Alan Carr on The Graham Norton Show

BBC Two, November 2008

More Alan Carr videos

Alan Carr, the son of football manager Graham was born in Weymouth and grew up in Northampton and Blackpool.

He studied drama and theatre studies at Middlesex University, after which he took on a series of dead-end jobs, from toilet cleaner to call-centre worker, before turning his hand to stand-up.

In 2001, he won the BBC New Comedy Award and the following year made his solo Edinburgh debut, returning in 2003 and 2005, where he came to the attention of Channel 4 executives looking for new presenters for The Friday Night project.

He has co-hosted the show (which later moved to Sundays) with Justin Lee Collins since 2006, and in 2008 landed his own Channel 4 game show, Alan Carr’s Celebrity Ding Dong.

He has also appeared on BBC One's Live At The Apollo, and was in the line up for the 2005 Royal Variety Performance. Guest appearances include FAQ U, 8 Out of 10 Cats, Countdown's dictionary corner and Never Mind The Buzzcocks

In 2007, he embarked on a major UK tour, Tooth Fairy Live, the DVD of which was a Christmas bestseller; and in 2008 his autobiography Look Who It Is! was published by HarperCollins.

Described as 'the spiritual son of Frankie Howerd, Carr was named best live stand-up at the 2007 British Comedy Awards and best comedy entertainment performer the following year. He was named circuit comic of the year in the 2005 North West Comedy Awards and nominated for best theatre tour in the 2008 Chortle awards.

Alan Carr: Spexy Beast
Live Review
Brighton Centre

He may have a reputed £2million-a-year deal with Channel 4, a weekly Radio 2 show, and be playing to 2,000 people a night at £30 a head, but Alan Carr is just like you.

That this camp ‘chatty man’ shrieking in outrage at every minor irritation, has the common touch is undeniable, but his first stand-up tour in four years, though entertaining, frequently felt too much like a gossip than a show.

Stories about walking to the bus stop in the rough area of North London where he lives might be over-gilding the Everyman persona; but at heart he inherently has the same lower-middle class concerns he had when he worked in a Barclaycard call centre. It reflects the life his audience has: shitty beach holidays, dreary office rituals, undemanding TV programmes….

That connection, in concert with his supremely warm and likable presence,  gives him the latitude not to have go into things in much depth. As he joins the legion of comedians moaning about automatic supermarket check-outs, he only has to say yelp indignantly: ‘Unexpected item in the bagging area’ to get a laugh.

It makes for an often underwritten show, ticking off such obvious ideas such as Baby On Board stickers, budget airlines or vajazzling and never developing them to any great extent. From the get-go Carr accepts there will be lulls, likening his performance to Cher Lloyd on X Factor – identifying with his demographic again – with enjoyable melodies ruined by ear-grating raps.

He’s stronger, though, when talking about himself, which was more of a theme in the superior Tooth Fairy tour than here. It used to be that comedians always said they started making people laugh to avoid the school bully, and Carr, still with bad teeth and thick-rimmed specs, definitely carries that vulnerable demeanour to this day.

He’s as much as the awkward, helpless loser now as he was when being teased for wearing a snood in PE – only now he has an audience wanting to hear him bitch about the indignity of it all: whether it’s being helpless in the face of a swimming pool’s wave machine or being mistaken for an old woman when he called the breakdown service.

To reinforce how disappointing his life is today, he introduces the character of Monica, his flatmate with a hairy face, personality defects and metal plate in her head. She must be related to Larry Grayson’s Slack Alice, as surely as Carr is comedically related to the effeminate Seventies Generation Game host himself – no matter what his forthcoming Who Do You Think You Are? uncovers.

But he perhaps fits closer with Les Dawson and Roy Barraclough’s Sissy and Ada, prattling over the garden fence. Much has been written about why non-threatening camp is such a deeply engrained tradition of British comedy, and Carr plugs into it effortlessly. His peculiar voice puts him firmly as an outsider, while his fey physicality, cantering back and forth across the big Brighton Arena stage, adds to his appeal. He’s got more mince than Fray Bentos, while his exaggerated, mimed reenactments are always high spots.

There are some wonderfully descriptive lines in his mild humiliations, too, with big laughs for payoffs about demanding stag weekends, Monica’s facial hair or massive prams among many other examples. Sometimes it’s simply the easily identifiable precision of the reference that gets the laugh, using ‘Nissan Sunny’, say, rather than any other marque.

These provide plenty of chuckles, and no one could come away thinking anything other than that Carr is a lovely, genuine man – but as a comedy tour, his Spexy Beast still needs to show more bite.

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Morrissey said he was a fan of Alan Carr on Russell Brand's show on Saturday night. Thats quite wrong.

Ed S, April 2008

Thank god, a comedian who shows up this website and its reviews for the pointless waste of time they truly are. Well done Alan, you have a superb natural talent and I'm sure you are laughing as much as your audiences do!

Sarah Ahman, December 2007

Alan is absolutely suberb, I just love him, he is hilarious - I have seen him a few times and never been disappointed

Jodie, December 2007

He's fantastic. Love him love him - keep up the good work

hope, November 2007

Saw Alan in Port Talbot this evening and he was awesome.

kaye, September 2007

He's OK. I didn't find him especially funny; though I think many people find his act of ultra camp delivery, hammy bitchiness along with the facial mannerisms and escalating hysteria over the trival, funny in itself. But really its a prop for average material.

Jack, July 2007

Alan Carr is fantastic - he doesn't have to say anything at all; just his face is enough. But I don't mean that in a horrid way. He gives value for money and for a comic this is a good appraisal. He deserves his success.

Joe, June 2007

Saw him in Cardiff last night and was great. Naturally just a funny guy. Don't know what the comment underneath is on about

Paul, May 2007

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