Inside Michael McIntyre's life with rarely-seen wife and the two kids who inspired his comedy

Michael McIntyre has two sons with his wife Kitty - the boys are often the inspiration behind the comedian's stand-up routines, and he has also opened up about his marriage

Michael McIntyre, the much-loved TV comedian, is known for his larger-than-life personality on screen, but when it comes to family, he prefers to keep things private. As host of 'The Wheel', he may be a household name, but Michael keeps his two teenage sons, whom he shares with wife Kitty, away from the limelight.

However, his children have inadvertently inspired some of their dad's most hilarious stand-up moments. Spotted only occasionally alongside their dad at Spurs football games or cricket matches, Lucas and Oscar maintain a low-key existence, not shadowed by the dazzle of their dad's fame.

In a particularly unforgettable comedy bit, 48 year old Michael divulged the hilarious names he contemplated giving his boys. Here's the inside scoop on his family ties and paternal punchlines.

Dad of two

Michael, together with his spouse Kitty Ward, takes pride in fathering his two sons, now both navigating their teen years. The tots may have matured, but they were once the fodder for Michael's relatable parenthood humour during their younger years.

Narrating one of his comedic routines, Michael tossed about the idea of what he might have named his sons under different circumstances, reports the Mirror.

Michael spoke candidly about the trials of parenting during his latest show, reflecting on his choice of names for his two children: "I've got two children, Lucas and Oscar - Lucas with a C. And you know what, I gave them their names because I like them, they're lovely names."

He recounted the less romantic side of fatherhood with humour, "But I didn't realise what it was going to be like, they're seven and four now and they don't do a thing that I tell them to. I shout the names that I gave them now, all day I shout the names that I lovingly selected for them."

Michael then added a witty spin, saying, "If I had've known what it was going to be like, I would have named them Hey and Oi, it would have been so much easier."

Michael reminisced about the simplicity of his son’s vocabulary during his earlier days of fatherhood: "My son's got two words: car and map, that's all he can say. 'Car, car, map, car! ' I'm fairly worried he's trying to escape. So if the next word is passport, we're in serious trouble."

As children often do, his grew, and Michael shared his feelings of being all at sea as they became teenagers, joking with the Mail on Sunday in 2020: "I have only done this Netflix show to appear cool to them, but they watch other things. I am not a comedy star in their eyes. My teenage son thinks I am a very annoying person."

Famous wife

Michael opened up about the rocky start he had with his marriage, as detailed in his 2010 autobiography 'Life and Laughing': "She was the girl I had been looking for. In the romantic comedy that was my life, this would have made a good ending."

He yearned for a fairytale finish: "We would fall happily ever after. Within moments of seeing her and chatting to her I was totally up for that ending. Unfortunately, she wasn't."

On Desert Island Discs, he delved deeper into family dynamics, revealing: "Unfortunately my grandma didn't really like it when I got a girlfriend. She was trying to break us up which was funny for a while but then it became quite vicious, an untenable situation."

Kitty, Michael's wife, is no stranger to public attention, having a thespian lineage with her father Simon Ward and sister Sophie Ward. After Simon's death in 2012, Michael reminisced warmly about his father-in-law: "He was one of my closest friends. He would come to my gigs in the early days."

Lavish home

As for their luxurious lifestyle, Michael has enjoyed considerable success as a comedian and TV star, allowing his family to live comfortably in opulent homes in Hampstead and Wiltshire. Going all out on his investments, in 2020 Michael forked out a handsome £10million for a swanky London property boasting eight bedrooms, not to mention its own underground swimming pool, cinema, spa, and gym.