Darren Harriott shares the second he realised his dad was in jail
Watch: Darren Harriott on the second he found his father was in jail
He’s a fast-rising star of British comedy and a contestant on the brand new collection of ITV’s Dancing On Ice. But to realize success, Darren Harriott needed to overcome childhood trauma.
By the age of 11, the comic revealed to Kate Thornton on podcast White Wine Question Time, his father Patrick had disappeared from his life.
It was solely by likelihood that the younger boy found why.
“The home cellphone rang at my nan’s home [and] I answered,” Harriott, now 34, instructed Thornton.
“It is my dad – out of everyone in your entire world, who I needed to talk to, it is my dad! Oh howdy!”
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The decision got here “round Christmas time”.
“So clearly, [I’m] much more excited… I simply keep in mind being over the moon to listen to from him.” Through the name, he recalled his father telling him to “take care of your mum and ensure you work exhausting” earlier than promising to return to see him play soccer.
The decision then ended abruptly. Curious, Harriott dialled 1471 and heard the recorded message. “Unable to hint.”
“And I keep in mind going downstairs and asking my Nan… what does it imply?” he stated. “[She said], ‘Perhaps somebody’s calling from, I do not know, like a jail or someplace?’”
Harriott saved this discovery about his father to himself.
But there was harder information to return.
“Three months later, we discovered, you realize, he had killed himself.”
Patrick, a convicted drug vendor, had taken his personal life in jail.
Watch: Darren Harriot opens as much as Kate Thornton about his father
The expertise, Harriott revealed, triggered a collection of unhealthy selections in his childhood.
“I used to be so indignant.”
As an adolescent, he joined a gang at his faculty within the West Midlands.
“I used to hold a knife, I used to need to be a grime MC,” he stated. “I used to be actually what any person would name, like, a wannabe gangster on the road.”
The turning level got here on New Yr’s Eve 2004, when Harriott wakened in hospital, badly crushed. He’d been attacked by a fellow gang member.
A transfer to a brand new faculty supplied a contemporary begin – but in addition new challenges.
“I wasn’t busy anymore – my thoughts was form of empty,” Harriott stated. The house stuffed with ideas in regards to the demise of his father Patrick, who Harriott described as a “very proud Rastafarian” who had been struggling psychological well being points.
“I used to be actually depressed.”
Then got here a life-changing second.
“I noticed a flyer for a spread evening,” he instructed Thornton, which made Harriott resolve to “have a go at comedy”.
Earlier than the gig, Harriot stated he discovered himself sitting on a wall “taking a look at an image of my dad… I’m fairly positive there was a tear in my eye.”
His debut gig was successful. Nonetheless an adolescent, Harriott hit the UK comedy circuit. “I discovered this factor [that] retains me busy.”
It additionally proved to be an schooling.
“I am a 19-year-old child, and I am in automotive shares [to gigs] with comedians who’re of their mid-40s, who’re on the identical stage as me, however they have mortgages, they have wives, they have full-time jobs,” Harriot recalled. He described the “generosity” and “kindness” of his older colleagues, who included him in conversations on points on topics together with equality points. “It actually opened me as much as being very open-minded.”
Additional progress got here when, aged 23, the younger comic noticed the principle gang member who’d attacked him.
“I noticed him strolling with this little lady – he was holding her hand,” he instructed Thornton. “I went, ‘Oh, he’s a dad? That’s his daughter. Good for him.’” His anger in the direction of his attacker, he stated, “simply vanished”. “Simply seeing him as a person, I assume, grown up, being a dad or mum.”
Aged 26, Harriott moved to London and labored as a bouncer to help his comedy profession. In 2017, he received Finest Newcomer Award on the Edinburgh Fringe Pageant, and Finest Present Award in 2019. He would go on to seem in quite a few TV reveals, and host Black Label on Radio 4, a collection of programmes about his life and comedy.
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Harriot was frank in regards to the half his father has performed in all of this. “I don’t assume I would be doing comedy if my dad was nonetheless alive.”
Speaking about Patrick’s demise early on in his comedy routine, he stated, helped him “take care of it.”
“[Afterwards audience members] would discuss to me about their dad’s demise, and we might simply have this second – having a very deep, good dialog about our dads.”
Now he is having fun with a totally completely different scene, entertaining viewers as a contestant on ITV’s Dancing on Ice, which he is been “coaching exhausting” for with “stretches each morning” and “exercises on the gymnasium”, leading to him shedding 23 kilos since he began making ready for the present final summer season.
He is a bit cautious of among the outlandish costumes that could be anticipated of him although.
“I do not thoughts all of the tight-fitting stuff and see-through [costumes]… I am fully pleased with that” however the doable Disney themes are making him a bit nervous.
As an example, if it is a case of, “‘Oh do you thoughts being a donkey from Shrek?’ Sure I do, really! I do not need to be the donkey from Shrek, guys.”
His dimension 14 toes additionally posed a slight downside for the costume division. “They needed to custom-make my determine skates and it took six weeks.” He jokes that they’re “Shrek-sized”, including the skating producers instructed him they have been the “largest skates they’d ever made.”
For confidential emotional help contact The Samaritans at any time by calling 116 123 or emailing [email protected]