Joe Lycett worried he was ‘going to be sick on Lorraine’ during on-air panic attack

Comic joked it would have provided ‘10 minutes of standup writing itself’

Joe Lycett has admitted that he was worried he was going to be sick on Lorraine Kelly’s talk show after having a panic attack on-air.

The comedian started struggling with anxiety while caring for a friend with terminal bowel cancer.

In a new interview with The Observer, Lycett said that he hadn’t been able to eat or drink during the last year of his friend’s life, which led him to have panic attacks where he was convinced he was going to be sick.

“I started to sort of close myself off from the world, which was obviously the wrong thing to do. Because what I’ve since discovered through therapy is to overcome those things, you have to do tons of it, and see that you’re OK,” he said.

“I had ‘an outbreak’ just before going on live TV. I thought I was going to be sick on Lorraine. Which actually would have been amazing. 10 minutes of standup writing itself.”

In January, Lycett addressed his friend’s death after going viral with a parody of Sue Gray’s report on Downing Street parties during lockdown.

The Birmingham based comedian Lycett sharply criticised the government and their handling of the pandemic, writing: “To hell with my dead friend, they think, and all your dead friends and dead relatives.

“You followed the rules and we didn’t but we’re in power and that’s all that matters so spin on it.”