I’d be embarrassed to be around my best friend If I was ever a diva
Comedian Joel Dommett’s career seems to be going from strength to strength. He tells GEORGIA HUMPHREYS what to expect from game show Hey Tracey and how his fiancée keeps him grounded
Can you sum up how Hey Tracey! works?
BEST way to describe it is it’s a celebrity quiz show, and if the celebrity doesn’t know the answer, they can call a random business and ask them for the answer, and that is all encased in this weird world of Tracey, which is like a s**t Siri. She’s great.
And the celebs are trying to win prizes for members of the public, right?
SOMETIMES, in game shows, points don’t really mean anything. That’s all funny and nice and it’s great, but it’s actually really fun to win some money for someone, and give them some absolutely ridiculous prizes.
We gave a guy a trailer when he doesn’t have a car to transport it, we gave a guy a kayak and he lived nowhere near water, we gave someone three massive bags of gravel and he lived on the 2nd floor – funny. Never not funny.
Why did it feel right for you to host?
THERE isn’t loads of pressure on me to be “the funny guy”, I just sort of help take it along really. That’s kind of why I said yes to it.
AND also, I wanted to be involved in it because I didn’t feel like I’d seen it before. It felt new.
It seems like a TV programme where everyone enjoys being a bit silly...
YOU can have a laugh at yourself on this show. I was actually expecting a lot of the celeb guests to be a bit more difficult, but so many of them were so nice and got on really well and didn’t mind me poking fun at them a bit.
Were there any really awkward moments while filming?
IT was really funny when people said who they were [on the phone], so Joey Essex just going like, ‘Do you know Joey Essex? ‘Cos I’m Joey Essex’, and then they go, ‘I don’t know Joey Essex’, and put the phone down.
That’s what I like about the show, it’s awkward. You kind of want to go under the cushion, it’s got that feeling to it, but it’s also at nobody’s expense necessarily.
You’re not being horrible to the person on the other end of the line... I’m going to try my best to move away from the word prank call because it’s not a prank call, really.
All you’re trying to do is call someone and get information about them.
Did you feel nervous to be taking on a brand new show?
I WAS kind of nervous, but my tactic with everything is to prepare as much as you can, and then on the day just don’t give a s**t about it. I think that’s a really good way to prepare for stuff in life... And, yeah, I really had fun with this, so hopefully that shows.
Will you stay away from checking social media reaction to Hey Tracey!?
YEAH, I think so. I’ve come off Twitter a little bit. I think a lot of people are going that way now, just because I feel like the reactions I get on Instagram are the ones I want. I think Twitter has its place in the world and it’s good, it just takes a bit more resilience.
You and your fiancée – model Hannah Cooper – are both in the limelight. Does she help keep you grounded?
IT’S something that I was attracted to in her in the first place; she’s in a ridiculous industry that I think is more ridiculous than my own, and she’s super chill, like really normal.
And we both have that same thing where we’re really good friends with people that we’ve been friends with for years.
I’ve got my best friend Steve – I’ve been friends with him since I was 11 years old, and we speak to each other every day. He helps me write loads of stuff, he’s a great writer and director, and so if I was ever a diva or a horrible person, I would be embarrassed to be around him!
We hear you’re writing new stand-up material, as you’re going on tour next March... SOMETIMES you can be busy with TV stuff and you realise, ‘Oh I haven’t done stand up in ages’. So, you’ve just got to make sure you keep your toe in and keep being good at what got you here in the first place, otherwise you ou become lazy, y, I think.
■ Hey Tracey! cey! is on ITV2, Monday, at 10pm.