Jack Whitehall has recalled his “hardest gig” ever, in which he accidentally insulted Lady Gaga.

The actor and comedian was speaking on Chris Moyles’ show on Radio X, and remembered his gig hosting the British Fashion Awards.

The hardest one [awards hosting gig] I ever did was the British Fashion Awards which I hosted for five years in a row and I reckon I got one or two laughs in the entire five year period,” Whitehall revealed to Moyles.

“The front row was Anna Wintour and one year Karl Lagerfeld. That was like your options for crowd work – those two – to get a little bit of banter with, and it was just like… I mean, I have PTSD about it. It was the hardest gig you have ever seen.”

“I also remember there was one time where I was on stage and I just tanked all night, I got no laughs from the audience,” he added. “And I’d obviously completely run out of material and they were in my ear saying that there was a delay and that the next presenter wasn’t ready to come on. And so I was trying to fill.

“Lady Gaga… was waiting to come on – they said “she’s had a wardrobe malfunction so you just have to fill for longer’,” Whitehall added. “And I read out all of the nominees really, really slowly and then I was like ‘oh!’ and something came to me – I was like ‘I’m going to do a bit – wardrobe malfunction, Lady Gaga…’.

“And I was putting together the mechanics of what the joke might be so I was like ‘Our next guest presenter is Lady Gaga, she’s had a wardrobe malfunction”’– I was thinking I was going to make a joke about a meat dress.

“And then they went ‘she’s ready, bring her on’ and I went ‘it’s Lady Gaga!’ And I panicked so my introduction was just me telling everyone that her dress had broken. She walked past, she wouldn’t even look at me and I heard her calling me a very obscene word to the stage manager, and I left in shame.”

Last month, Lady Gaga performed the US National Anthem as part of new president Joe Biden’s inauguration ceremony, an opportunity she called “the honour of my lifetime”.

“I wish to send an extended prayer out to all the people that live on this land, that you will feel whole, that you will feel loved, that we all work in the interest of building the beloved community together,” she reflected.