing. He’s wrought with insecurity and self-doubt. Is he okay?’ So I’m not that. I’m not, like, a sad person.”
Indeed, Jack is fun and forthcoming – but the one subject he won’t be drawn on is his girlfriend of six years, Humans actress Gemma Chan, 34. Are marriage and kids on the cards? “I think I’d tell my mother before I told you.”
A plan we do, in fact, agree with. We move on to the subject of fame.
“People don’t ask for selfies every day, especially in London,” Jack says.
“Howard from Take That has breakfast in the deli below my flat so you feel inadequate. Howard tucking into eggs Benedict under the gaze of the yummy mummies of the area is a real leveller.
“I do use the Tube but I’ve never, I don’t know, laid some decking. I’m not going to pretend because this is The Sun that I’m a ‘bloke’. I’m not.
"I have a cleaner and I got very upset in Waitrose the other day because they’d run out of crab. I do have a preposterous existence – full disclosure. And there’s an M&S. They had plentiful crab.”
Huge success and enough money to buy crab – it’s not a bad life for Jack. But being a comic does have its pitfalls and he’s very open about his mistakes.
“I regret lots of jokes. The one I made about the Queen [on C4’s Big Fat Quiz Of The Year in 2013, where he joked about the Queen and Prince Philip’s sex life] was a fairly big storm in a fairly big teacup.
"That one was avoidable. If I had my time again I would not have done that – it wasn’t worth it.
"It was a pretty cheap joke.
“I’m more careful now, but not careful enough. I know I’ve got another one round the corner.
"I’ll do it again. There’ll be something, a tweet or a misjudged joke, and you’ll upset people.
"Sometimes I wish I was media-trained, like Tom Cruise. He’s never going to offend anyone. But that’s boring.”
NEW! Bounty Hunters Wednesday 10pm Sky One & Jack Whitehall: At Large Netflix from Tuesday