One of Britain’s most revered comic-entertainers has embarked on a new 25-date tour and will be coming to Sussex this spring. Expect comedy, sketches and even a bit of song as Brian takes a retrospective, often hilarious, journey through some of the highs of a career at the top of stage and screen in The Real Life of Brian Conley. On a rare day off in his hectic schedule I caught up with Brian to find out more…
So Brian, are you revealing all about yourself on stage?
Well, I’m not going to just sit there and talk about my “illustrious” career – oh no. I’m going to try and make people laugh, as much as I can, for the two and a bit hours that the show lasts. The only thing I don’t do is juggle, so I’ve got a friend of mine, Mat Ricardo, who does a little spot just before the first half finale but for the rest of the evening it’s me doing what I do.
We finish the first half with a medley of songs from some of the shows that I’ve been lucky enough to get to do like Chitty Citty Bang Bang, Me and My Girl, Hairspray, Oliver and, of course, Jolson. So what I’m actually doing is saving the audience about £300 because that’s probably what it would cost them to see all the shows and, if you like those shows, you should come along and be quite content that you’ve saved a lot of money and, hopefully, had a good laugh too.
Is it just you on a bare stage then?
It is just me, but we fill the stage with a huge video screen and what’s really nice is that when we’re doing the songs from the shows we bring up some pictures of the exciting moments from those shows, so you’ve got that to look at while you listen.
And are there any puppets in your show?
Of course, Larry will be there! He has to be there because everyone knows him and they wouldn’t like it if I left him out. I’ve embraced their love for it and I’m very lucky to have a catchphrase from him but it can be embarrassing when you’ve spent 45 minutes in make up to look like Fagin and, as soon you walk out, someone shouts “It’s a puppet!” In my live show they can shout it out as much as they like, but I’m about to take on the role of P T Barnum for the UK tour from August and I bet someone will shout it out but I’ll try and ignore it then. At the end of the day it’s part of what I am and who I am so I embrace it because there’s not many people with catchphrases these days.
Does the real Brian prefer to tell jokes or to sing his heart out?
Well, I love singing. I’ve always said that I was born to sing, but the comedy is very much a part of who I am as a person. I’m dyslexic so I couldn’t really keep up but I couldn’t understand why I was struggling and to diffuse that situation I would make people laugh. So I started at a very young age really and I’ve nurtured it ever since.
I do love to make an audience laugh, there is a huge “buzz” when you get them right in the palm of your hand and it’s quite hypnotic. After a while they actually get to the point where they will laugh at just about anything. The first ten minutes is the most important time. You’ve got to get the audience to a level and then it goes from there, they are with you and it’s a wonderful atmosphere.
After 40 years in showbusiness, can we expect any more surprises from you?
Well, there are still a few challenges. As I said, I’m just about to do the national tour of Barnum which will be a huge challenge for me. I’ve even learned how to do the zip-wire from the circle down to the stage. I’ve been going to a circus school in London twice a week and a lovely lady there has been teaching me how to do it right so it’s those sorts of things that come along. There is no big master plan I just take it as it comes and roll with the punches.
I guess that’s the sort of hard work that it takes to stay successful.
I’ve always been used to putting the work in, just like I’m doing with this tour now. I’m out there all the time because I believe that, if people have paid to see you, you’ve got to give them that time. There’s just a small section when Mat does his spot which actually just gives me enough time to get changed and ready for the musical finale to the first half so I guess that proves that I’m not afraid to put a bit of work in.
It will be a joy to see some of your best performance re-created.
You know, although the show is comedy driven, I do really love the closing of the first half because it’s all the characters that I’ve played and I go from Hairspray’s Edna Turnblad to Fagin from Oliver because people can really see the nuances of each character and it’s great to be able to show that I can be very versatile. I remember so many of my friends who came to see Hairspray who said that they never would have believed that I could play a 22 stone woman after they had seen me playing Al Jolson.
The Real Life of Brian Conley can be seen at the Assembly Hall Theatre, Tunbridge Wells on Tuesday May 20th and at the Connaught Theatre, Worthing on Saturday June 7th, with tickets available from each venue or from their websites.