Joe Lycett was "frightened" to come out.

Joe Lycett was frightened to come out

Joe Lycett was frightened to come out

The 33-year-old comedian - who identifies as pansexual - admitted that while he was growing up, fellow gay people in his hometown were "thin on the ground" and without anyone in his family to turn to for support, he found himself "frightened" to open up about his sexuality.

He said: "There was a guy who directed some musical theatre things I did as a kid. I referred to him as my gay dad and he was the one who taught me lots. They were thin on the ground: I didn't have gay people around me that I can remember. There wasn't anyone in my family that was out, I wasn't out and I was frightened of being out, so I wasn't looking for it, either. It all happened later."

However, the funnyman added that he "couldn't get enough" of raconteur Quentin Crisp while growing up and he "connected" with US TV show 'Will and Grace'.

He said: "[Growing up] will have been comics like Alan Carr and Graham Norton, and I watched lots of Julian Clary on 'Live At The Apollo'. I often get compared to him, which I'm very flattered by. But the one that I loved and obsessed over was Quentin Crisp. I couldn't get enough. I suppose the show that started my journey was 'Will and Grace'. I connected with the characters and their experience - that feeling of being slightly out of the norm and subculture."

Nowadays, the 'QI' star is perplexed by the fact that the upcoming football World Cup will be held in Qatar, despite the country's views on LGBT rights.

He told the Metro newspaper's Sixty Seconds column: "The thing that's irking me at the minute is the Qatar World Cup, that we're allowing it to happen given the human rights abuses and the abuses of LGBT people in that country. It's the second-worst place in the world to be gay after Nigeria. The 2026 one was going to be in Russia!"

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