Miles Jupp
Middle-class exasperation delivered with the vocabulary of a Victorian headmaster.
4 specials · 2015–2026
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Miles Jupp performs with the posture of a man who has just been asked an impertinent question at a tedious dinner party. He often takes the stage in a tailored jacket, gripping the microphone stand and letting out a slightly winded sigh before launching into a grievance. His rhythm relies on the tension between his impeccably polite, upper-middle-class delivery and his pure annoyance at the modern world. He will construct a gorgeous, winding, grammatically flawless paragraph just to express his bafflement over how another adult behaves on a train.
Specials
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YouTube
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Comedy Dynamics · 74 min
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Is The Chap You're Thinking Of
Comedy Dynamics · 1 h 42 min
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Miles Jupp Is the Chap You're Thinking Of
A posh comic rants about dishwasher stacking and government policy.
Go Faster Stripe · 1 h 42 min
On stage
Within British comedy, he sits exactly between television acting and Radio 4 broadcasting. He does not try to tear down the establishment; he embodies the establishment, gently shaking his head at it. People watch him to see an educated, thoroughly sensible person be completely defeated by ordinary life.
He gets laughs simply by selecting an unexpectedly devastating adjective instead of raising his voice. The material works best when the stakes are either incredibly low or wildly high. In his tour On I Bang, he applies his flustered, fussing persona to the experience of discovering and surviving a brain tumor. Treating his own mortality with the exact same mild, polite bewilderment he uses to talk about customer service makes the hospital stories feel absurd rather than heavy.
Though he spent his early career acting in the brightly colored children’s show Balamory, his standup operates in a completely different register. He builds an entire hour out of stammering exasperation, one heavily punctuated sigh at a time.
Turning points
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Bluffing Onto England Cricket Tour
Jupp bluffed his way onto an England cricket tour to India pretending to be a cricket correspondent for BBC Scotland and the Western Mail, an escapade that formed the basis of his acclaimed live show and book Fibber in the Heat.
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2015–2019
Hosting BBC Radio 4's The News Quiz
Jupp succeeded Sandi Toksvig as presenter of BBC Radio 4's flagship satirical comedy panel show The News Quiz, chairing 12 series over four years.
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Brain Tumour Surgery and On I Bang
After suffering a sudden seizure in 2021, Jupp underwent surgery to remove a brain tumour, an experience he later developed into his solo stand-up show On I Bang.
At a glance
Podcasts
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The Moment · host
A topical podcast fronted by Miles Jupp.
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Middle Please, Umpire · co-host
A cricket podcast co-hosted alongside England fast bowler Mark Wood.
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Live at the Gilded Balloon · host
Podcast covering the Edinburgh Fringe Festival for The Guardian.
Also on screen
- 2002–2005
- Balamory
- 2009–2012
- The Thick of It
- 2009–2012
- Gary: Tank Commander
- 2010–2014
- Rev.
- Made in Dagenham
A clip to start with
A clip of Miles Jupp