Jack Carroll stunned by success

Teenage comedian Jack Carroll is through to the semi-finals of Britain’s Got Talent.

Judges unanimously put the 14-year-old through to the live events, which start on ITV tonight.

Carroll said: ‘I can’t believe that out of all this people, I’ve come this far.’

Meanwhile, it has been reported that the show’s mastermind, Simon Cowell, had asked the comic to censor a joke which compared him with North Korea dictator Kim Jong-Un.

An unnamed show insider told the Daily Mail: ‘It’s not that Simon is precious, but rather the need to keep politics out of a family entertainment show. Jack was told he was more than welcome to compare Simon with Darth Vader.’

After Carroll’s first performance on the show, judge David Walliams called him a ‘comedy genius’ adding: ‘I wasn’t as funny as you at 14; I’m not even as funny now as you are at 14 years old.’

Carroll, who has cerebral palsy, got a laugh from when he arrived on stage with his walking frame and told Cowell he was a gymnast.

Carroll’s parents said ‘the world’s your oyster’ for anyone who got a place in the semis. Indeed, last week, the teenager performed in Los Angeles alongside the likes of Sarah Silverman, Seth Rogen and Vince Vaughn at the Big Live Comedy Show for YouTube’s Comedy Week. He said: ‘I don’t know how I got here and I’m sure I’ve bypassed a few rules, but I’m glad I have’

Impressionists Francine Lewis and Philip Green, and ventriloquist Steve Hewlett are also through to the semi-finals – which air every night this week at 7.30pm, except Wednesday.

Published: 27 May 2013