British comedian Jack Whitehall chats to Jason Tikao about his new live show with his father

British comedian Jack Whitehall has travelled with his father, parented with his father, and this week will be touring a new live show in Aotearoa with, you guessed it, his father. This time, however, his mother is coming as well.

In a recent interview with Jason "JT" Tikao, Jack shared a little bit about what touring with an 84-year-old actually means.

Watch their full interview above!

Edited exerpt:

JT: How much stage work has your dad done with you before?

Jack: I mean, not a huge amount. It's kind of how we started working together. Way back when, at the Edinburgh Festival. That was the first time we'd ever performed, as a sort of double act, and we did a sort of chat show at the festival that that was the first thing we ever did together, and we had no idea about then that it was going to lead to doing all of these shows for the BBC and then Netflix, and now it's all come full circle and move back on stage together again.

JT: I would imagine that your standup show is like this, normally like a meticulous level of planning that would go into it. How possible is that when it comes to you and your dad?

Jack: Pretty impossible. I, you know, when I do my standup feel like I have quite a lot of control over it. A lot of time goes into, working on the routine and building up a set, and, yeah, I feel like I'm very kind of, in control, when I do my standup shows.

But with Mike, it's a little bit more freewheeling. I was tempted to give him a script, but he just can't remember anything. So, it's a bit of, kind of high wire act when I'm doing the show with him.  And we definitely have a few Joe Biden moments when I tee him up to say something and he's just looking at me vacantly on stage with thousands of people in the crowd.

JT: What is it like as an adult man to tour the world with your father?

Jack: Yeah, it's quite stressful. You sort of have to take on quite a few roles when you're touring with an 84-year-old, your mum and dad. So, yeah, there's quite a lot of man-management that has to go on. And I am not just a you know, tour manager. I'm also a carer, a couples therapist. Sometimes a punching bag.

JT: Is your mum on tour with you as well?

Jack: Yeah, I couldn't do without her. She does so much of the heavy lifting. And on stage when he is having this, like, slightly, blank moment, she's there to sort of pick up the slack. So she's great, and also she's a really, you know, she's a natural performer herself. She started life as an actress and did a lot of, like, theatre back in the day. So she's sort of turned it into the sort of singing, all-dancing extravaganza.

Tour dates: Christchurch Town Hall, January 23 & 24, 7pm; Spark Arena, Auckland, January 25, 7pm; Michael Fowler Centre, Wellington, January 27, 7pm. 

Jack Whitehall: Fatherhood with My Father and Jack Whitehall: Travels with My Father are available on Netflix.