Jack Whitehall is very happy to joke about his privilege, but believes this rules him out from being able to joke about politics – especially because everyone thinks he’s a Tory.
The comedian and actor, 37, ruled out voting Conservative, despite being perceived as a supporter due to his background as a privately educated schoolboy.
Ahead of his stint guest hosting SNL UK, Whitehall, who attended Oxford’s Dragon School and Marlborough College, said his “advantage” as a posh comedian is being hard to relate to, which means he’s able to “undermine” his own lifestyle in his sets.
But he told The Guardian: “I don’t do a lot of politics, because I don’t think people are interested in the political viewpoint of a public schoolboy. I’d never feel comfortable doing polemic.”
Whitehall continued: “I think people are exhausted by it. They’ve had 20 years of a Tory government; they do not want a Tory comedian. Not that I’m a Tory. I’m definitely not. But the perception of me is that I have a Tory background.”
Reflecting on the comedy he opts for, Whitehall, who recently made headlines with his starry stag do, said: “I always had a slightly ridiculous life that needed to be approached through a certain lens and undermined in a certain way. I think that has probably served me quite well.
“Now, you have to undermine your class privilege, your innate gender privilege, your race privilege and your fame privilege. That’s a lot of privileges. That’s probably the first 20 minutes.”
The Fresh Meat star previously revealed that, when starting out on the comedy circuit as a teenager, he hid his privilege with a mockney accent and affected slang. “I thought that I might get a slightly easier time from the audience at a comedy club in Oldham if I didn’t sound like one of the Conservative Party,” he told The Independent in 2021. “I thought maybe I could avoid getting a pint thrown at my head.”
Whitehall is guest hosting SNL UK on Saturday (11 April), and he said he won’t be utilising his “satirical” voice for the stint – and suggested he’ll be performing a skit in character as Prince Harry.
SNL UK has not held back from poking fun at politicians in its opening three episodes, with skits featuring Keir Starmer and David Lammy in its first three episodes.
Starmer in particular has faced the brunt of the mocking; one sketch satirised the UK prime minister’s perceived reluctance to engage with US President Donald Trump and his handling of international conflicts.
Earlier this year, Whitehall was accused of classism while presenting the Brit Awards after making jokes about drug use in Manchester, where the ceremony was being held, as well as digs aimed at people from Preston.
