Jack Carroll is the fourteen year-old stand up comedian with cerebral palsy who has stormed into the final of Britain’s Got Talent. From his position leaning on his walking frame – a stance that has caused him to call himself a sit down stand up comedian – Jack has delivered two hilarious sets so far and we can expect another on Saturday night. Check out his first performance here and his semi-final here.
He’s rightly been a massive hit with the judges for his cheeky brand of comedy. Simon Cowell (who Jack compared to Kim Jong-Un in his semi-final appearance) has gone as far as to say that the whole process of Britain’s Got Talent has been worthwhile because of him. Fellow comic, David Walliams, called him a ‘comedy genius’ and labelled him the ‘next Peter Kay’ and the other judges were typically full of praise.
It’s not just the Britain’s Got Talent judges that are gushing with praise for Carroll. Frankie Boyle has also taken time out from tweeting spoilers about Game Of Thrones in order to show his support. After Carroll’s semi-final performance Boyle tweeted that ‘The comedian kid is better than loads of pros’.
What is so refreshing about Carroll is that his act isn’t based on any gimmick as it sometimes feels like can be the case in Britain’s Got Talent. He’s just good at what he’s doing. He might have cerebral palsy and only be fourteen but that isn’t why he’s popular; he’s just genuinely very funny. You sense he’d still be there if he was able bodied and forty!
So, whatever your stance on reality TV talent shows we urge you to vote for Jack Carroll. He is a standout, standup, sitdown comedian. He’s a great performer who’s written his own new, different and funny material for each round of the competition
At the moment he’s the second-favourite to win the whole competition (behind, you guessed it, a dance troupe – albeit one that ‘shadow dances’). But wouldn’t it be great to have a less able bodied act win?
It’s great to see somebody who, not only doesn’t let their disability get in the way of what they want to do, but who can channel it to their advantage. Turning what could be a weakness into a strength, he makes lots of jokes at his own expense and cleverly plays with people’s (mis)conceptions of disability. His material is very clever in that sense and you can tell he has a bright future ahead of him.
We wouldn’t normally say this about a phone-in but we urge everyone to vote in tomorrow’s final for Jack Carroll. A less-able bodied comedian with a serious amount of ability.