interview
The comedian talks school runs, snacks and getting sick with Samantha Earl
It’s not often that you feel like you’re on the same page as a celebrity, but chatting with Josh Widdicombe today, that’s pretty much the case.
It’s not that there’s similarities in our careers – far from it. We’ve never had an auditorium of thousands in stitches or been a presenter of award-winning late-night Channel 4 comedy show The Last Leg. Nor have we ever won Taskmaster or starred in a BBC sitcom named after ourselves. But since Josh started sharing the trials and tribulations of being a dad of two on his podcast Parenting Hell alongside his comedy pal Rob Beckett two years ago, we’ve realised that when it comes to tears at drop-off, tears at pick-up and all those meltdowns in between, celebrity or not, we’re all singing from the same hymn sheet.
It was lockdown that spurred on Josh – who is dad to daughter ,Pearl, five, and son, Cassius, one, with TV producer wife Rose Hanson – to share his experiences of fatherhood with Rob – who is also a dad to two little darlings of his own – in podcast form. Being stuck at home in the thick of all the snot, tantrums and (shudder) homeschooling brought the nation together, and Josh and Rob bravely reported back from the gritty parenting frontline. It was such a huge hit (3.5million downloads per month) that they’ve now put all the hilarity into the pages of a book, which is out this month – and we can confirm that it’s very, very funny.
Josh never fails to put a smile on our face, but there’s little funnier than the shared experience of being a parent, so we can’t wait to sit down and chat about how terribly we’re all doing…
The new book is so funny…
Cheers, we’re really pleased with it.
What have been the most challenging parts of parenting?
Two is much more difficult – who knew? You get even less time to yourself, which you didn’t even think was possible. It’s relentless.
How ill have you and your wife been since your kids started school and nursery?
When my daughter started nursery a few years ago, we were ill the whole time. It’s like 18 months of sickness. So far, with my son, it’s not been as bad. I wonder if – and I’m no medical person – we’ve built up some immunity?
Well, that’s the way immunity sort of works, right?
Is that a thing? I don’t know. But, yeah, it seems that way. You’re never ill at the right time, either. I’ve had periods when I’ve had loads of work on and my daughter’s got ill and I’ve thought, “I could really do with catching this, I need a couple of days off.”
Did you start licking her spoon?
[Laughs.] Using her Calpol syringe to eat my dinner.
What a
