Jack Whitehall is buzzing with excitement as he prepares to bring his spectacular new stand up show to Liverpool.
Life has come at the superstar comic fast since his last sellout stadium tour in 2019 as he met his girlfriend, moved in together and got a dog. And if all that wasn't enough adulting, Jack thrilled fans earlier this month with the amazing news his partner, Roxy Horner, is pregnant with their first child.
The 34-year-old has poured all of these experiences into a new hour of comedy titled Settle Down. The show arrives at the M&S Bank Arena on June 25 and represents a change in direction for the Bad Education star as he told the ECHO it is his most personal project yet.
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He said: "It's all feeling terrifyingly grown up. It feels like a moment where I'm maybe transitioning into being a different type of comic and doing different types of routines. It will be the last hurrah for a load of anecdotes about drunken hijinks and being an idiot.
"Those always have a little bit of a shelf life as a comedian. There's a couple in the show but if I'm still doing them in five years' time it will be pretty tragic so I'm going to try to get them out of my system. I guess it is just dad jokes now forever more."
Jack said it was a relief to be able to speak openly about becoming a dad as he has been trying to find ways to dance around the big news in warm up gigs with routines about what it would be like if he was to hypothetically have a child.
He added: "The funny thing is the minute I announced we were expecting there were loads of comments underneath it with people saying 'I knew you were having a baby'. 'I was driving home from your warm up gig in Norwich and I said to my husband 'I bet you his girlfriend is pregnant.'
"It was all women and none of the men had a clue. They were all just sat there completely oblivious. But that women's instinct had kicked in for a lot of the audience members who had seen through the veneer that I had tried to put up."
Jack is renowned for his role as a former panelist on A League of Their Own and is close friends with team captain, Jamie Redknapp. However, he joked there's no way he'll be naming his child after the former Liverpool FC captain.
He said: "We've started to think a little bit about baby names but it's early days. My missus is named Roxanne after her dad's favourite song and she said she should maybe go down that route with our child. But I was like., 'I don't think we can call our kid Mambo No. 5'. Although that song does have quite a lot of names in it so there's a few to choose from if we did want to use it as inspiration."
Jack's gig at the M&S Bank Arena is quickly approaching and he explained why he always looks forward to performing in front of a Liverpool audience. He said: "You always get a room full of people who are totally up for having the best night out. I like to make it feel like a really big event and I want it to be as epic as possible. If you're coming out on stage and the audience is a little bit lukewarm then sometimes you get disheartened but that is just never the case in Liverpool."
The comic pointed to how the city staged Eurovision as a perfect example of Liverpool's vibrant spirit and said he can't wait to perform on the same stage next month. He even joked he may incorporate a nod to Cha Cha Cha singer Käärijä's iconic green sleeved outfit during his performance. He said: "Maybe I'll wear the other part of the outfit so just have the bit covering the nipples and the abs. I've actually got quite good shoulders and arms but it's the abs and the pecs where it all falls down so I'll see if he's got the other bit."
The Fresh Meat actor always enjoys coming to the city and revealed his last night out here ended in a Cuban-themed bar and involved a lot of salsa dancing. Jack heaped praise on the people of Liverpool and said the down to earth nature of Scousers makes visiting so special. He said: "Sometimes I do gigs and you go to a theatre and everyone is a bit prim and up themselves.
"It can be like getting blood out of a stone. I don't mind it being like that sometimes and I think it's healthy for a comedian to have both of those experiences when you really have to break an audience down and work to get them on side. Obviously, the audiences in Liverpool can be pretty discerning and if you're having a stinker then they'll let you know about it. But I just think the base level of audience that comes to shows in Liverpool come to it with the right attitude and that is such a relief to a performer."
However, the comic confessed how not all of his memories of Merseyside are positive. Jack is a massive Arsenal fan and scheduled his tour around the Gunners' bid to defy the odds and win the Premier League title this season.
The North London side's winning steak hit a stumbling block in a thrilling 2 - 2 draw with Liverpool FC at Anfield in April and their scintillating form never recovered as Mikel Arteta's men eventually finished in second place. Jack flew home from the US to attend as many games as possible in the run-in and nearly secured a ticket for the absorbing tie - but was grateful he missed out.
He said: "I'm so thankful that I didn't because it would have been an absolutely miserable afternoon. Maybe if I'd have just stayed for the first 30 minutes and then got the train back to London it would have been a nice experience." He added: "I thought we were going to win the league and I even took the day off after the last day of the season because I thought there may even be an open top bus parade, which has obviously not materialised."
Although his day off might not now be as memorable as he hoped, Jack doesn't harbour any ill feelings towards the Reds as he still wants to experience the atmosphere in the famous stadium. He said: "It's such a cliché that a ground can be a fortress for a team but with Liverpool, even when they had a shakier season, it's just at Anfield you still can't touch them. I wish the Emirates was like that."
Settle Down comes to the M&S Bank Arena on June 25. You can find out more details on how to get tickets here
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