Comedian, author, presenter and actor Josh Widdicombe shared inspiring advice for new graduates and memories from his youth in Devon as he was awarded an honorary degree by the University of Exeter earlier this week.

Josh, known for his popular podcasts and stand-up and television work, grew up on Dartmoor and attended South Dartmoor Community College and Exeter College. 

University of Exeter historian Professor Helen Berry helped Josh trace his royal links when he took part in the BBC programme Who Do You Think You Are?.

He delighted those at the ceremony on Monday by reminiscing about his time in the South West and the jobs he took before finding fame, including at a petrol station in Totnes and working on Dora the Explorer magazine.

He told the new graduates: “I can speak from experience that this is a great city to be a student. You’ve been spoiled. For the rest of your life will never live in a city with a better Wetherspoons than the Imperial. Enjoy it while you can.”

Josh, who has starred in thirty series of the multi award-winning Channel 4 series The Last Leg and is team captain on Rob Beckett’s Smart TV and Hold the Front Page, joked about how many in the audience for the morning ceremony might be feeling delicate following England’s defeat in Euro 24. He also joked his alma mater, the University of Manchester, hadn’t yet awarded him an honorary degree. 

The comedian said he was “thrilled” to be honoured at a ceremony for those who had graduated in humanities subjects.

“There is no better way to have spent three years of your life than studying the degrees you have. You are doing something which is so important – that is expressing yourself creatively and connecting with other people via writing and reading.”

Josh had some advice for the new graduates, including that they should not panic about their next steps.

“Your 20s are meant for finding out about life, they are meant for experimenting. Genuinely it’s not a race, if you don’t know you will find out. Life isn’t a straight path, none of it is a waste.”

He also told the new graduates not to take themselves too seriously and to be “proud” of the parts of their personality which made them different.

“We are all idiots muddling through. That is what nobody tells you. Nobody believes really that they know what they are doing. Life is absurd, embrace it. Laugh at yourself. Fun and play produces the best work. It gives you confidence to try things you wouldn’t and to go to places you would be otherwise too scared to go to. All the best art, music and writing comes from places of excitement and childish play. Do not lose that.” 

Josh is known for his multiple appearances on shows such as Hypothetical, QI, Live at the Apollo, A League of Their Own, Have I Got News for You and Taskmaster, as well as performing onstage at the Royal Albert Hall for The Royal Variety Performance.

He co-hosts two popular podcasts, Parenting Hell with Rob Beckett and Quickly Kevin will he score? The 90s Football Show. Both podcasts have been performed as multiple live shows. In addition, Josh has authored two Sunday Times Bestsellers – his first a childhood memoir about growing up watching too much TV in the 1990s, Watching Neighbours Twice a Day…How 90’s TV (Almost) Prepared Me For Life and the second based on his podcast, Parenting Hell – How to Cope (or Not) With Being a Parent.  

His most recent stand-up tour Bit Much… culminated in a night at the iconic London Palladium and aired on Channel 4 in summer 2022. 

This year Josh will feature in “Big Lizard”, a new animated comedy adventure coming to CBeebies.