Controversy
In September 2009, Whitehall was accused of stealing one of Stewart Lee's stand-up routines for his critically acclaimed Nearly Rebellious show. Lee had performed the joke, which deals with the subject of life after walking in space, at the Montreal Just for Laughs comedy festival in the 1990s, and was filmed for TV by the Comedy Network. When Whitehall recited his version of the routine at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2009, he was described by an otherwise favourable review for Metro as "repeating" Lee's sketch "almost verbatim".
On 20 October 2009, Robbie Williams was accused of stealing one of Whitehall's jokes in his much-publicised 'comeback' performance as part of the BBC's electric proms at the Camden Roundhouse, When Whitehall originally performed the one-liner, which plays on the phrase "to look down on someone", it was voted the fifth best joke of the year's Edinburgh Fringe in a poll conducted by TV channel Dave.
On 20 June 2010, a photograph of Whitehall appeared in the News of the World, purportedly showing him in possession of cocaine in Manchester. He quickly issued an apology for his behaviour, but did not confirm or deny the allegations. Later that same week, Whitehall appeared on the debut episode of Stand Up for the Week alongside fellow comedian Patrick Kielty, who took the opportunity to mockingly refer to the article.
On 30 December 2012, Whitehall appeared on "The Big Fat Quiz of the Year", during which he made a joke about Queen Elizabeth II. On the next day, complaints were submitted about the joke to Ofcom. Ensuing media speculation led to the National Television Awards stating publicly that Whitehall would not be forced to resign from presenting the awards later that month.
Read more about this topic: Jack Whitehall
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