Georgia Humphreys,
JACK Dee knows he doesn’t come across as particularly approachable on TV. However, when people do say hello to the Bromleyborn comedian, they’re often pleasantly surprised.
“A lot of people say, ‘Ah, so you do smile, don’t you?”’ says the 56-yearold, arms folded tightly across his chest.
“Of course I do. You can’t be either one way or another 100% of the time. But my default setting is that mildly unimpressed character.”
Having made his name in stand-up and as the star of BBC1’s Lead Balloon, Jack has most recently found success with ITV sitcom Bad Move, which he writes and stars in, and is back for a second series. He plays Steve, who has made what was meant to be a dream move from the city to the countryside with his wife Nicky (played by Kerry Godliman). However, with a house that’s falling apart, bad internet connection and various other neighbourhood woes, the decision to escape the rat race has turned into a bit of a nightmare. Did Jack worry about showing a different side to himself with this role? “Of course – you’re presenting something new and people’s expectation of it is going to vary according to what they already know of you,” he responds matter-of-factly.
“They’re going to have a certain pre-formed idea of what they’re going to be seeing, and if that doesn’t match up to their preformed idea, then that can become an obstacle for people to enjoy it.
“But I think people will give it a chance.”
He has embraced how different the writing process is for a TV show, regardless.
“Stand-up is not at its best if it’s scripted – for me, anyway,” he notes. “But with a sitcom, obviously you need the script and you’ve got many more voices to write for. Part of the challenge is to make sure all of those comic voices are different, that it’s not just your comedy coming through every different mouth.”
Discussing inspiration for the show, Jack himself has a house in the country where he escapes from London.
“I’m in a very lucky position that I can do both,” says the father-of-four, who married wife Jane in 1989. “I’m a bit nomadic anyway, so I quite like being able to move around.”
His children like watching Bad Move, and have spotted that real life may well have been used as fodder for the script at times.
“They recognise various characters in there and different situations,” he admits drily.
Jack has become so famed for his grumpiness that it feels as though he doesn’t even have to try to be funny anymore – all it takes is a facial expression.
For Jack, stand up is something he hopes he will always want to do.
“It’s a mistake to leave it alone for too long,” he reflects. “I do always enjoy going back to it. I find it very liberating.”
And in daily life he’s always noting down stuff to use as material.
“That’s partly why I keep going on stage, he says. “You need to do something with these thoughts. Otherwise I’d be boring people at home with it.” Bad Move is on ITV, Wednesdays at 8pm.