Jack Whitehall: Learning Difficulties

Jack Whitehall is a blisteringly funny young man, although possibly one who has lived a disgustingly charmed existence. Plummy vowels infuse his quick fire delivery, and his dad drives a Mercedes and sounds like a batty lord of the manor. He’s one of the energetic young things on Big Brother’s Big Mouth and has presented E4, so all in all he’s not done too badly.

None of this should really matter but you feel as though it does when he’s created a show most famous for ridiculing the success of another of Tower House School’s prominent sons, Robert Pattinson. True, Whitehall’s (probably) not a millionaire but the whole indignant shtick powering Learning Difficulties feels a little rich.

It’s hard to mind, though, when he’s such a lovable mass of energy and has so many cracking items in a set that doesn’t pause for breath. His bitterness towards Pattinson aside, Whitehall’s show is about the mistakes he’s made from school to now, culminating rather movingly with his direct description of when he was caught by the News Of The World with cocaine on the back of his Blackberry.

It’s a rare moment of calm in a show that never lets up. Whitehall jumps through grotesque impressions with consummate ease and has cleverly constructed his setups and punch lines into a continuous and tightly orchestrated free-form rant, punctuating each second with a giggle.

While a little in-your-face and far too privileged to be moaning, Whitehall has nonetheless turned out a wickedly funny set.