Jack Whitehall Page 2

She’s the highest-earning actress in Hollywood, but it seems that not everybody knows who Jennifer Lawrence is, as she revealed an embarrassing recent encounter when Harrison Ford gave her a blank stare of non-recognition.

The 25 year old star of X-Men Apocalypse was chatting with British TV host Graham Norton this week, filming an episode of his chat show that is due to air on Friday evening (May 13th). Recollecting the highly awkward incident, she said it happened earlier this year when she was on a night out with comedian Jack Whitehall, and spotted the Han Solo actor dining with Star Wars: The Force Awakens director Jj Abrams.

Jennifer Lawrence recounted the embarrassing incident to Graham Norton on his chat show this week

Continue reading: Jennifer Lawrence Admits Embarrassing Encounter With Harrison Ford

One of the most bizarre and unlikely celebrity feuds of the year has emerged, with Sylvester Stallone hitting out at British comedian Jack Whitehall and accusing him of “distorting lies” after he recounting meeting the 69 year old star at the Oscars in February.

Speaking to The Mirror earlier this week, the 27 year old presenter and funnyman joked that he had cheered up Stallone after he had failed to win the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor last month. Stallone had been hotly tipped to win, but lost out to Mark Rylance for his role in Bridge of Spies.

Jack Whitehall has gotten into a feud with Sylvester Stallone

Continue reading: It's Jack Whitehall V Sylvester Stallone In The Year's Most Bizarre Celeb Feud

BBC stalwart Michael Buerk has called the recently axed BBC3 "drivel" despite a high profile battle to save the channel. The corporation announced that the channel will be moving online-only in an effort to save £100m - a decision that Buerk is only too happy to back.

Michael Buerk Is Glad To See The Back of BBC3

Buerk described BB3's offerings "embarrassing" and described the reality show Snog, Marry, Avoid? as "cutting-edge tripe."

Continue reading: Michael Buerk Calls BBC3 "Drivel" And "Cutting-Edge Tripe"

The BBC has denied rumours that it will scrap the license fee in favour of a subscription service, instead revealing possible plans for an “enforced membership scheme” in 2020, though it is unclear how that system would differ from the current, taxpayer model.

Tony Hall, Director General of the BBC

The news comes after a Sunday Times article claimed that The BBC were planning on upheaving the current funding system with a view to kicking off a subscription-based format. The BBC insisted this report was incorrect.

Continue reading: BBC Mulling Over 'Enforced Membership Scheme' For 2020, But Deny Subscription Service

The BBC has deemed BBC3 an unnecessary investment and the channel is to be axed from television, with the content being released online. However, the comedy stars of BBC3 disagree with the decision and have launched a campaign to save the youth-oriented channel.

Jack Whitehall was one of the first celebrities to rally behind the channel.

"I really hope reports that the BBC may kill BBC3 are just rumours. [Their] support of new comedy in particular is vital! #saveBBC3," tweeted Whitehall, who writes and stars in Bad Education on the channel.

Continue reading: Celebrities Defend BBC3, Channel's Fate To Be Decided Thursday.

Season two of the popular Jack Whitehall comedy, Bad Education, wasn’t your standard affair. The BBC show – having enjoyed a successful first season – debuted its second exclusively on BBC iPlayer before last night’s televisual bow, Digital Spy reports.

The cast of Bad Education are back for another season

And it was an experiment that proved successful; 1.5m people checked the first episode out before it went live on TV, and that didn’t stop traditional viewers tuning in, either. BBC3 nabbed 832k - a 4.6% share - for the series premiere. BBC Three's Zai Bennett described the modern approach to this season as "fantastic start" to their "innovation of premiering all scripted comedies on BBC iPlayer".

Continue reading: Jack Whitehall's 'Bad Education' Had An Online Boost Before Last Night's Premiere

Jack Whitehall's ill-fated appearance on The Big Quiz of The Year - Channel 4's popular panel show - has reached new lows, as a gag which included him writing down a made up number, and pretending it was Jonathan Ross's, has caused an innocent member of the public a great deal of stress, The Telegraph reports.

The number actually belongs to a Mr Sagar, from London. He said: "On the night it was shown I started getting calls with abuse from people who hate Jonathan Ross. I also had calls from people who thought I was Jack Whitehall or James Corden, who was on Whitehall's team. I didn't even bother going to work on Monday because I knew my phone wouldn't stop ringing and I couldn't switch it off because a relative is ill and I needed to be contactable. Ofcom said they would look into it and suggested I changed my number, but I paid a lot of money for it because it is a very easy number to remember so I'm not doing that. I'll just have to wait for things to die down."

The trouble started when Whitehall, in response to one of the questions, said: "We didn't know what the answer was so we thought it would be funny instead to write down Jonathan's mobile number on our screen. Call him whenever you want."

Continue reading: Jack Whitehall's Jonathan Ross Phone Number Gag Lands Him In Trouble

Jokes about The Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, and sexual gags about US President Barack Obama, sprinter Usain Bolt and singer Susan Boyle had reportedly plunged Jack Whitehall in hot water, as NTA producer George Mitchell told the Daily Mail he wanted to hold a "summit conference" to determine whether he should present a prize at the National Television Awards.

But Kim Turberville, creator and executive producer of the NTA, told The Independent: "Contrary to spurious reports earlier today, I would like to confirm that there has been no crisis summit over Jack Whitehall's invitation to present an award at this year's National Television Awards," adding, ""We are very much looking forward to welcoming him on January 23 for our live show."

Channel 4's Big Fat Quiz of the Year was highlighted by The Daily Mail on New Years Day in an article that described the show as "drunken, boorish comedians quaffing red wine and stuffing their faces with pizza while swearing and making crass, sexist jokes."

Continue reading: Jack Whitehall's Big Quiz Of The Year Controversy Won't Rule Him Out Of National Television Awards Appearance

2012 was another brilliant year when it came to Christmas on the box. As well as some seminal family movies, both old and new, December's festive comedy, sci-fi and drama TV brought us much cheer throughout the holiday season making the couch our favourite place in the world in the run up to Christmas and New Year. Here are our highlights still available to watch on BBC iPlayer, ITV Player, 4oD and Channel 5 online. 

Doctor Who: The Snowmen

Continue reading: Christmas Television Recap - Watch The Best British Programmes And Films Again!

Jack Whitehall is reportedly under pressure to stand down as presenter of a prize at the National Television Awards later in January following complaints about his performance on Channel 4's Big Fat Quiz Of The Year. His suitability for the appearance was called in question by NTA presenter George Mitchell who told the Daily Mail (who else?) that he wanted to hold a "summit conference" to decide if Whitehall should still be invited.

The furore began when an indignant article in the aforementioned newspaper criticised Channel 4's broadcast. It slammed lewd jokes about The Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, President Barack Obama, sprinter Usain Bolt and the singer Susan Boyle. Mitchell said he feared the controversy could "run and run" and offered Whitehall "the chance to withdraw." 

However, creator and executive producer of the NTA (i.e, somebody with more power than Mitchell) told The Independent, "Contrary to spurious reports earlier today, I would like to confirm that there has been no crisis summit over Jack Whitehall's invitation to present an award at this year's National Television Awards. We are very much looking forward to welcoming him on January 23 for our live show."

Continue reading: Will Jack Whitehall Resign As Television Awards Presenter Over Complaints?

Satire has long been controversial, from the 18th century satirists such as Jonathan Swift who lampooned the wealthy Irish by suggesting that the children of the poor be eaten, to contemporary comedians who make jokes about the sex lives of the royal family. This has back fired for Jack Whitehall and others who appeared on Channel 4's annual show 'Big Fat Quiz of the Year', after 160 complaints were made in protest to jokes made about the Queen, reports the Guardian.

"I have a theory: [The Queen] didn't sit down for the entirety of that thing, and then people were talking about that. It was the day after the night of her anniversary and Prince Phillip woke up with a urinary infection" Whitehall said. "I'm just saying what everyone's thinking, people!" It wasn't just the Queen who was mocked, Usain Bolt, Susan Boyle and Gerard Butler couldn't remain safe from the boundary-pushing quips. 

MP Conor Burns has questioned why this was shown so close to the watershed, airing from 9pm-10:30pm. He has said that he'll be writing to the network to air his query. Both Ofcom and Channel 4 received complaints about the jokes, but neither the channel nor the comedians are yet to comment on the controversy.  

Channel 4 must be breathing a huge sigh of relief that they didn’t decide to invite Frankie Boyle on this year’s Big Fat Quiz show, because they’ve managed to cause enough controversy, without having the sharp-tongued Scotsman on board. This year, the damage has been done largely by Jack Whitehall and James Corden, who were openly drinking a bottle of red wine throughout the show and made a number of crude jokes about The Queen, as well as Barack Obama and Susan Boyle.

Lord Burns, the chairman of Channel 4, declined the opportunity to speak to the Daily Mail about the show, but the British newspaper is up in arms about its distasteful content. The outrage has spread beyond the press, though, with Tory MP Conor Burns – a member of the Commons’ culture media and sport select committee – demanding to know why the show was aired as early as 9pm. “I actually watched some of the broadcast because we are staying with family for the holidays and I found it quite distasteful,” said the MP. “It was base, unfunny comedy and in some ways I thought its greater crime really was that it just wasn’t funny.”

At one point during the show, James Corden and Jack Whitehall attempted to cover up one of their answers, aware that it was inappropriate, but eventually revealed what they had written on the screen anyway. A sample of the ‘vulgar’ comedy on display during the quiz was Whitehall’s comment about Cary Rae Jepsen: “If you had given your number to someone like Carly Rae Jepsen and discovered how annoying she was, you would suck someone’s c*** to get rid of her.”

The British Comedy Awards were held last night, presented once again by Jonathan Ross. It saw a room of the country's funniest people come under one roof to celebrate and ridicule one another, as is the British tradition. 

Twenty Twelve and The Thick of It have been compared since the former hit screens in 2011. It satirises the shambolic organization of this year's the Olympic games, while The Thick of It satirises the inner workings of the British government. However, despite audiences loving Twenty Twelve and it receiving four nominations in the three categories that it's eligible for, it failed to take home anything. Both Olivia Colman and Jessica Hynes from the show were nominated for Best Actress, but they lost out to The Thick of It's Rebecca Front. It seems an odd snub given that everyone has been celebrating all things Olympic since it was revealed that London got the deal.

Another surprise was Jack Whitehall's voted win of King of Comedy for 2012. He was up against some serious comedy heavy weights that have done the circuit for years: Alan Carr, Lee Mack, David Mitchell, Graham Norton and last year's Queen of Comedy, Sarah Millican. Initial speculation had assumed David Mitchell would get the prize, for his many panel show appearances, Peep Show and That Mitchell and Webb Look. However, Whitehall has really broken through this year, with popular shows Bad Education and Fresh Meat, which are a lot better than they sound. 

Continue reading: Twenty Twelve Snubbed At The British Comedy Awards, But Jack Whitehall Wins The Crown

Sacha Baron Cohen was one of the stars at last night’s British Comedy Awards, winning the Outstanding Achievement Award.

Back in 1999, he won the Best Male Comedy Newcomer award at the very same awards event. In those 13 years, he has made himself not just a household name in Britain, but a global star as well, with movies such as Borat and The Dictator.

In the UK of course, he made his name as Ali G and he was dressed as the iconic character when he collected his accolade, joking about his gold tracksuit: “lot has changed in ten years, times are tough. I've even had to start getting my tracksuits from second hand clothes shops.” He then turned round to reveal the word ‘Savile’ on the back, in reference to the disgraced former BBC presenter Jimmy Savile.

Continue reading: Triumphant Return To British Comedy Awards For Sacha Baron Cohen

The British Comedy Awards are set to be aired on Channel 4 on December 12th, hosted- as always- by Jonathan Ross. This year's nominations have a few surprises, but despite three contenders up for the King or Queen of comedy for 2012, everyone's talking about the amount of nominations for Twenty Twelve- four in total, where The Thick of It has only three- although in all three of those categories, they'll be compeating against one another.

The real star of the occasion though is Olivia Colman who has two nominations in the same category but for two different shows: Twenty Twelve and Rev. However, despite breaking records with those nominations, she's not up for the vote for Comedy Royalty. Instead, those go to Jack Whitehall, Alan Carr, Lee Mack, Graham Norton, David Mitchell and Sarah Millican, who'll be defending her title from 2011. The result is down to a public vote, but the strongest contenders are Jack Whitehall, David Mitchell and of course last year's winner. Jack Whitehall is the sproutling of the bunch, but 2012 really has been his year with BBC's Bad Education and Channel 4's Fresh Meat to his credit. 

Harry Hill's TV burp has also received three nominations for the final season of TV Burp. Hill said: "I am thrilled that my personality has been deemed entertaining enough to be nominated for a British Comedy award, particularly in this, the last year of TV Burp, and when I next see it I will be certain to let it know. It would be the icing on the cake if it won - but no pressure", the Guardian Reports.

Continue reading: Who Will Become Comedy Royalty At The British Comedy Awards: Sarah Millican, Jack Whitehall Or David Mitchell?

Olivia Colman has been nominated twice in the same category for the upcoming British Comedy Awards. The 39-year-old, perhaps best known for playing Sophie on Peep Show, is up for Best Actress for two BBC shows, Rev and Twenty Twelve.

The decision has left some comedy fans bemused, though the general consensus is that Colman has put in two excellent performances and therefore has every right to be nominated twice. She played Hugh Bonneville's character's long-suffering assistant Sally Owen in the London Olympics comedy and plays Tom Hollander's wife Alex Smallbone on religious comedy Rev. Though having two chances to win the award, Colman still faces stiff competition to land the gong, with Twenty Twelve co-star Jessica Hynes also nominated. The Thick Of It's Rebecca Front, who plays the MP Nicola Murray, is also up for Best Actress. Colman - now considered one of the UK's top actresses - has already had a superb year, winning a slew of awards for playing an abused charity shop worker in Paddy Considine's gritty drama Tyrannosaur. 

Elsewhere at the comedy awards, The Thick Of It is one of five shows to receive three nominations, along with The Graham Norton Show, Rev, Cardinal Burns and Harry Hill's TV Burp. Steve Coogan picked up a couple of nominations for Alan Partridge: Welcome To Places In My Life. This year's King or Queen of Comedy will be contested by Alan Carr, David Mitchell, Graham Norton, Jack Whitehall, Lee Mack and Sarah Millican. The award winners will be announced live on Channel 4 on Wednesday 12 December.

Continue reading: Farce, Or Fair Enough? Olivia Colman To Battle Herself At British Comedy Awards