Television and radio career In 1997 Whitehall (then aged nine) appeared in the series ''
Noah's Ark. In June 2008, he presented the first week of Big Brother's Big Mouth'' on
E4, returning in August to present the twelfth week. In September 2008, Whitehall made his first appearance on
Channel 4's
8 Out of 10 Cats. In January 2009, Whitehall presented ''
Celebrity Big Brother's Big Mouth
and appeared on The Sunday Night Project. On 5 June, his third appearance on 8 Out of 10 Cats
was broadcast. In June 2009 Whitehall co-presented topical-satire series The TNT Show'' with
Holly Walsh on Channel 4. In August, he appeared on
Charlie Brooker's Channel 4 panel show
You Have Been Watching, followed in September by his first appearance on
Would I Lie to You?. He made his first of many appearances on
BBC Two satirical panel show
Mock the Week, and in October, he guest-presented an episode of
Never Mind the Buzzcocks. In January 2010, Whitehall made his fourth appearance in
8 Out of 10 Cats, followed in February by his second appearance on
Mock the Week, and a first appearance in
Argumental on
Dave. In April, he featured on ''
Channel 4's Comedy Gala'', a benefit show held in aid of
Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital, which had been filmed live at
The O2 Arena in London in March. In April, he appeared on
James Corden's sport show
A League of Their Own, and on 11 June made his fifth appearance on
8 Out of 10 Cats, In June and July 2010, Whitehall was a regular performer on the first series of Channel 4's
Stand Up for the Week alongside
Andi Osho,
Kevin Bridges,
Rich Hall and presenter
Patrick Kielty. In September he made his sixth appearance on
8 Out of 10 Cats, and in September and October, his fourth and fifth appearances on
Mock the Week. In October, he headlined the second episode of ''
Dave's One Night Stand, followed by his second appearance on A League of Their Own
, and on 1 November he appeared on Ask Rhod Gilbert. In December, he appeared on the Royal Variety Performance 2010, and in December he appeared on the sixth series of Live at the Apollo'', which had been filmed on 27 September. Whitehall often worked with the late
actor Archie Lyndhurst, the only child of
Nicholas Lyndhurst, an actor, who is best known for his role as
Rodney Trotter in the
BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses. Lyndhurst played Young Jack in the second episode in the second series of the
Sky1 Christmas comedy-drama,
Little Crackers. The episode, "Jack Whitehall's Little Cracker: Daddy's Little Princess", was broadcast on 18 December 2011. Lyndhurst played Little Jack Whitehall in the
ITV television variety show,
Tonight at the London Palladium, in the episode broadcast on 28 September 2014. Lyndhurst played Young Alfie Wickers in the
BBC Three sitcom,
Bad Education. The episode, "
The Exam", was broadcast on 14 October 2014. Lyndhurst played Young Jack Whitehall in the
short film,
Jack Whitehall Gets Around: Intro, which was released on 24 November 2014. In February 2011, Whitehall was featured on
Comedy Central Presents Jack Whitehall in the United States. In March, he appeared on the BBC football programme
Final Score, reporting on
Arsenal's 0–0 draw with
Sunderland at the
Emirates Stadium. From March until May, Whitehall returned as a regular performer for the second series of Channel 4's
Stand Up for the Week together with Andi Osho, Kevin Bridges and Rich Hall, joined for the new series by
Jon Richardson. In July 2011, he made a sixth appearance on
Mock the Week, and he appeared on the British version of
The Marriage Ref with
Jack Dee and
Katherine Kelly. He was a guest on the Channel 4 show ''
Chris Moyles' Quiz Night, presented by BBC Radio 1 DJ Chris Moyles, and in September made his second appearance on Would I Lie to You?
Whitehall made his acting début in the Channel 4 comedy drama Fresh Meat, from the creators of Peep Show. In the series, Whitehall plays the role of J.P., a public school boy who failed to get into a "proper" university. The first series, in which he co-stars alongside Joe Thomas, ran until November 2011 and received critical acclaim. A second, third and fourth series aired on Channel 4 in the UK. In September, he and his father Michael appeared on The Million Pound Drop Live, presented by Davina McCall. On 30 November it was announced he would write and star in new BBC Three comedy Bad Education''. He landed a six-part entertainment series on
Channel 4, called
Hit The Road Jack, which started airing on 20 March 2012, following Whitehall on a comedy tour of the country. He became a regular panellist for the fifth series of
A League of Their Own on
Sky1 in 2012. In 2012, Whitehall starred in a self-penned sitcom
Bad Education on
BBC Three, which began on 14 August, in which he plays Alfie, a teacher who is "the worst teacher ever to grace the British education system and is a bigger kid than the kids he teaches". The series also stars
Mathew Horne as Fraser, the headmaster,
Sarah Solemani as Miss Gulliver, the biology teacher, and
Michelle Gomez as Miss Pickwell, the deputy head. Whithall co-wrote and starred in the 2015
Bad Education Movie and returned for the 2022 reunion special. On 30 November 2012, Whitehall was guest host of
Have I Got News for You (
season 44, broadcast 7). On 3 January 2013, he promoted his first DVD in an interview with Mark Lawson on BBC Radio 4's
Front Row. On 24 November 2013 he acted in the Old Vic's charity gala '24 Hour Plays', where a series of ten-minute plays are written, rehearsed and performed within 24 hours. Also in 2013, Whitehall lent his voice to the Disney animated film
Frozen as a troll priest named Gothi, but his lines were cut from the finished film. In February 2014, Whitehall guest starred on
Top Gear, having only driven a car once before, and drove on the
Top Gear Test Track. In December 2014, he made a guest appearance in the second series of the
Peter Gabriel spoof
The Life of Rock with Brian Pern, broadcast on
BBC Two. In 2015, he starred as posh backpacker Hugo in "
La Couchette", the first episode of the second series of anthology series
Inside No. 9. On 24 October 2014, Whitehall was the presenter of the
Feeling Nuts Movement's
The Feeling Nuts Comedy Night on Channel 4, raising awareness of testicular cancer. In 2017 he presented
Jack Whitehall: Travels with My Father, a
travel documentary/
road trip series in which he and his father
Michael Whitehall spent five weeks in
Thailand,
Cambodia, and
Vietnam. The show was released on
Netflix. On 8 December 2017, Whitehall was announced as the next host of the
BRIT Awards, taking over from 2017's hosts
Dermot O'Leary and
Emma Willis. In May 2019, during the professional wrestling PPV
AEW Double or Nothing, Whitehall introduced wrestling legend,
Bret Hart, to the ring to unveil the new
AEW World Championship.
Stand-up comedy Whitehall started performing stand-up comedy at the
Edinburgh Festival Fringe at the
Pleasance Theatre's Comedy Reserve showcase. He had previously taken a sketch show to the Fringe called
Comic Abuse. Whitehall won the Amused Moose Laugh Off 2007, and was runner-up in the Laughing Horse New Act of The Year competition, a finalist in ''
So You Think You're Funny?'', and winner of the Charlie Harthill Special Reserve in the same year. He was also nominated for 'Best Newcomer' in the 2008
Chortle Awards, and was a finalist in the
Hackney Empire New Act of the Year. In August 2009, Whitehall performed his first solo stand-up show,
Nearly Rebellious, at the
Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The same year, he was nominated for 'Best Newcomer' at the
Edinburgh Comedy Awards. In September 2009, Whitehall was accused of stealing one of
Stewart Lee's stand-up routines for his critically acclaimed
Nearly Rebellious show. Lee had performed the joke, which deals with the subject of life after walking in space, at the
Montreal Just for Laughs comedy festival in the 1990s, and was filmed for TV by the
Comedy Network. When Whitehall recited his version of the routine at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2009, he was described by an otherwise favourable review for
Metro as "repeating" Lee's sketch "almost verbatim". On 20 October 2009,
Robbie Williams was accused of stealing one of Whitehall's jokes in his much-publicised "comeback" performance as part of the
BBC's electric proms at the
Camden Roundhouse. When Whitehall originally performed the
one-liner, which plays on the
phrasal verb "to
look down on someone", it was voted the fifth best joke of the year's Edinburgh Fringe in a poll conducted by TV channel
Dave. He quickly issued an apology for his behaviour, but did not confirm or deny the allegations. On 30 March 2010, Whitehall took part in ''
Channel 4's Comedy Gala'', a
benefit show held in aid of
Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital, filmed live at The O2 Arena in London and broadcast on 5 April. Whitehall then appeared at the
Montreal Just for Laughs comedy festival in July, and returned to the Edinburgh Fringe in August with his second solo show, entitled
Learning Difficulties. On 27 September, Whitehall appeared at the
Apollo,
Hammersmith in front of a full audience for a recording of the sixth series of
Live at the Apollo, which aired on 17 December. Also in 2010, he was picked out by
Variety as one of their prestigious ten stars of the future. In January 2011, Whitehall was nominated by the
British Comedy Awards for 'Best Comedy Breakthrough'. On 24 May, Whitehall took part in the second annual ''
Channel 4's Comedy Gala'', which aired on 10 June. In August 2011, Whitehall performed two shows at the
Edinburgh Festival Fringe. His third solo stand-up show in succession, ''Let's Not Speak of This Again
. He also performed a series of four stand-up shows with his father Michael Whitehall, called Backchat'', which was also completely sold out. Both received very favourable reviews. He appeared in the first series of Dave's One Night Stand for the comedy network Dave. Recording a stand up performance at London's
Haymarket Theatre. The show featured special guests as support. In November 2011, Whitehall performed two sell out solo shows at the
Hammersmith Apollo. These shows completed his debut national tour ''Let's Not Speak of This Again''. Both shows again received highly favourable reviews. On 30 December 2012, Whitehall appeared on
The Big Fat Quiz of the Year, during which he made a joke about
Queen Elizabeth II. On the next day, complaints were submitted about the joke to
Ofcom. Ensuing media speculation led to the National Television Awards stating publicly that Whitehall would not be forced to resign from presenting the awards a short time later. Whitehall took part in "A Show for
Gareth Richards" at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2023, which was staged by fellow comedians
Mark Simmons and Danny Ward to honour Richards' life after he died in a car-crash in April 2023. The show won the first Victoria Wood award at the Edinburgh Comedy Awards 2023 and the raised almost £20,000 for Gareth's family. In 2025, Whitehall participated in Saudi Arabia's controversial
Riyadh Comedy Festival, an event characterized by
Human Rights Watch as an effort by the Saudi government to
whitewash its
human rights abuses. Hannah Jane Parkinson of the Guardian commented, "I remember Jack Whitehall doing a skit about 'grown adults getting wound up about cartoons'. Presumably he doesn't mind the grown adults who got so wound up by cartoons that they sentenced satirist Al Hazzaa to 23 years' jail time for lighthearted illustrations about fasting". ==Personal life==