Jack Whitehall

Desert Island Discs

BBC

Society & Culture, Music Commentary, Music, Personal Journals

4.4 • 13.7K Ratings

🗓️ 4 February 2018

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Jack Whitehall, stand-up comedian, actor, sit-com writer and producer is Kirsty Young's castaway. He co-wrote and starred in the sitcoms Fresh Meat and Bad Education. He and his father launched their chat-show Backchat in 2013 and recently made a TV series together travelling around Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand. Jack played Paul Pennyfeather in a TV adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's Decline and Fall in 2016 and has forthcoming roles in Good Omens and a film about Marc Bolan and David Bowie. The son of the talent agent and television producer Michael Whitehall and the actress Hilary Gish, he grew up in Putney. Sent away to boarding school at 11, he performed his first comedy gig aged 16 while still a pupil. He briefly attended Manchester University before he decided to exchange lectures for laughs and make his way in stand-up: he won the King of Comedy award at the British Comedy Awards in 2012, 2013 and 2014. Presenter: Kirsty Young Producer: Cathy Drysdale.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is the BBC.
0:03.0	Hello, I'm Kristi Young.
0:05.0	Welcome to Desert Island Discs, where every week I ask my guests to choose the eight tracks, the book and the luxury item
0:12.0	that they'd want to take with them if they were cast away on a desert island.
0:16.0	For rights reasons, the music on these podcast versions is shorter than in the original broadcast.
0:22.0	You can find over 2,000 more editions to listen to and download on the Desert Island Discs website.
0:31.0	Music
0:48.0	My cast away this week is the comedian actor and writer Jack Whitehall.
0:52.0	He's done a lot quite quickly, award winning stand-up, sitcoms and panel shows.
0:57.0	And in a job where upper middle-class privilege could be a distinct disadvantage, he's made it his guilt-ed calling card, even his hair looks posh.
1:05.0	He's not quite 30, yes, but he's been at it for a good long while.
1:09.0	His first professional acting job was at three years old, but then his father Michael was a theatrical agent and his mother and actress.
1:17.0	Although connections and coaching have far from guaranteed success, his audition aged 11 for the movie role of Harry Potter was something of a low point.
1:25.0	Lately, he's been part of an unlikely double act, teaming up for a TV chat show and travel logs with his dad.
1:32.0	It shouldn't really work, but it does.
1:34.0	He says, I was a show off in class, always fooling and pranking around.
1:38.0	I didn't really know what I wanted to do. I was a bit of an odd fit.
1:41.0	What's so weird is the minute you find an outlet where you can go on stage and make people laugh, you suddenly settle as a person.
1:49.0	So welcome Jack Whitehall. You look a bit terrified.
1:51.0	I look settled. Okay.
1:53.0	I'm worried because any time I do any kind of like grown up interview, I always read it back and I'm like, wow, this guy sounds suicidal.
2:01.0	I sound so depressed whenever I talk about myself, so I'm going to be conscious of not.
	...

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