For James Acaster, the transition from the internet’s favourite comedian to, well, the internet’s boyfriend has been a surprisingly easy one. All it took was a turn as the most unwilling Celebrity Traitor in the show’s history, and the endearingly awkward and thoughtful British comic has found himself a source of online obsession. Not that the infamously offline Acaster has probably even seen the fancams set to George Michael’s “Father Figure”, or the montages of him and fellow player Bella Ramsay, lovingly captioned: “Me and my male co-worker who’s double my age.” Asked about his newfound heartthrob status on Irish TV last week, the 41-year-old looked pretty bewildered by the whole thing. “I’ve never had anybody care about anything I’ve done, ever,” he claimed.
Such modesty isn’t surprising for a man who is happiest at home with his four cats and podcast producer girlfriend (Acaster has kept his relationship out of the spotlight but various outlets have identified former BBC staffer Hannah Rose as his partner). But it’s not quite true. Acaster’s impact is evident in “the huge number of comedians who can do an impression of him, deliberately or otherwise”, says stand-up comic Pierre Novelie, who adds that “his mannerisms are perfect comedy tools”. Novelie, who has risen up alongside Acaster and recently appeared as a guest on his hit podcast Off Menu, adds, “There’s also the five consecutive Perrier nominations at the Fringe, releasing multiple interlocking Netflix series simultaneously, huge tours and all while staying off social media, widely considered impossible if you didn’t get famous by 2012. He looms over millennial comedy like an indie colossus.”
