How to succeed in stand-up comedy, with Jack Whitehall

Jack Whitehall brought some early morning LOLs to the Radio 1 Breakfast Show today, half-dressed in black tie ahead of presenting tonight’s British Fashion Awards.

He’s also heading out on tour in early 2017 and during his visit to Radio 1 shared some very important pieces of advice that every budding comedian can learn from.

Mostly, follow the examples set by Mariah Carey and Beyoncé Knowles.

Here's what we learned.

Comedians don't often end up in gossip magazines' best-dressed lists, but maybe Jack can change that.

"I want more costume changes, not enough comedians have costume changes, none of them have wardrobe changes and I’ve decided that I’m having a wardrobe change," he says - despite being told it's not the best idea.

"My agent says I can't have a wardrobe change because when we film it for DVD or Netflix, it's just going to look weird if you're standing in different outfit.

"I said 'I don't care, you get really sweaty and at the interval you have to go back out there in the same sweaty shirt - I’m having a costume change'.

"I don't care. I'm Jack Whitehall and I’m the Mariah Carey of comedy."

Jack Whitehall performed a preview show the night before his visit to the Radio 1 Breakfast Show for his upcoming tour. He says testing out his jokes before taking them on the road is the best way to avoid embarrassing silences on stage.

"It's quite fun that process and fun to go and see it as well," he says.

"It's the moment where there's a lot of jokes and routines and stories that will never see the light of day again, because there are things I thought were funny in my head but it turns out they are not funny in any way shape or form."

Not every joke is going to land, even if you're as successful as Jack, but it's knowing what to do next that's the important part of being a comedian.

"You've just got to embrace it," he says.

"Sometimes it's better to not acknowledge that it bombed and sometimes, if it's a real stinker, you have to acknowledge that you've made that happen, apologise and move on."

Jack's a sensitive sort, despite being one of the UK's funniest men. Despite his on stage persona, he feels every flat joke.

"My response is more blaming myself," he says. "I'm more likely to curl up into the foetal position and cry a bit."

Maybe hasn't prepared to be so open so early in the morning.

"This is getting really deep. It's not even 8:30 and I’m telling you about the secrets of a sad clown. There's a lot of drinking alone in hotels."

Jack's UK tour kicks off in early 2017 and he's hoping there's more to enjoy that just the jokes. He puts a lot of effort into his stage show too.

"I'm a big believer that if you're doing a show in an arena, in having some bells and whistles on it and making it a really exciting night out," he says.

"I throw everything at it and try to make it like it's been worth coming all the way out to one of those massive cavernous arenas. There's going to be a big finale, like an action movie-influenced finale."

TBC on the action movie finale for novices.

Michael McIntyre? Jimmy Carr? Nope. The star who influenced Jack's stage show is none other than Mrs Carter herself. We're hoping for a Weeknd collaboration on his tour, thank you very much.

"I went to see Beyoncé at the O2 and I wanted to come down onto the stage like she did," he says.

"That's quite weird, when creating a show, that my one influence is Beyoncé Knowles. That says something about me and my faults as a comedian."

Jack has hosted The British Fashion Awards several times, and he even he struggles when his audience is made up of A-listers from the fashion world.

"It's the scariest gig I do, the fashion awards," he says.

"You go out and the front row is Anna Wintour and Karl Lagerfeld. Last year, one of the people doing a speech mentioned Butlins as a reference and I saw Karl Lagerfeld turn to Anna Wintour, and then Anna Wintour lean into Karl Lagerfeld's ear, meaning I saw first-hand, Anna Wintour explaining what Butlins is.

"What an amazing moment."