James Acaster

James William Acaster (; born 9 January 1985) is an English comedian. As well as the stand-up specials Repertoire and Cold Lasagne Hate Myself 1999, he is known for co-hosting the food podcast Off Menu and the panel show Hypothetical. Acaster makes use of fictional characters within his stand-up comedy, which is characterised by frequent callback jokes, offbeat observational comedy and overarching stories. He has won four Chortle Awards, a Just for Laughs Award and International Comedy Festival Awards at Melbourne and New Zealand. After playing the drums for local bands in Kettering, Acaster began pursuing stand-up comedy as a career in 2008. He was a support act for Josie Long in 2010. Acaster drew acclaim for his shows at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, where he was nominated for Best Comedy Show a record-breaking five times. In 2017, he toured three of his Fringe performances as The Trelogy while writing a fourth to accompany the set; this led to the four-part Netflix special Repertoire (2018). His following tour Cold Lasagne Hate Myself 1999 (2019) won a Melbourne International Comedy Festival Award. He has been touring Hecklers Welcome since 2022. Acaster appeared as a guest on British television panel show Taskmaster (2018) and co-hosted Hypothetical (2019–2022) with Josh Widdicombe. He also hosts the food podcast Off Menu (2018–) with the comedian Ed Gamble. Acaster's first book, Classic Scrapes (2017), was developed from a recurring segment on Widdicombe's XFM radio show in which he shared anecdotes of personal mishaps. His second book, Perfect Sound Whatever (2019), is about his mental health issues in 2017 that led to him collecting a large number of albums released in 2016. His third book, Guide to Quitting Social Media (2022), is a parody of the self-help genre. All three books have been Sunday Times bestsellers. The music collective Temps was formed by Acaster and released its debut album, Party Gator Purgatory, in May 2023. Early life James William Acaster was born in Kettering, England, on 9 January 1985. His father was a science teacher. His family attended a nondenominational Christian church whose Sunday sermons included humorous anecdotes, sketches recreating Bible stories, and rock music. At a young age, Acaster performed a sketch with his father and enjoyed the laughs it received. He attended Montagu Secondary School—since built over into Kettering Buccleuch Academy.