Do you know the real Harry Hill? We get to know Matthew Hall – the ‘normal bloke’ behind TV Burp’s ‘mad’ TV persona
The TV presenter chats being a dad, confusing his real life as Matthew Hall with his TV persona and ditching brain surgery for comedy
THIS burger is delicious, Harry – are you a big foodie?
Not particularly. Before I met my wife [artist Magda Archer] I didn’t even know what pasta was – I just knew of spaghetti and spag hoops.
Your TV persona is Harry Hill, but in real life you are Matthew Hall. Do you ever get the two mixed up?
Sometimes! At home my children will say to me: “You’re being Harry, you’re not on TV now Dad!” Or if it gets to 7.30pm – when I would normally be filming TV Burp – I’ll start turning into Harry naturally. I guess there’s a part of me that’s a bit of a show-off.
Is having two different versions of yourself difficult?
My act is so mad that if I behaved like that all day, every day, then I’d be locked up. I don’t make an effort to rise to the Harry Hill character when I’m in the street, but if a kid comes up to me I’ll do some gags. Most of the time I’m Matthew, but when I put on Harry’s glasses and suit
I start feeling more like the character.
Do your children Kitty, 18, Winifred, 17, and Frederica, 11, think you’re a cool dad because you’re on TV?
They get annoyed at my Instagram. They are always saying how other people have cool pictures on their social media with celebrities, but all I do is post pictures of embarrassing dad stuff.
You originally trained in neurosurgery in London – why did you make the switch to presenting?
I didn’t really enjoy the responsibility of being a doctor. If I have a bad day at work now, the show is a flop, but if I had a bad day back then, someone died. I started out as a junior doctor and worked long hours at the hospital, but I was really interested in comedy, too. If I was an estate agent I could have probably tried out stand-up in the evening after work, but I had no time to have hobbies. I had to stop being a doctor to give comedy a go, so I took a year out – and never went back.
That was a brave choice…
It was a big decision, but what was the worst that could have happened? If comedy failed I’d have gone back to being a doctor. I really enjoyed finding my feet in comedy. I went straight from my A levels to medical school, so throughout my teenage years and early 20s I was revising for exams. I never had a mad partying phase. But when I gave up medicine I was suddenly going to all these comedy clubs, having a drink and doing my act. It was such a laugh and I was finally with people who thought like me. I felt like I really fitted in.
How do you relax in your spare time?
I’ve got a family, so we manage to fit in quite a lot of arguing. I also like to paint or watch TV. I’ve recently taken up wood carving, although I don’t trust myself with a chainsaw just yet. At the moment I use an axe and chisels, but I still manage to hurt myself.
Do you get recognised in the street often?
When I was doing TV Burp every week, people would come up to me a lot. They were always lovely, but I didn’t really like the attention, so I made a conscious decision to do less TV. I prefer being more anonymous. When I’m not dressed as Harry, I’ll have a bit of a beard or stubble, so I can go on the Tube and no one will recognise me. I just look like a normal bloke!
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BTW
- Harry appeared on Stars In Their Eyes back in 1999 as Morrissey.
- He turned up to our shoot dressed as Harry, but asked to be called Matthew.
- One of his paintings of David Beckham covered in crazy golf tattoos had an asking price of £5,000.
Harry Hill is working with .