Jack Whitehall: “Just act like you’re confident!” How to cope with embarrassing moments
Happy Place
Fearne Cotton
4.6 • 15.2K Ratings
🗓️ 24 November 2025
⏱️ 64 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Nervous and embarrassed? Don’t let it show! Comedian Jack Whitehall has died on stage plenty of times, but never gives people the satisfaction of knowing it’s got to him.
In this chat with Fearne, Jack explains how to power through the awkward moments and give off an air of confidence, no matter how you’re feeling inside. He also reflects on some of the awful feedback he’s received and how to stay resilient in the face of criticism.
Jack comes from an acting family, and started working at a young age; he talks about still wanting validation from his parents, and why and how he settled into his ‘posh’ persona after trying out a few other characters...
Fearne admits she sometimes forgets to have a sense of humour in stressful situations, while Jack uses jokes a bit too much to hide from serious topics; can they find a middle ground?
You can watch Jack in Malice on Amazon Prime now.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, a massive welcome to Happy Place with me, Fern Cotton. |
| 0:05.1 | This is the show that helps build your confidence and resilience. |
| 0:08.7 | Today, I'm chatting to Jack Whitehall. |
| 0:10.9 | I did a routine which was like, get it wrong, got to be strong, |
| 0:13.8 | which was just about powering through the awkward moment, |
| 0:16.3 | not allowing it to look like you're embarrassed. |
| 0:19.6 | I don't know who gave me the advice was like, |
| 0:21.8 | it sounds so brutal. |
| 0:23.8 | Like advice with comedy is don't let them taste blood. |
| 0:27.6 | Like you just have to make sure that you look like you know what you're doing. |
| 0:31.2 | Like if you do a joke and it doesn't land, |
| 0:33.4 | never referenced that it hasn't landed. |
| 0:35.6 | Because if you have confidence, that's half the battle. |
| 0:39.5 | The minute you start going, oh, God, that didn't work. |
| 0:41.7 | You don't like me. |
| 0:42.9 | Then you're in trouble. |
| 0:44.8 | Right, everyone, how you doing? |
| 0:46.2 | What's going on? |
| 0:47.0 | Are you like me just feeling peak overwhelm at this time of year? |
| 0:51.1 | Why is this time of year just because of Christmas so mad? |
| 0:55.7 | Like what is going on? |
| 0:56.9 | And I'm also trying to do too many things at the same time, |
... |
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