Alan Carr is naturally a funny and chatty man - even going to interview him is a comical event.
We can't use his dressing room for our conversation because his beloved red setter dogs Joyce and Bev have been farting in there for the last few hours while he filmed his TV show.
"They are puffs of perfume, honest," Alan says with a cheeky grin.
Then when we briefly start the chat on his Chatty Man sofa and do photos, we end up pretending to fight and he puts his hands on my knee to make me crack up.
Even when we get down to the business of him talking about his milestone 100th Chatty Man show this week he has me in stitches.
Asked about some of his dream guests at London Studios, he says: "I did get drunk with the Beckhams.
"We were at Kelly Hoppen's house for dinner.
"There's not much I remember from the night but I do remember going 'when are you coming on Chatty Man?' and grabbing David - I do get a bit over friendly when I've had wine so I'm sure I was stroking him too.
"He said he would do it. I think Victoria and David are so much fun.
"She (Victoria) was life and soul, she was a right laugh and would love it on the show.
"I think the globe drinks cabinet would be empty when she left!"
Chatty Man is a chat show with a difference. Less stuffy than Wossy and less formulaic than Graham Norton, Alan's show first objective is to be fun and doesn't take itself too seriously.
But Alan admits he would like to get some of the guests of his rivals in a bid to be number one.
“It's a fight and I'm not gonna lie, these American stars see 'BBC' and they are like a rat up a drain pipe. They try to poach.
“I think we'll get there. We have the biggest names in music - Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Justin Timberlake - but we do need to break that Hollywood set.
“If it's a big film they go straight to Graham or Jonathan. We don't get a look in so that's the next thing I'd like to look at.
“I think there's a bit of worry that if you get a Hollywood actor who is gay that I'm going to be like 'go on, come on out to uncle Alan and have a rohypnol tinged Lambrini, what's the worst that can happen?'.
“But I think you get a better time on my show and better ideas of people and it is less pluggy than some other shows. I like to think outside the box and I throw them a few curve balls.â€
Chat shows have changed a lot since the likes of Parkinson started. Most guests now have lists of dos and don'ts and are keen to plug products rather than reveal secrets.
"I'm not having a go but the people from Twilight, they weren't even the big names they were supporting cast, I think they had been doing junkets all day and didn't really give a s***," he says when asked about bad guests.
"I'm not a 12 year old girl so hadn't watched any of them.
"I watched three in a go and then went to the premiere.
"I left 10 minutes before the end, drop kicked a bucket of popcorn on my way out, and said to one of them 'so you looking forward to coming back for the sequel?' and he was like 'I died in the last one'.
"He was scowling at me.
"That's the thing with chat shows, you have to do all the research and some films and better than others.
"Some of the s*** I've had to say is great, but when you get to 100 you get better at lying and being sincere when you're not is a real skill. Chatty Man isn't really a chat show, it's just a laugh really."
Giggling, Alan remembers another funny story that landed him in hot water.
â€The funniest thing was when we had Kim Kardashian on. I wasn't allowed to say anything about anything.
“But then we had Pudsey the dog doing the conga. The dog jumped up with Kim and I was like 'come on, do the conga'.
“Her manager was like 'get that dog off Kim's a**, we did not say she would do the conga with a dog', as if that was ever going to be in the contract.â€
Alan, born in Weymouth, grew up in Northampton but began his comedy career when he moved to Manchester in his early 20s.
In 2001 he was The BBC Best New Stand Up winner and his first Edinburgh show continued his success the following year.
He began the chat show in 2009 following on from the success of the Friday Night Project with Justin Lee Collins.
And he is honest enou gh to admit the shows didn't start well as they involved Big Brother stars being quizzed.
"Channel 4 had this awful thing of shoehorning the Big Brother thing in. No one was watching it, I thought it was a a crock of s*** so we had to put it in.
"I said 'can we just take it out, why are you filling my chat with crap like that?'. When I see how it has adapted it is good.
"I think I have got a lot better as an interviewer. I let people talk now which is something you need to do. At the beginning I thought jokes, jokes, jokes, I am a stand up comedian but I think I have mellowed out now.
"They said they wanted to celebrate the 100 and I said y'know 'you have got to pull your fingers out with the guests'. And then they got Rihanna and Justin Timberlake, I thought the biggest names, there you go."
The Rihanna interview this Friday is among the show's best chats ever according to Alan.
"When you see the Rihanna one I think you will really see… .how refreshing. I come on in a float dressed in Barbados gear and she joins me after singing the song.
"I said will you come on this float and she said 'yes'. She has got this mullet that hangs down and I am doing the trailer for the show and she just hands it to me so I have it as a 'tache. So I have got Rihanna's mullet as a 'tache. If i said to her people 'can I use this' they would say 'no she is walking off after 5 minutes if you do that'.
"And she talked about everything, so it was really good. She is laughing and giggling. She must remember me from the Brits because she walked past me and she said I taught you how to do the dutty wine.
"Justin was nice too and he remembered last time which is all you can hope for so I said 'tell your friends to come down'."
And judging from past interviews, he will celebrate the 100th show with a drink from the globe cabinet the housing his odd selection of tipples each week.
"I was hammered," he admits when I remind him of a Westlife interview where they did shots together.
"I was hammered when I spoke to Tom Jones and Danny from The Voice. I thought he is Tom Jones and he is 97 and has just downed that vodka, huh. I am in my youth.
"I had it and then the autocue was like wavy. But then they said it was one of the best interviews I have done which sets a dangerous precedent. I don't want to be like the Amy Winehouse of chat.â€
Chatty Man will continue for at least two more years thanks to his latest Channel 4 deal, but Alan says he's like to do some acting after watching David Walliams in Midsummer Night's Dream in the West End.
A planned sitcom has stalled after a similar idea - based around dogs and dog walkers - appeared on TV before Alan had finished writing the first episode. Walking his dogs with his boyfriend is Alan's idea of heaven.
He admits he is "not very showbizzy" and turned down the chance to hang out with Kanye West in LA rece ntly because he feared they'd end up making polite coversation.
"I don't like the attention that comes with TV.
"I wish I could do it and then just go home, it's alright but it's that thing that people have their opinion of you.
"That's what pisses me off, they assume things.
"Like on Twitter, I got one the other day that said 'I bet you're sucking on a big fat c*** as your tweeting this' and I'm like 'I'm not being homophobic but I don't think they realise just how much that reveals about them'.
"If I do any Twit pictures of me outside walking the dogs then I get 'Oh, you're out dogging'. Have I really got this kind of reputation?
"I think because of my voice and how camp I am, they assume I'm a stereotype.
"I wouldn't be at 100 shows if I was just the voice and a bit camp.
"I don't bother reacting because they are w****** and you end up rowing with a 13 year old.
"I think they transfer their unhingedness on you, I don't give a s***."
* Chatty Man with Alan Carr celebrates its 100th episode on Friday night on Channel 4
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar