‘Still one of the best commentators I’ve ever heard’

Five years on from his tragic death, former Capital FM presenter Roman Kemp took to social media to pay tribute to his friend, the late Joe Lyons.

Roman honoured his friend on Instagram (Credit: Instagram)

‘Can’t believe it’s been 5 years’

On his Instagram story, Roman shared a clip of Joe animatedly watching and commenting on a Tottenham football match in the Capital studio where their friendship began.

“Can’t believe it’s been 5 years since you’ve been gone bud, still one of the best commentators I’ve ever heard,” Roman wrote in the caption of this video. “Even if we were meant to be running a national radio show,” he added with the crying with laughter emoji.

He tagged Joe’s Buddy Line in the post, which is an initiative to get people talking about mental health in collaboration with suicide prevention charity Shout.

Roman has become a mental health advocate. Image: Splash News

What happened to Roman Kemp’s best friend?

Joe took his own life back in 2020. Roman revealed he learned the news while working at Capital FM.

Reflecting on their friendship on the Auto Trader’s Show On The Road podcast, Roman said: “We were together nonstop. I had girlfriends that would say Joe was more like the partner in the relationship.”

“And here’s someone that you’ve spent all that time with, seemingly living a different life, to the one that you were told, right in front of you.”

Joel continued by saying alarm bells started ringing when Joe didn’t show up for work.

“And when I found out he had died, I remember calling my mum and I remember hearing my mum just scream, and say what happened and I just said, ‘I don’t know some accident’ because weirdly me, my mum and him and my dad had all been [out] for dinner two nights before.”

He “found out it was suicide” at 11 am that day.

Since Joe’s passing, Roman has become a fierce advocate for male mental health, even fronting the documentary Roman Kemp: Our Silent Emergency.

Roman left his job at Capital four years later. (Credit: Splash News)
Joe ended up leaving his position at Capital four years later.

“For me, I’m quite ready to go ‘Ok, close that door now, don’t go back living that horrible day over again,’” he told the Daily Mirror.

“That’s sad that obviously affects me but it does. Every day I walk in there and see Joe, that’s a weird thing to do. I think it’s going to be really good for me to move on with my life.’