Jon Richardson reveals he is ‘quitting comedy’ for another job a year after Lucy Beaumont divorce

Jon Richardson has announced that he is 'quitting comedy' after more than 20 years in the business, a year on from his divorce to Lucy Beaumont.

Richardson and Beaumont announced an end to their nine years of marriage in April last year and the Lancaster-born comic started his extended break not long after.

The duo, who also featured on Celebrity Gogglebox, even starred in their own mockumentary Meet The Richardsons, where Richardson would make a funny quip which would later turn out to be true.

But while it is often said that comedy is tragedy plus time, it seems as if neither party is in the laughing mood, with Beaumont in particular feeling 'guilty' about one aspect of their split.

Jon Richardson and Lucy Beaumont divorced last year (Stuart Wilson/BAFTA/Getty Images for BAFTA)

While fans of the funny man will have been hoping to see him back on the stage soon, it seems as if he has enjoyed the time away from comedy so much he is making it permanent, and is instead pursuing a dream he has had since 1997.

Posting on social media, Richardson said: "I just thought I'd give you a little update.

"I don't really do social media updates and I'll tell you why, because I don't think anyone cares.

"But I have a little bit of news. I've obviously been taking a little bit of a break from stand-up and it's really made me want to carry on taking a break from stand-up.

"I've been thinking a lot about a diary entry that I found from 1997."

Unfortunately, the Instagram post was done on March 31, so it seems as if this isn't the comedian's attempt at an April Fools joke, as he shared the handwritten entry from nearly 30 years ago.

It read: "Although I would love to be a stand-up comedian, I'll probably end up being a teacher."

The radio presenter continued: "I've been thinking a lot about that and I loved being a comedian, it was absolutely the right choice, I have decided it would have been nice to try the other option."

(Joe Maher/Getty Images)

He added that he'd been undertaking training and had taken a teaching position.

He concluded: "That's all from me for now. I'll keep you posted."

The 42-year-old made his breakthrough when appearing on music show Never Mind the Buzzcocks in 2009 and went on to become a popular panellist on a number of other comedy quiz shows.

Fellow comedian Josh Widdicombe, commented: "Comedy's loss is teaching's loss."