Quickfire comic Rob Beckett back on the road with a brand new show called Giraffe. His tour starts on November 19, 2024 at Chatham Central Theatre and currently finishes at the London Palladium on February 14, 2026.

 

The 38-year-old Londoner is one of the most in-demand comedians in the UK. As well as being the co-presenter with Josh Widdicombe of chart-topping podcast Parenting Hell and presenting his own Radio 2 show, he can be seen on Sky’s Rob And Romesh Vs and narrates E4's Celebs Go Dating. He also fronts a new quiz, Rob Beckett's Smart TV, on Sky Max from February 29 at 9pm.

 

He co-hosted The Royal Variety Performance and The BAFTA TV Awards with Romesh Rangnathan and also hosted Children in Need and Comic Relief. In this new interview he talks about his tour, his work ethic and his passion for stand-up: "There's nothing more exciting than having a thought and then saying it in front of a thousand people and they laugh."

 

Buy tickets for Rob Beckett: Giraffe at www.ticketmaster.co.uk

 

 

It's rhyming slang for laugh. But also my kids' favourite animals are giraffes. And I've always wanted to have a neck. I thought it was a funny image, I'm bored of comedians who take themselves seriously trying to look cool and sexy. I'd rather look like a giraffe. I wanted a really stupid picture, with no ego. The hooves were my kids' idea.

 

 

I like getting the crowd involved. There's no theme, the show is always evolving. My job is to read the energy of that room and respond. I've basically got an arsenal of stuff that will make them laugh. But it'll be different stuff depending on if it's a nice sunny day in Cambridge or a rainy night in Hull. The best comedy is when you don't actually do your material and you're jumping off stuff that they've said in the crowd.

 

 

That's the biggest problem, but I think I've got a really good balance now where before I was just manic and I wasn't really in the family. I was almost like an uncle that would come round. I realised I didn't want to become a dad that knocks his bollocks out for 15 years and earns decent money and then the kids just don't want to know you. I'm home way more now. But leaving the house when you could be all watching Gladiators together, that's hard. I wish comedy was at 11am at the end of my road. Then I'd gig every day.

 

 

Yes, but what I've noticed is I've actually been reflecting less on my kids and more on my parents and the way I was brought up because I can now compare the way they brought me up with the way I'm bringing my kids up. And there's a thing about how as you get older you become a parent to your own parents. Although I've been a parent to my parents since I was about 15. I was always more sensible than them!

 

 

I think the best comedy is honest and truthful and about how you feel. I've realised I am an everyman. I do have quite boring life choices. I like having a lie in on a Sunday. I'll watch TV with the kids, take them to the park, watch the football, have a roast dinner. I love Wagamama's and Pizza Express and my wife Lou is the same as me. She's posher but she has the food choices of a toddler! There's nothing more I want to be doing and luckily for me that's the same for most of the population that I'm talking to. So it's definitely relatable. You see comics that do the hard yards so that they can go off and live in LA, that's not me.

 

 

It's like the first village you get to after Bromley in south London so it's not far from where I grew up, but it does feel like the middle of nowhere. I wake up in the morning and I can see a field of deer. I'd never seen a badger until we moved.

 

My life has massively changed, but it's more about the freedom of having a lack of fear. Growing up we didn't have much money and that sense of dread that you can't pay the gas bill, you can't pay the mortgage... I'm very lucky and privileged to be in a position where I'm not stressing.

 

 

We egg each other on to do more stuff. But, yeah, I've got loads of energy, and I love doing things and being creative and I love a new challenge. If I won the lottery and never needed to work ever again, I'd still do a tour.

 

 

That was the perfect gig. Sky said 'do you want to host a panel show about TV?' And when they said the team captains would be Josh and Alison Hammond, I've never been in quicker. I love Josh, I love Allison, I love TV. I've always loved panel shows, but I always found sometimes the host was a bit too head teachery. So I came at it from a slightly more relaxed angle, like a prefect put in charge of the class and letting people say something rather than be scared. Alison tells some naughty stories you wouldn't normally hear her tell.

 

 

David Tennant was amazing because I always feel like with actors, they might be too serious. And David Morrissey, from The Walking Dead. It could be like someone brings their dad to a stag do, but they were bang up for it. I think they saw it as an opportunity to be really silly. What I like the most about our dynamic, Alison doesn't give a shit about winning and Josh is desperate to win so Alison really likes beating him. It was hilarious watching him get red-faced and flustered.

 

 

I think with the last tour because I'd done stuff like the Celebs Go Dating voiceover, some people thought I was off reality TV. I don't think they realised the comedy chops I've got. I've been obsessed by comedy since I was a kid. I love it when I'm onstage and I can go 'I know what I'm doing. I've done the apprenticeship, I know my trade.'

 

 

If it does stop something else will start. I'll run a cafe and it'll be a really good cafe. But I just sort of trust that something will happen. As long as you're enjoying yourself and you're working hard, you'll normally be alright.