Regional Trinket: An Interview with Alan Carr

Tell us all about this new tour! What can fans expect to see?

Well It’s one of my most personal shows ever. The last few years have been absolutely awful. My marriage collapsed. I got divorced. My dog died. I was stuck on a farm during COVID. Now, normally this would lead to someone having a nervous breakdown, but the good thing about misery is that it’s good for comedy! So when life gives you lemons, I just make lemonade. It should be a miserable show, but it’s really uplifting and quite funny…. I think it has really connected with people.

Did you have any hesitations to doing the tour with all of that going on in your personal life?

You know it’s funny, cause people were saying to me “Oh, Alan are you going to cancel the tour? Your life’s going to shit.” I said no because for that 90 minutes on stage, I don’t have to think about any of it. I’m just having a good time and I’m one of those comedians who really does just want everyone to have a good time.

I’m not going to be bringing down any governments with my quips….so it’s just great to get on stage and forget about my worries for a minute and have a laugh.

You’re obviously huge in the UK, but have you toured in Canada before?

I’ve been to Montreal. When I was there I came on stage and went “hello everyone!” and this woman in the audience grabbed her handbag and immediately walked out. I was like “oh god my voice must be really annoying” and then someone shouted “no she’s just French and thought you were French.” So I see you’ve got this bilingual thing going on there so I’m just wondering how many people are going to walk out of my shows?!?

In all seriousness, I think Canada is like an itch that I wanted to scratch….and when you’re really proud of a show…you want everyone to see it, so I thought, yeah let’s do it! Let’s have an adventure.

Why the name "Regional Trinket?" Do you have a personal favourite trinket?

I do love a fridge magnet…..There’s this epidemic in show business over here in the UK. Everyone is a national treasure. You’re just on telly for six months and all of a sudden you’re a national treasure. So I thought, I’m just going to become a regional trinket….which sort of goes with my self deprecating humour.

How many jokes does a stand up comedian have to come up with before they know it’s time to go on tour again?

For me,  I always carry around a little notebook. I write everything down. So when that notebook fills up, that’s when it’s time to pack up the trinkets and get on the road again. I’d say I usually tour every 3 or 4 years….but this time was different. I had the show all figured out and then bloody COVID happened. All of a sudden I was living on a farm with my husband which was quite idyllic….then the marriage broke down and I was living a completely different life than the one that I wrote about for the show. So I had to scrap a lot of the thing and begin again.

What’s the toughest part about doing stand up?

Well, I think it’s just waiting in the wings, you know? I do have a bit of imposter syndrome and I do have an overactive imagination. You go “this is the show where I’m going to trip over, fall into the orchestra pit. This is the one where I’m going to be found out that I’m not funny.” There is no safety net…but that’s the thing that makes it exhilarating.

What do you do if the audience isn’t laughing at your jokes?

Well I usually just say “What the hell is wrong with you? Why are you so miserable?” Sometimes that actually gets a laugh. At that point you shake up the setlist a bit. Move some of your bangers up. It also depends on the day of the week too….Friday night audiences are usually a bit more perky. They’ve left work, had a few glasses of wine…they’re fruity and they’re up for a bit of banter. As a performer you can’t be too rigid. You’ve got to flex it up. Keep it fresh for yourself and for your audience.

How has your experience as a queer man influenced your comedic approach?

I actually feel like I talk about my sexuality more with this tour. I never used to talk about being gay…I had a more nuanced approach to my comedy. With the way things are going, with drag bans and the storytelling situations….there’s a bit of hostility going on towards the queer community. I feel like as a gay performer, I’m pushing the envelope a bit with this one. Again, I’m not taking down governments or anything with my jokes. When I started out I got this sort of hesitation from the queer and the straight community. People would wonder if I was the best representation of a gay man….the femininity, lisping, limp wrist….I got a lot of criticism for that. Today it’s lovely, these men have dresses on, they’re wearing make up!

I co-hosted the Attitude Awards recently and it’s usually pretty glossy….but this year had an edge. Everyone in their speeches were really quite angry with the way things were going. But that kind of passion made it feel like a safe space…..I hate using that word, but in this case it was true. That’s the thing about the queer community….when we feel like we’re being put upon, we want to fight back.