'I've never seen someone look so underwhelmed': Comedian Josh Widdicombe reveals he asked Kate Middleton to be on his parenting podcast at Royal Variety Performance

Josh Widdicombe has revealed he asked Kate Middleton to be on his parenting podcast after meeting her backstage at the Royal Variety Performance.

The comedian, 38, from London, appeared on Good Morning Britain earlier today to promote his new Bit Much tour, which starts on 1 February, and discussed appearing on the show last November. 

He told presenters Richard Madeley and Susannah Reid that his agent bet him £100 to invite the Duchess of Cambridge, 40, onto his show ‘Parenting Hell’ last year. 

After she approached him in a line up backstage, he revealed: ‘I said, “We’d love to have you on the podcast”. I’ve never seen someone so underwhelmed at a question in her life. She moved very quickly onto the cast of Matilda.’

Josh Widdicombe, 38, from London, has revealed he asked Kate Middleton, 40, to be on his parenting podcast ‘Parenting Hell’ after meeting her backstage at the Royal Variety Performance

Appearing on the programme, Susannah asked Josh: ‘You know what a lot of us got addicted to during lockdown was podcasts and you have a brilliant one with Rob Beckett.

‘But as we just said one guest that you have not persuaded to talk about parenting is Kate Middleton.’

Josh said: ‘I did the Royal Variety Performance and you have to stand there and meet the royals, and it was Kate and Will.

‘My agent said:  “I bet you £100 you won’t ask her to come on your podcast.” So I thought, I’m not going to let this opportunity go.’

After he invited the Duchess of Cambridge onto his podcast, he said he had ‘never seen someone look so underwhelmed’  

He continued: ‘Will goes past and then Kate comes up. She spoke about parenting, because it’s something I spoke about in the standup, and I was like, this is my chance.’

After explaining that the Duchess had quickly moved on after his invitation, he added: ‘She doesn’t listen to my knowledge. If she does, she’s playing a very canny game of looking like she didn’t know what I was talking about.’ 

Kate has previously appeared as a guest  on Giovanna Fletcher’s Happy Mum, Happy Baby podcast in 2020, telling several personal stories about parenting.  

During the tell-all chat she praised her parents Carole, 65, and Michael, 70, for their ‘huge dedication’ in raising her and her two siblings, Pippa, 36, and James, 32.

He told presenters Richard Madeley and Susannah Reid that his agent bet him £100 to invite the Duchess onto his show last year 

Kate has previously appeared as a guest on Giovanna Fletcher’s Happy Mum, Happy Baby podcast in 2020, telling several personal stories about parenting

In the extraordinary interview – one of the most intimate ever given by a senior Royal – she shared her anxieties and doubts about parenting including battling ‘mummy guilt’ and worrying about falling short in her parenting to George, Charlotte and Louis. 

Josh’s comments come as a former staffer said the Royal Family is desperate for ‘conventional performers’ as it faces a difficult year.

With Prince Andrew’s legal battles, as well as the Firm’s concerns over the imminent publication of Prince Harry’s upcoming memoir, the Duchess has been touted as playing a key role in shaping the future of the Monarchy.

‘As the Prince Andrew scandal shows, the monarchy is in desperate need of reassuringly conventional royal performers,’ Patrick Jephson, former chief of staff for Diana, Princess of Wales, told the New York Post.