Jack Whitehall is set to host Tuesday’s Formula One season launch event.
All 10 F1 teams will be unveiling their new cars at the livery launch show at London’s O2 Arena, where the world championship’s 75th anniversary will be celebrated. Each team will have a seven-minute slot on stage to present their car and drivers, with Whitehall and musical acts such as Take That supporting them.
Whitehall, who has previously hosted the BRIT Awards, is no stranger to sporting events, being a diehard Arsenal FC fan, hosting 2023’s Game 4 Ukraine and regularly rubbing shoulders with famous athletes. But on more than one occasion, the cheeky Fresh Meat actor has found himself in awkward situations with a joke that has gone too far.
While Whitehall will hope to avoid any such faux pas hosting the most important F1 pre-season event of the year, we take a look back at four of his hilarious antics in the past.
Whitehall was once invited to Arsenal’s Christmas bash at a swanky hotel in London, jumping at the chance due to his love for the Gunners. But it didn’t go quite as the stand-up comic expected as he was asked to critique the players’ tenpin bowling skills into a microphone, delivering his jokes on stage.
And so he stood on the side of a bowling alley, trash-talking the players, many of whom had no idea who he was and thought he was merely an employee at the Ham Yard Hotel. To make matters worse, then-Arsenal captain Mikel Arteta put him in charge of the karaoke in the next room and fumed at Whitehall when he couldn’t get the name of a song he wanted to be played right.
Whitehall recalled: “Arteta came over to me and he was like ‘Right, the karaoke machine’s over there, we’ll give you the songs, you put them in’. I was like ‘I’m a professional comedian, I am not your karaoke b***h’. I didn’t say that, I thought that in my head.
“I said ‘Yes okay, I’ll stand over there’. The whole evening I was having to put in the songs for the Arsenal team. Arteta called me a p***k because I couldn’t spell ‘Despacito’.”
Whitehall made a brutal joke at then-Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson’s expense on A League of Their Own in 2020. Reds legend Steven Gerrard was appearing as a guest on the show when Whitehall implied Henderson would never be as good a player as he was.
Discussing the fact that there was a hotel named after him in Indonesia, Whitehall said: “The Stevie G Hotel. I tried to book a room there and they were fully booked.
“So I had to stay at one down the road that wasn’t nearly as good. It’s called the Hotel Jordan Henderson.”
Gerrard didn’t take too kindly to the joke, reacting with a wry smile before shaking his head and wagging his finger.
Whitehall appeared on the final episode of the beloved Sky Sports show Soccer AM in 2023. But while he made the hosts and guests laugh with some controversial jokes, he was deemed to have crossed the line with a remark about Rolf Harris.
Ex-Premier League footballer Jimmy Bullard walked off screen in disbelief as the comedian suggested he would be happy to take Harris’ royal honours, just days after the disgraced entertainer died. And the showrunners responded by promptly muting his microphone.
He later replied to a tweet about his appearance on Soccer AM, writing: “Do not go gentle into that good night. #SoccerAm So much love for this show. This felt like a fitting send off for me – I think over the years I’ve been muted more than any guest. Saturday mornings won’t be the same!”
Legendary football manager Jose Mourinho, during his time as Manchester United boss, “absolutely mugged off” Whitehall with a prank during the filming of his series – Jack Whitehall: Training Days.
The YouTube series saw the comedian meet some of the football world’s biggest stars. Recalling the episode with Mourinho, Whitehall said: “I made a reference that he needed to start using Just For Men because he’s ageing so rapidly and he stormed out the car.
“I was like, I’ve actually ruined this, the whole filming day is scuppered because I made one stupid joke. I was apologising profusely, the director was going after him and then I found out they were all in on it and trying to scare me. But I completely fell for it and Mourinho absolutely mugged me off.”
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