Josh Widdicombe quit drink after seeing alcohol as 'everything'
Comedian Josh Widdicombe quit alcohol after having a "problem" with booze, because he saw it as "everything".
Josh Widdicombe quit alcohol after seeing booze as "everything".
The 42-year-old comedian believes certain events in the 1990s helped to make him think there is "fun" in alcohol, but he ditched drink two years ago because he had a "problem" with it.
Speaking on the Talk Nineties To Me podcast, Josh - who has daughter Pearl, eight, and son Cassius, four, with his wife TV produced Rose Hanson - said: "I don’t drink now. I had an alcohol problem.
"I often think that did come from the things I consumed media-wise in the Nineties.
"I put it on a pedestal. I saw alcohol as everything.
"That’s TFI Friday, that’s the Brit Awards, that’s advertising for alcopops.
“All these things were, ‘This is where the fun is. The fun is in alcohol’.
“Obviously, that’s not the reason I can’t drink any more.
"But I do think it probably led me into thinking that once I got to uni, this is what I do."
Despite giving up alcohol, Josh - who studied sociology and linguistics at the University of Manchester - admitted he had some of the "best times" of his life when he was under the influence, and it helped him have a "brilliant" time at university.
He added: "I didn’t drink all the time, but when I did, I couldn’t stop.
"I’m definitely not down on booze. I had some of the best times of my life when I was drinking and university was brilliant because of alcohol.
"I just relate to it all wrong. I’m a bit of an obsessive, excessive character, whether that’s work or buying books."
In 2024, Josh was awarded an honorary degree from the University of Exeter.
Speaking at the ceremony, he said: "This is a genuine, huge honour. When they got in touch with me about this I was thrilled.
"I would like to begin by thanking everyone at Exeter University for what we all know is an undeserved honour.
"I’m genuinely humbled, particularly because I didn’t even go to this university."
