Joe Lycett breaks silence on baby son and addresses criticism over first photo

Joe Lycett has spoken out for the first time about life with his new baby son - and revealed the criticism he had received about how he was holding his son in his first photo. The Birmingham comedian, who lives in King's Heath, announced the arrival of his son last month.

It came so out of the blue that many assumed it was another prank from the cheeky comic. But Joe explained how much he was enjoying being a father as he appeared on the Parenting Hell podcast with Josh Widdicombe and Rob Beckett. Giving an update on his son, he told the comedians: "He's very well. He's just over six weeks."

Talking about what life with a newborn was like Joe added: "It's somewhere between lockdown and a long haul flight is what I think it is as an experience. And they're two things that I enjoy actually. I didn't love lockdown for the obvious bad things, but I enjoyed the simplicty of it and I enjoy a long haul flight so it's kind of fine."

Read moreJoe Lycett breaks silence on life with baby son and 'thing that really surprised me'

Joe, 36, is currently on paternity leave to enjoy time with his son. Addressing the fact a lot of people thought his announcement that his son had been born was a 'prank', Joe revealed he had been criticised over how he had been holding his son in the announcement post.

Joe commented: "I was trying to work out what would the prank be? Because there's always an end game. What would the point of it be? You could turn it into all sorts of things but I do think it's bold to pretend you've had a baby isn't it. Lots off people thought he was a potato because apparently I wasn't holding his neck properly."

Joe announced the arrival of his son with his typical humour. He wrote: "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. 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.

"I am LOVING being a dad but sadly I think this now means I can’t get out of going on Rob and Josh’s fucking podcast. We will not be taking any press requests about this as we have already sold the rights to the first family picture to Autotrader."

Joe has spoken openly about being pansexual, saying: "I think the most accurate way of describing myself is pansexual, in that I'm not attracted to people, just because of their gender.” He revealed he had a girlfriend on his Channel 4 show Late Night Lycett in April.

He said at the time: "I've talked about being bisexual for years but people presume I'm homosexual based on my entire personality...yes I've got a girlfriend and people have been very nice about it." He later revealed he lives with his partner, who he calls Denise to keep her identity private as 'she has a job that she can’t be in the public eye'.