The comedian's onstage chatshow Canned Clary revisits the intimate atmosphere of his early performances
Polysexual polymath Julian Clary began performing on the alternative comedy circuit in the 1980s before starring in TV comedy and game shows. More recently, he has become a bestselling author and won Celebrity Big Brother in 2012. He's currently hosting Canned Clary, a live chatshow with music and guests at the St James theatre in London. After that, he tours Australia and New Zealand before starting work on a non-comedy series for ITV.
*How did the format for Canned Clary come about?*
It just kind of happened. I went along to see the venue and I thought, I want to do something here. What do I want to do? I could have used it as a warm-up gig for bigger theatre but I thought, why not just be there with a pianist and chat to my friends? It feels like the old days, when I was playing rooms above pubs – it's really enjoyable and there's something very special about it.
*How does that smaller scale affect the relationship with the audience?*
You can't have that intimate feel when there's an orchestra pit between you and the front row – it's got to be bigger and bolder and more structured. I wanted to take being commercial out of the equation, not to worry about selling hundreds of tickets but just something for its own sake that's fun.
*When you began your career, the alternative comedy circuit used to have more variety and speciality acts as well as standup – the kinds of things we might now class as cabaret.*
There was more variety. It was where eccentric, creative people ended up who didn't fit in anywhere else – people like Paul Merton and Jo Brand. There was a man who used to bring on a Hoover … weird and wonderful stuff. I'm pleased there's a resurgence of that going on, because comedy is suddenly flooded with lots of blokes talking about their girlfriends and being very laddy. It can feel like other people are being squeezed out. The comedy scene has been absorbed into the mainstream. It's what inevitably happens – things go in cycles and we'll see what happens next.
*Speaking of which, your own early work as The Joan Collins Fan Club seemed radically outlandish in the late 1980s with all that make-up and camp couture. But is it true that you were actually influenced by your older sister's work as a member of the old-school dance troupe **the Tiller Girls**?*
Yes, it is. It's all about the cultural influences you absorb growing up, I suppose. As a boy, I'd been to see my sister perform as a Tiller Girl and had been in the dressing room with the girls with the feathers and the false eyelashes, and I was immersed in the glamour of that. I thought, I want to do that. I couldn't be a Tiller Girl, but I could look like one. And when I started in alternative comedy, no one else was doing anything like that – part of the ethos was to move away from the showbiz look. Everyone was dressing down, wanting the honesty of the presentation to reflect the material. I thought there was a gap in the market for male glamour.
*Your last novel, **Briefs Encountered**, included a character named Julian Clary who was described as "an annoying camp comic and renowned homosexual". Is that how you think most people see you?*
Having been around for so long, there can't help but be a version of yourself out there, so I thought it was interesting to put myself in [the novel] as someone that makes people run for cover when they see him. I could have become like that and it amuses me that people might think that, but I know what I'm really like. The thing is not to take any of it seriously. I'm a jobbing comedian, really.
• Canned Clary is at the St James theatre every Thursday and Friday in March Reported by guardian.co.uk 11 hours ago.
Polysexual polymath Julian Clary began performing on the alternative comedy circuit in the 1980s before starring in TV comedy and game shows. More recently, he has become a bestselling author and won Celebrity Big Brother in 2012. He's currently hosting Canned Clary, a live chatshow with music and guests at the St James theatre in London. After that, he tours Australia and New Zealand before starting work on a non-comedy series for ITV.
*How did the format for Canned Clary come about?*
It just kind of happened. I went along to see the venue and I thought, I want to do something here. What do I want to do? I could have used it as a warm-up gig for bigger theatre but I thought, why not just be there with a pianist and chat to my friends? It feels like the old days, when I was playing rooms above pubs – it's really enjoyable and there's something very special about it.
*How does that smaller scale affect the relationship with the audience?*
You can't have that intimate feel when there's an orchestra pit between you and the front row – it's got to be bigger and bolder and more structured. I wanted to take being commercial out of the equation, not to worry about selling hundreds of tickets but just something for its own sake that's fun.
*When you began your career, the alternative comedy circuit used to have more variety and speciality acts as well as standup – the kinds of things we might now class as cabaret.*
There was more variety. It was where eccentric, creative people ended up who didn't fit in anywhere else – people like Paul Merton and Jo Brand. There was a man who used to bring on a Hoover … weird and wonderful stuff. I'm pleased there's a resurgence of that going on, because comedy is suddenly flooded with lots of blokes talking about their girlfriends and being very laddy. It can feel like other people are being squeezed out. The comedy scene has been absorbed into the mainstream. It's what inevitably happens – things go in cycles and we'll see what happens next.
*Speaking of which, your own early work as The Joan Collins Fan Club seemed radically outlandish in the late 1980s with all that make-up and camp couture. But is it true that you were actually influenced by your older sister's work as a member of the old-school dance troupe **the Tiller Girls**?*
Yes, it is. It's all about the cultural influences you absorb growing up, I suppose. As a boy, I'd been to see my sister perform as a Tiller Girl and had been in the dressing room with the girls with the feathers and the false eyelashes, and I was immersed in the glamour of that. I thought, I want to do that. I couldn't be a Tiller Girl, but I could look like one. And when I started in alternative comedy, no one else was doing anything like that – part of the ethos was to move away from the showbiz look. Everyone was dressing down, wanting the honesty of the presentation to reflect the material. I thought there was a gap in the market for male glamour.
*Your last novel, **Briefs Encountered**, included a character named Julian Clary who was described as "an annoying camp comic and renowned homosexual". Is that how you think most people see you?*
Having been around for so long, there can't help but be a version of yourself out there, so I thought it was interesting to put myself in [the novel] as someone that makes people run for cover when they see him. I could have become like that and it amuses me that people might think that, but I know what I'm really like. The thing is not to take any of it seriously. I'm a jobbing comedian, really.
• Canned Clary is at the St James theatre every Thursday and Friday in March Reported by guardian.co.uk 11 hours ago.