Joe Lycett left fans in shock last year when announcing the news that he’d become a father.
The comedian, 36, is best known for appearing on shows including Taskmaster, Never Mind the Buzzcocks and LOL: Last One Laughing, as well as presenting The Great British Sewing Bee, Travel Man and his talk show Late Night Lycett.
Over the years Joe has largely kept his private life out of the spotlight, so left many surprised when revealing he’d welcomed a child in October.
At the time he shared a photo of himself cradling his son, sharing he was ‘loving being a dad’.
This week he explained that becoming a parent was ‘so beautiful’.
Here’s everything we know about Joe’s growing family, including his relationship with his ‘secret’ girlfriend.
What has Joe Lycett said about his sexuality?
Joe has regularly referred to his bisexuality and pansexuality in his stand-up routines.
In a 2015 interview with Attitude magazine, he described how being bisexual ‘presents its own challenges’ when people had ‘no box to put you in’, going on to share it ‘just means you fancy people of all genders’.
In 2023 he told The Guardian that ‘homophobia was rife’ while he was in school and there were ‘very, very few openly queer kids in my year group’.
Who is Joe Lycett’s partner?
A few days before announcing he’d become a dad, Joe spoke opened up about his relationship and spoke about his sexuality at length.
Speaking on Bimini Bon-Boulash’s podcast The Pieces, Joe discussed his girlfriend ‘Denise’ revealing that he uses a pseudonym to keep her name out of the public eye.
‘So, I’ve got Winston the cat, and my partner Denise. And, um, she’s not called Denise, but I don’t talk about her, because she has a job that she can’t be in the public eye,’ he said.
‘I call her Denise because she hates the name Denise, so, uh, I live with Denise.
He went on to discuss his sexual identity, which he admitted was a difficult conversation at times.
‘Well, it’s interesting now being in a long-term relationship with a woman because loads of people are like, sorry what? There was a brief period when I was at school when I thought because I was attracted to men, I was gay, and then I was like, whoa, whoa, whoa, hang on,’ he began.
‘Then I use the term bisexual when anyone asks, and I just want to give a quick answer because people understand that.
‘But I think the most accurate way of describing myself is pansexual, in that I’m not attracted to people, just because of their gender.
Joe added that he sometimes struggled to explain his sexuality to ‘idiots’ as it was more nuanced than fancying every person on earth.
‘I also don’t really know how it works because, I don’t know, how does it work? As in, I don’t know how it works in terms of like, explaining it to idiots. Because it is hard to sort of go, well, no, I am attracted to men sometimes, but not all men. And it’s not often to do with the fact that they are men,’ he said.
‘Yeah, it doesn’t matter what the gender or whatever. And I don’t know why that is, but that is how it is. It’s a strange one because to me that suggests that sexuality is not just man, woman.’
‘So, the intellectual side of me goes it’s pansexual, which means all. So, that’s how I feel about myself.’
He went on to say that he ‘doesn’t really care what anyone else thinks about it these days, because I just think it’s nothing to do with you’.
However, Joe said many people still assumed he was gay because of his ‘camp’ television persona.
‘I do think it’s interesting. A few years into a relationship with a woman and going like, I am a straight man now, that dresses like this. I am still struggling with it in different ways of course. And particularly because lots of people just presume I’m gay because I’m camp on telly,’ he shared.
In November he was snapped out walking with his partner on a weekend stroll with their baby.
However, Joe’s not revealed any personal details about the mother of his child, nor has the baby’s name been shared publicly.
What has he said about being a dad?
When announcing the arrival of his firstborn, Joe wrote that he is ‘LOVING being a dad’.
Posting Instagram, he praised the staff working at hospital where his partner gave birth.
‘An appreciation post from me for the extraordinary @bham_womens hospital. My first encounter with them was years ago when they looked after a pal of mine through surgery, and then most recently when they masterfully welcomed a little boy into the world, who happens to be my son,’ he wrote to his 1.4million followers.
‘The care and compassion his mum and he received was exceptional; from the antenatal classes, incredible midwives, consultants, doctors, nurses and the ongoing care in the community. We also loved their baked potatoes.
‘Birmingham is so lucky to have them, and I will be forever grateful for everything they’ve done.’
He also appeared on Lorraine this week to promote his new series, Joe Lycett’s United States of Birmingham, and got candid about parenthood.
‘I’m amazed I’ve strung a sentence together ’cause I’m so underslept,’ he told host Lorraine Kelly.
‘It’s so beautiful, the whole thing. It’s so hard to not be clichéd when you talk about parenthood because everything everyone says about it is exactly right.
‘It’s sort of everything, and maddening, and beautiful and yeah. I’m having a lovely time with it; I’m really in love with it. It’s great.’
Joe Lycett’s United States of Birmingham stars tonight at 9pm on Sky Max and NOW TV.
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