Jack Whitehall on family, fatherhood and the highs and lows of being a dad

As a comedy duo, Jack and Michael Whitehall have perfected their patter. And now, after five series of huge TV hit ‘Travels with My Father’, their latest show, ‘Fatherhood with My Father’, the posh pair embark on a globe-trotting tour to find answers to the big questions facing comedian Jack after becoming a dad.

But with his own father now hitting his mid-80s, the star reveals he feels protective over the former theatrical agent – and admits he feels guilty if his dad is pushed too far out of his comfort zone. Jack, 36, said: “With my father, I’m definitely feeling sometimes like I need to sort of protect him. He is so much older than he was when we started doing this, and his sort of energy levels and just his health, you know, I'm very keen not to push him too far.

“That's always a concern of mine. So it has to be very, very carefully managed for his welfare. On the occasions where I feel like I've sort of pushed him a little bit too far, or he's so far out of his comfort zone that he's feeling uncomfortable and you feel a little bit guilty, so that element of it is hard.”

But, says Jack, his father’s energy is still impressive, and is what made it possible for their professional partnership to carry on into their latest series. “I sort of all assumed the last time we finished doing Travels With My Father, that would be the end of doing stuff with my dad, but sort of was surprised by how at 84 he's still full of beans and still just so with it and capable.

"And so partly, as a result of that, we felt confident we were able to do this again. And, you know, he's amazing. I'm so in awe of how he's still able to deliver, and he's still so on it and funny.” In fact, admits Jack, some fans even reckon Michael has better gags than his son. He said: “I've slipped into this role of the sort of straight man, and like feeding him and allowing him this sort of place to shine, and he really is the sort of star of that show.

"And I've loved that, and I take great pride in it, even when it's lots of people coming up to me, going, where's your dad? And, oh yeah, your dad's so much funnier than you, which I get all the time now. But I feel like a real kind of glow when people say, even though it's sort of the most backhanded compliment about your work you could possibly get.”

And with Jack playing the straight man to his father’s curmudgeon, he tells how one of the things he thinks is “unfair” is how Michael gets to be rude, and people love it. He said: “I always think it's so unfair about him is that, like, I have a public persona where I have to be nice to people, and not that I'm not nice to people, but it means you just have to make sure that you're careful to be nice to people.

"Even if you're having a bad day, or you're feeling tired, or you know you can't be bothered, you just have to make sure you remember to be like courteous, and that this is an experience that someone will have, and they won't know about whatever you're dealing with. So just be nice. So you know that's not all the time. Every now and again, you have to remind yourself of that.

“My dad can just be rude to everyone, and they love it. And he can genuinely be rude. We took him to the cricket the other day, and there were all these people coming over and swarming him for photos and autographs and stuff. And he just wanted to get out of there and go home. And he told someone to get the f*ck out of his way.

"They roared with laughter as he said it, and thought he was doing it as a joke. It's like, amazing. Oh, my God, he's amazing. Oh, Michael, you're so funny. He's so quick the way he does it. It's like, no, no. He genuinely meant it.” And with his dad famously quite tricky to please, Jack says there are two key factors that are an absolute must in keeping him happy.

“We don't really have arguments, but you certainly end up stressing about things that you would never stress about were you filming a normal show with a fellow professional,” he said. “You know, the whole filming process of doing stuff with my dad is all about like, where he's going to be able to have lunch.

“It will all be about, like, whether we can finish in time to get him to a restaurant at one o'clock where he can eat some decent food and have a glass of wine and then have an hour off. And if he's had a decent enough lunch and has been given some alcohol, then he might be willing to do a couple of hours in the afternoon before he then finishes at five and returns to a hotel.

“Again, there will have been extensive discussions about the quality of the hotel and whether it is going to be up to scratch, because if it isn't, then you might as well write off the following day, because the whole day will be spent complaining about the hotel that he's had to sleep in and the lack of a decent lunch the day before.”

Speaking on podcast ‘Great Company with Jamie Laing’, which is available now the star also opens up about the shock reality of becoming a parent along with model partner Roxy Horner, when their daughter Elsie was born last year. You have months of telling people and all of your friends that have children themselves going, oh my God, just this is the best thing that's gonna ever happen to you, and it's gonna completely change your life,” he said.

“And they say that, and they say that over and over again. And then you have the baby, and then you see your mates, and they all go, don't worry, it gets better. I was like, you've changed your tune. Where was this? Where was this before? Where was this doom and gloom before? They were like, oh my god, it's great. It's fun. You know, kids gonna be great. And then after that, it gets better. It's tiring, isn't it? You're like, I've been tricked.”

But dropping the jokes for a moment, the funnyman says becoming a dad has made a major impact, for the better, on his life, with fatherhood becoming “the focus of your world.' It changes you significantly in terms of having this family unit that means more to you than anything else in the world,” he said. “So that’s quite a significant change.”

Jack Whitehall features in the latest episode of podcast Great Company with Jaime Laing, which is available from September 25th.

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