As he heads out on the road for live dates and a slot at Latitude festival, TV regular Josh Widdicombe tells Katherine MacAlister why he gave up sports journalism to make people laugh for a living

Journalism’s loss is comedy’s gain because in 2010 Josh Widdicombe gave up his day job as a sports reporter to become a full-time stand-up, and has never looked back.

Still only 30, Josh has enjoyed an incredible three years since, having starred in hit comedy shows The Last Leg, 8 out of 10 Cats, Mock the Week and Live at the Apollo, meaning he is now one of the most in-demand and highly regarded comedians in the UK.

A brilliant observer of the absurdity of everyday life, he has also completed three sell-out UK tours and three sell-out runs at the Edinburgh Festival. The next chapter is coming to the Oxford Playhouse on Tuesday,followed by a festival appearance at this July's Latitude festival.

“The main theme is me getting annoyed about stuff,” Josh explains. “I don’t claim to deal with the big issues. I can’t tell you about the Iraq War, but I can tell you about jam. It’s how I live my life. Maybe everyone else is far more noble, but I talk about the kind of things I spend all day thinking about. It may not be worthy, but hopefully it’s funny.”

And with a love of touring standing him in good stead, he’s ready to go: “I must have played in every arts centre in the country, so I have Rain Man-style knowledge of where every British town is. I don’t need to go abroad now. I’ve nailed Britain!”

Not that Josh’ll ever get used to his success, remaining reassuringly down to earth. “It’s been a fantastic couple of years for me. I can’t complain in any way. But you want it to be a stepping stone to something else. You don’t want it to be the peak. You don’t want to be saying, ‘Remember 2013? That was my finest hour’. So it’s been amazing, but, to be honest, I never saw myself as a performer before I started doing this, and I’m quite surprised I’m getting away with it!”

Josh got the bug at an open mic spot in front of 15 people at an Earls Court pub, after which he was smitten. So did he miss journalism? “I wasn’t very good at it, so it wasn’t like I was losing anything. I didn’t really know what I was talking about as a journalist and had no will to get better because I wanted to do comedy. But I’m not the sort of comedian who says, ‘The moment I got my first laugh, I knew I had to be on stage’. I think that’s quite an unhealthy way to live.

“My agent said she could get me enough gigs to make a living, and I was delighted to give up the day job.”

But he’ll never take his success for granted either, because he knows how hard it is to make it in the world of comedy. “You never feel you’re safe. You never get to the point where you think you’ve made it and everything is easy. You don’t get to that place where you say to yourself ‘I’ve done it, now I can relax’.

“In fact you constantly feel that it could go wrong at any moment. That drives you, and means you never let up. It keeps things interesting.”

SEE IT
Josh Widdicombe brings his new show Incidentally to the Oxford Playhouse on Tuesday. Call the box office on 01865 305305 or see oxfordplayhouse.com

Latitude festival takes place at Henham Park, Southwold, Suffolk from July 17-20. Go to latitudefestival.com