Jack Whitehall interview: From disastrous HiFi Club Leeds gig with Jim Jefferies to playing First Direct Arena

When his career as a comic was still in its infancy, he played various student nights in the city and once took on the role of compère at HiFi Club in the city centre. The chaos of that show at HiFi, during which fellow comic Jim Jefferies “destroyed” a drunk couple in the front row, is something Whitehall still remembers vividly.

"I think the first time I ever compered a gig was in Leeds,” he told the Yorkshire Evening Post. “It was me, Tom Wrigglesworth and Jim Jefferies. Jim got into an altercation with a couple on the front row and absolutely destroyed them.

"I had to go back out and pick up the pieces and I was very ill-equipped to do so. I'd never done any compering before and wasn't very good at crowd work. Jim destroyed this room and left - I was reeling. I don't think I ever compered again, it was my one and only attempt to be an MC.

“Now, I'm playing the First Direct Arena. Of all the arenas, it's one of the best. It's such an amazing, purpose-built arena. Acoustically, it's incredible.”

Although he has retained the ability to make himself the butt of the joke, Whitehall is no longer the fresh up-and-comer who did not grasp control of the intimate HiFi Club. He is now a bona fide star, with acting credits building up.

However, his stardom has not quelled his penchant for chaos in Leeds – in 2017, the stage caught fire during his performance at the First Direct Arena.

"I had pyrotechnics at one of my shows and one of them went off wrong and the set caught on fire”, he said. “I didn't know what was going on - I thought it was the dry ice machine kicking out a little bit too much. I couldn't see any of the audience because the smoke was filling up. The next thing I knew, my tour manager was appearing behind me with a fire extinguisher.

“Because it's a comedy show, our audience was laughing because they thought it was part of the show. I could have genuinely perished in the flames. It was one of those gigs which, pardon the pun, is burnt into my memory. I nearly destroyed the nicest venue in the country. There's no pyrotechnics this year.”

His latest tour, titled Settle Down, is his first since 2019. The world has changed significantly since then and the title of the show represents Whitehall’s “sometimes quite reluctant attempts to start adulting”.

He said: “A lot of life has happened in the four years since I last did stand-up. I've met my life partner, moved into a house, got a mortgage and got a dog - I've grown up a fair amount. This show is about that process and my sometimes quite reluctant attempts to start adulting. I've been in a perennial state of arrested development for too long now. This is about me trying to drag myself in the direction of a grown-up.”

Jack Whitehall will perform at the First Direct Arena on June 17 and 18 and tickets are available online.