HAPPY CHAPPY 'BECOMING A DAD SHIFTS YOUR PRIORITIES'

LOVE ISLAND'S IAIN STIRLING OPENS UP ABOUT HIS LIFE AS A DAD, WHAT'S IN STORE FOR THIS YEAR'S ISLANDERS AND HOW HE ALWAYS MAKES SURE HE STAYS GROUNDED

- EMMA PRYER

With all his successes, you’d forgive Iain Stirling for being just a little smug. At 34, the Scotsman is without doubt one of the most celebrated comedians of his generation and has built up an almost cult status doing the voice-over for Love Island.

But before the new series kicks off next month, he has been busy with other commitments – not least his biggest stand-up tour to date, which ended in Dublin in April. He’s also about to start his sixth series hosting madcap entertainment show CelebAbility.

As if that weren’t enough, he’s co-written his own sitcom, Buffering, and penned a book called Not Ready To Adult Yet, which was accompanied by a podcast of the same name.

And just when you thought he could barely squeeze anything else in, he’s now going global. This week, he releases his first Amazon Original stand-up special, Failing Upwards, to over 200 countries and territories.

Yet for all he has going on, Iain is unflappably cool when we catch up with him. And that, in part, is to do with becoming a dad to a gorgeous baby daughter last year, he tells us.

Iain and his Irish presenter wife Laura Whitmore – who fronts Love Island – welcomed their first child in March 2021.

“It just shifts your priorities,” he says, when we touch on how life has changed since. “It’s a really good way of helping you realise what’s important.

“I worry less about stuff. Like, if I was doing a gig, I would worry about the lighting, or maybe being late, and you just leave behind all those little niggles now.”