COMIC JASON
He ought to be on that Jeremy Kyle Show. Well at least that’s what
reckons. Because the “he” in question is comedy star Jason Manford, who has learned to laugh about his own full-on family life and now uses it to have fans rolling in the aisle.
So cue the giggles when he tells how his upwardly mobile daughter confuses mushy peas for pulped avocado.
And how his kids, raised in leafy Cheshire, take him to task over his Mancunian accent. Not to mention ribbing him for referring to lunch as dinner time – “the smart a**es”.
In fact, the kids offer a wealth of gags that the star’s fans lap up.
Jason, 36, switches from comedy to sombre sincerity in an interview in which he reveals himself as a hands-on, loving dad.
He says: “When you are divorced and have a new family and children with two mums, you feel like, should I be on Jeremy Kyle?
“But when I talk about it at gigs, I realise it’s slowly becoming the norm and people can get so hung up on feeling guilty about what has happened.
“I’ve just got to do what’s best for the children and not punish myself. I’m doing a good job and that’s all I can do.”
MODERN
Jason split from wife of seven years Catherine, mum of his four oldest children, in 2013. He found love again with TV producer Lucy Dyke, 38, and they had a daughter in 2015.
But the comedian has stayed friends with his ex and they have a very modern family which is the subject of his hilariously honest brand of comedy.
He says: “We all get along and it is good material. My family are half of my act. People like to hear about them.
“They come to hear that they are not a terrible parent, that it’s normal to lose it in front of a packed shopping centre.”
In fact, Jason’s brood are the inspiration for his year-long Muddle Class tour, which begins in January.
Born into a working class family in Salford, his success has seen him join Cheshire’s middle classes – leaving him a tad confused about where he belongs.
He goes on: “There is only so much I can hold on to my working class roots. My children are very much middle class.
“They’ve had a lovely upbringing with holidays and nice things which I feel very proud of, because that’s the aim, to give them the start in life you didn’t get.
“But, occasionally, they will embarrass me with their middle class ways. We were at dinner at my brother’s house and my daughter said, ‘this smashed avocado isn’t very nice’. It was mushy peas.”
While he hasn’t ruled out getting married to Lucy or having more children, he is candid about the difficulties they face juggling work and parenthood.
He says: “I spend so much time writing. Not ideal, but it’s worked so far. She’s a TV producer and busier than me. It’s her trying to fit me in, to be honest.”
After gigs, doting dad Jason often drives through the night so he can be Jason fell for TV producer Lucy Dyke and they have a daughter