Jack Whitehall has revealed he once accidentally insulted Lady Gaga during what he’s described as the “hardest gig” of his career.
Speaking to Chris Moyles on Radio X, Jack recalled his days presenting the British Fashion Awards, which he said he did for “five years in a row” and “got one or two laughs in the entire five-year period”.
“The front row was Anna Wintour and one year Karl Lagerfeld,” the comic explained.
“[Those were] your options for crowd work – those two – to get a little bit of banter with. I mean, I have PTSD about it. It was the hardest gig you have ever seen.”
Discussing the night in 2016 he got on the wrong side of Gaga, he explained: “There was one time where I was on stage and I just tanked all night, I got no laughs from the audience.
“I’d obviously completely run out of material and they were in my ear saying that there was a delay and that the next presenter wasn’t ready to come on.”
Jack continued: “They said [Lady Gaga has] had a wardrobe malfunction so you just have to fill for longer’. And I read out all of the nominees really, really slowly and then I was like ‘oh!’ and something came to me. I was like ‘I’m going to do a bit – wardrobe malfunction, Lady Gaga…’.
“And I was putting together the mechanics of what the joke might be so I was like ‘Our next guest presenter is Lady Gaga, she’s had a wardrobe malfunction...’ – I was thinking I was going to make a joke about a meat dress.
“And then they went ‘she’s ready, bring her on’... and I panicked so my introduction was just me telling everyone that her dress had broken.”
He added: “She walked past, she wouldn’t even look at me and I heard her calling me a very obscene word to the stage manager, and I left in shame.”
Of course, Jack is now a dab-hand at joyfully rubbing celebs up the wrong way, having presented the Brit Awards for the last three years, which has included leaving Little Mix speechless, making Shawn Mendes blush and one very entertaining exchange between himself, Lizzo and Harry Styles.
The Chris Moyles Show airs on Radio X every weekday from 6:30am, and on Saturdays from 8am.