That’s it folks … thank you all for your questions.
Updated
royleslie asks:
Which do you prefer – writing your own stand-up routines or writing for your sitcom?
Guardian contributor I find writing is the most fun I have in comedy. I think writing for the sitcom more fun, because I get to do it with someone else - my co-writer Tom Craine. However, writing a sitcom is far more time-consuming and far more difficult than I think anyone realises. Sitcom writing is difficult because it's not just about writing jokes - there's a very fine balance between characters, plot, and comedy, that if you get one thing wrong, the whole castle comes falling down. This wasn't the case when I was writing football quizzes for the Guardian.
TomBryant asks:
Do you regret the Glendenning-shaped fallout from your valedictory quiz for the Guardian football desk? And his subsequent attack on your good name in the Fiver?
Guardian contributor I stand by it. Correct me if I'm wrong... didn't Barry used to do standup? So he'd definitely know what funny is.
michanson asks:
How do you feel about attracting more female attention?
Guardian contributor I think that they think my life is very different to what it is. The most attention I've had was in a supermarket in Frome.
HongKongBlue asks:
Two questions: First, what is your favourite cheese? Second, are you a posh boy like Jack Whitehall or do you just have a posh name?
Guardian contributor Favourite cheese: Emmental. Which would hint at me being a posh boy. However, sorry to disappoint you, but I went to a comprehensive school (admittedly quite a nice one in the middle of Dartmoor). So I'm not very posh. Not that there's anything wrong with that – I think Jack Whitehall is brilliant, and one of my current tour supports, Ivo Graham, went to both Eton and Oxford. Yet somehow is still a nice guy.
Akkarrin asks:
Have you been attempting to be more neutral for UK political issues like Brexit and the US election recently?
I think back to earlier series of Last Leg and the long speeches against the inequality, minority bashing, and hypocrisy of the Tories and UKIP …
Guardian contributor Speaking personally, I have never really given any strong political views on television, be it Last Leg or Celebrity Pointless. I see myself primarily as a comedian, and my aim on the Last Leg is to be as funny as I can about the news. But I think Adam has been opinionated on Brexit and Donald Trump, the two big stories of the year, and I don't think anyone would question what his views are, and that is what Adam is brilliant at.
I have never bought into this view that some people have that the job of the comedian is to espouse opinions and change the world - I think the job of a comedian is to be funny. If they want to offer opinions and talk about politics, that is great, but I never set out to do that, and I am fully aware there are people far more informed and politically intelligent than me. So I'll stick to what I'm good at.
michanson asks:
Do you enjoy being recognised and all the trappings of fame? Or is it a major drag?
Guardian contributor It's neither, really. I'm not walking down the street hoping that people spot me, but I'm certainly not complaining if people come up to me. Because it's part of the job I have which allows me to do my comedy around the country and on TV. However, there was one person in Frome did make me question if this was the career I wanted.
Niloufas says:
Hi Josh.
A few years ago you played the Cheese and Grain in Frome. I didn’t go, but our paths crossed in the Co-op that starry night. I walked in and saw you browsing the chocolate aisle. Didn’t realise it was you at first, you didn’t realise it was me either. Our eyes met, there was a fleeting of recognition, you saw me and I saw you, it was magical. I held a loaf of bread and lifted it in your direction as an acknowledgement and then you appeared to just run out of the shop like a shop lifter.
I always imagine with fondness that you went back into your gig and told the story of the time you had to run for your life from a goggled eyed local, with a toothy smile, who showed you his loaf. Ah happy times.
See you soon.
PS. I’ve still kept that loaf …
Guardian contributor Niloufas says:
I’ll go check.
Jonathan Chadwick asks:
I heard you’re a big Blur fan. What would be in your dream set list?
Guardian contributor Putting aside all the obvious hits they would have to play, if contractually obliged when I booked them for my garden party, I would insist on the following songs: Sing, Miss America, Trouble in the Message Centre, One Born Every Minute, Swallows in the Heatwave, You're So Great, and Trimm Trabb. NB My garden isn't even big enough to fit Blur in.
tommy1976 asks:
Is the panel show dead?
Guardian contributor Despite the annual blog on the Guardian claiming this, the panel show seems to be going very well. There are loads of successful panel shows on TV, and while they maybe aren't getting the viewers they got five years ago, neither is any other TV show, because people are watching less TV and have a wider range of channels. The news is getting less viewers than it once did, but I'm pretty sure that'll continue as a genre. A lot of people found panel shows too competitive and blokey, and I genuinely think in the last few years, the tone of panel shows and the ones that have launched have been a lot more discursive and friendly, and I think that can only be good for the genre. But then I would say that - I'm on every bloody one of them.
selosra asks:
Why do you take the piss out of Devon when it’s a wonderful place to live?
Guardian contributor Because I spent some very boring teenage years there. Everyone has the right to slag off where you come from in the same way that only you have the right to slag off your own family. If anyone else slags off Devon, I get very prickly about it. But come on - what a boring place to grow up. At my primary school, there were four people in my year. The case rests.
stuckinazoo asks:
When you were first approached for The Last Leg at the London Paralympics, did you have doubts over taking a role as the only able-bodied member in the lineup?
And how well did you know Alex and Adam beforehand?
Guardian contributor I didn't have any doubts taking the role, because Pete Thomas the producer at the time sold it to me as a fun show that would be a laugh to be a part of for ten days of a sporting event. Which it turned out to be. I didn't feel any trepidation about being the only able bodied person, because the show was about sport, not about living life as a disabled person, and I know about sport, because I spent four years doing a very bad job working on the Guardian's sports desk.
Obviously none of us had any idea what the show would become, and I think that's why it's a success. It has been allowed to grow naturally rather than being launched to a lot of fanfare and pressure. I'd met Adam once before and I literally met Alex on the day of the first show, so the chemistry between us was a huge fluke. I'm hoping we can ride this fluke for a lot more years to come.
ID368987 asks:
When is the highly anticipated arrival of John Robins in sitcom Josh happening?
Guardian contributor We are filming series three of Josh in June and July next year. John has been campaigning heavily on his Radio X show to have a leading role, and I can confirm now that we will be offering him a very minor role, between zero and one lines. Give the people what they want, but not too much of it.
ID6106899 asks:
Was filming Taskmaster as fun as it looked?
Guardian contributor Yes, it was. I'm really hoping that series six is a champion of champions show, so that I can go back and do it again, and more importantly go back and beat Rob Beckett who has been very chippy since he won series two. On a serious note I think Alex Horne has one of the most original lines in British comedy and has created a genuinely brilliant show - it was an absolute treat to appear on it. Though I did have to hang out with Romesh Ranganathan, so you can't have everything.
Bazz Leaveblank asks:
Where did you stay when you played Bexhill on Sea … or did you dash in and out?
Guardian contributor I drove home, and got caught in the middle of the Lewes bonfire night celebrations. Had to slow to 4mph, and a drunken reveller spotted I was in the car, and followed us trying to talk to us. I wish I'd stayed in Bexhill - I don't know what it was like, but I imagine it was better than my slow troop through Lewes. I've heard Lewes is very nice 364 days of the year.
CarlitoRemo asks:
Love the references to 90s football in Josh … was it hard convincing the suits at the Beeb to allow some of the more niche ones?
Guardian contributor We didn't seem to have a problem with this, despite how people imagine TV works. Either there's someone very high up at BBC3 who is a huge fan of jokes about John Hartson and Peter Ndlovu, or the producer Simon spent the last two years of his life fighting the BBC without telling me. If so, credit to him - it's a life well-lived.
Updated
AlbertEinJockStein says:
Describe both the best and worst gig you have ever done in my native Edinburgh.
Guardian contributor Worst: I did a three hander with James Acaster and Nick Helm in 2009 on the free fringe. In a basement of a pub, on the quietest street in Edinburgh, that we didn't see any customers in for the month, and had smashed lightbulbs and a bucket of sick at the back of the room we were performing in. We received a one-star review, from the publication Three Weeks, that described the show simply as "depressing". I often wonder whether that reviewer has seen what has happened to me, James and Nick and thought: how the hell did those three losers ever make it out of that pub.
Best: the most fun I had was when me and some of my closest comedian friends like the late night live version of my Xfm podcast. Stand up can be quite lonely and pressurised on your own - getting to be on stage with eight of your closest friends is probably the most fun you can have performing comedy. I wish I could remember more of the content, but we had a free bar, so all I remember is that we thought it was good. I fear what the audiences for some of those shows thought. I haven't looked for the Three Weeks review.
GMonet asks:
Can you tell Beattie Edmondson I fancy her?
Guardian contributor I'll pass it on. I should warn you - your in-laws would be intimidatingly high profile.
Aginuk asks:
What did Pret a Manger ever do to you?
Guardian contributor Christmas 2014. Discontinued the brie and cranberry artisan baguette. Admittedly they brought it back the following year, but that pain never leaves you.
Phil Porter asks:
Is angry/shouty the new observation comedy?
Guardian contributor I hope not, because if not I'm in serious trouble. A lot of my favourite comics when I was growing up were observational: Jack Dee, Jerry Seinfeld, Frank Skinner. And I know some people look down on observational comedy, but I think it's actually a very difficult form of standup to get right and I'm very proud when people describe me as an observational comedian.
I think coming up with a universal observation that applies to everyone, and you can make funny - ie Michael McIntyre's man drawer routine, or Seinfeld's Halloween routine - is one of the rarest and hardest things you can do in comedy. You're not just talking about yourself, but you're trying to spot universals that are common to everyone. If you can come up with a routine that people think about every time they see that object or situation, that is a huge achievement of comedic writing, I'd say. I certainly don't think I've done that, but you can't argue that you don't think about Michael McIntyre's routine every time you open the drawer of crap in your kitchen.
I don't know why people look down on it. Beyond a tendency to want to push against what is considered mainstream.
SaltyCDog asks:
Is it genuinely dangerous to go on a night out with James Acaster?
Guardian contributor No, he's the tamest drinking partner I've ever had. I went to see his amazing show Reset last night, and didn't go for a drink afterwards as I felt it would be more rock and roll to go home and turn my Christmas lights on.
Hnmpys asks:
Can you still ask for batter bits?
Guardian contributor I have no idea what you're talking about. But I would encourage more questions along these lines.
Liam2455 asks:
How do you feel about leave voters going to your gigs?
Guardian contributor Absolutely, totally fine - it's a standup comedy show, not a political rally (though I do throw out some pretty strong opinions about contactless debit cards). I don't see myself as a political comedian, and even if I was, I wouldn't bar people coming to my shows because they disagree with me about the EU. Who even says I voted remain? (As this is the Guardian, I should say: I voted remain).
bluehamster asks:
Do you think the Last Leg could be condensed and go daily as it’s the closest thing we have to the Daily Show? There does after all seem to be plenty to cover at the moment.
Guardian contributor I started doing comedy so I didn't have to have a day job. Please, please don't send this idea to Channel 4 as I want to continue it that way. Also, one hour a week with Adam and Alex is more than enough for anyone.
papersdeadboy asks:
Do you still carry a torch for Chetna from bake off?
Guardian contributor Who doesn't? One of the greatest moments of the tour was when Chetna came to Margate to see me, and had made me 12 doughnuts. The doughnuts were excellent, however the second half was ruined by a combination of sugar rush and bloating.
daicactus asks:
What do you think about Argyle’s drop in form?
Guardian contributor Worried. Fearful it's going to ruin Christmas. Sleepless nights. I wish you hadn't brought it up. I still believe we'll be promoted but my dad, who has attended the recent losses, has lost faith. I've had 23 years of disappointment with Plymouth, with only three successful seasons within that. So I've become quite used to this, and to be honest, this curtain of depression feels quite comfortable these days. Come on you Greens!
mrlockie asks:
Are you related to Ann Widdecombe?
Guardian contributor
royleslie asks:
Do you think you sound a bit like the late Frankie Howerd?
Guardian contributor I didn't, until when I did Live at the Apollo last year, and received a DM on Twitter from Frankie Boyle who I have never met, that said that he could trace elements of Frankie Howerd in my comedy. It's bizarre, that. And anything that Frankie Boyle says I am 100% on board with.
Mskie Riot asks:
What was it like doing the Crystal Maze? And how often to people call you Puzzle Boy now?
Guardian contributor It was the single most rewarding and inspiring experience of my life, and it's all downhill from here. But that is because I was the only person to get two crystals out of two. Yeah, people shout Puzzle Boy at me during tour gigs, which is awkward because most of the audience didn't see it, and I have to spend five minutes explaining why that is my nickname to a small proportion of the British public. To repeat: I was the only person to get two crystals out of two.
Josh is with us!
Post your questions for Josh Widdicombe
Equipped with constant astonishment at life’s little absurdities and injustices – from the perils of cabin beds to disappointing Argos stores – Josh Widdicombe has become one of the UK’s most successful standup comedians.
Starting out in journalism, writing about sport for the The Guardian and penning poems for Dora the Explorer magazine, he segued to comedy, earning guest spots on Mock the Week, Have I Got News for You, and Celebrity Mastermind (specialist subject: Blur). But as well as his standup tours, he’s best known though for his appearances on current affairs show The Last Leg – particularly his bromance with co-star Alex Brooker.
Ahead of a 2017 which sees more Last Leg and a third series of his BBC sitcom Josh, he’s joining us to answer your questions in a live webchat, from 1pm GMT on Tuesday 6 December. Post them in the comments below, and he’ll take on as many as possible.
Thank you so much for all of your questions. I can honestly say that's the most fun I've ever had in the Guardian building. My DVD, What Do I Do Now? is out now, and will make an ideal Christmas present/drinks coaster.