Britain's oldest stand-up?

Jack, 90, plays the Hammersmith Apollo

Chelsea Pensioner Jack Woodward has become possibly Britain’s oldest stand-up comedian – after performing at the Hammersmith Apollo at the age of 90.

The Army veteran opened for Ed Byrne at the 3,000-capacity venue last night, after deciding to break the routine of the past 13 years he has spent as a patient at the famous London hospital.

It wasn’t his first time on stage, as he entertained the troops on ships in the Second World War, was a warm-up man for the BBC in the Sixties and cut his teeth on the working men’s club circuit. But until last night he hadn’t performed for 42 years.

The performance was recorded for a Channel 4 documentary, set to go out early next year.

Byrne said: ‘Unfortunately I was standing in the wings where the sound quality is really bad so I couldn't actually hear his set, but I could hear the audience showing their appreciation all right – and he seemed to be going down a storm.

‘I'm just glad he didn't do an hour!’

Woodward may be the oldest comic in the UK, but there is a precedent. Earlier this year, a 90-year-old Holocaust survivor called Gert Schuster made her comedy club debut in Arizona, while George Burns was working until shortly before his death in 1996 at the age of 100.

Published: 5 Dec 2011

Live comedy picks

We see you are using AdBlocker software. Chortle relies on advertisers to fund this website so it’s free for you, so we would ask that you disable it for this site. Our ads are non-intrusive and relevant. Help keep Chortle viable.