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26 Oct 2021, 09:55
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The comic joined the Chris Evans Breakfast Show with Sky to talk about his new tour, his podcast, and performing in someone’s living room.
Paul’s tour, entitled Family Friendly Comedian (No Children), began last week and continues this Thursday, 28th October, at The Forum, Bath. Paul told Gaby Roslin and Ricky Wilson, who are in for Chris: “Well, it’s actually just called Family Friendly Comedian. The small print is, as a joke: No Children!”
The 23-date tour includes a night at London’s Hammersmith Apollo and, to support regional comedy, Paul’s opening act in each city will be local to that area. When Ricky asked if people could actually bring children along to the show, the comedian joked: “It depends how old the children are. As long as the children are over 25!” before adding: “I think it’s over 14, like most theatres.”
Paul is a record-breaker as the first British-Asian stand-up to sell out the 10,000 seater Wembley Arena with his live show, Live, Innit. The nationwide tour included five nights at the Hammersmith Apollo and won Best Live Event 2018 at the ITV Asian Media Awards. When speaking about his new show and it’s title, he said: “I think I play to such a wide range of ages and races, and it’s such an open audience, and people tended to bring their children along to my show, so I just called it Family Friendly Comedian. And also, in this current age of cancel climate, where we’re one joke away from being cancelled, it’s an interesting place to be as a comedian, so I’ve decided to cancel my old Paul Chowdry. I’ve cancelled him! I’m the new Paul Chowdry, the family-friendly one!”
During his chat with Gaby and Ricky, Paul spoke about the impact that Covid restrictions had on comedy. He said: “It was difficult. It wasn’t easy for anyone, and this industry was hit the hardest. Theatre and stage was derelict, and we thought we were recession-proof actually, we could get through any recession or financial crisis, but when it came to this, we were done, and then all of a sudden things moved to Zoom... plays, theatre, stand-up comedy... but it doesn’t have the same effect really over Zoom, does it?”
Speaking of one particular instance when the lockdown restrictions were eased slightly and he went to a perform at a private event in Leamington Spa, he said: “I got called to someone’s house and I thought, ‘This is going to be a stage set-up, or they’ll have something in their garden which I can perform on’. It was actually just the living room, in front of the TV, with children and grandparents running around!”
As well as being a stand-up, Paul is also an actor. He told Gaby and Ricky: “I’m a regular in Devils with Patrick Dempsey, which is a Sky drama. I just wrapped on season two, directed by Nick Hurran who did Sherlock and Doctor Who. And I did The Cleaner with Greg Davies and Helena Bonham Carter, that was on last month.”
Paul also featured in Disney’s Cruella, alongside Emma Stone, and was a much-loved contestant on the third series of Taskmaster in 2016. Earlier this year he also launched his brand-new podcast The Paul Chowdhry PudCast, interviewing celebrities on life’s turning points. He told Gaby and Ricky that a new series has just started. “Actually, it just launched yesterday, season two of the podcast,” he said. “We did 20 episodes of season one, and season two launched yesterday with Greg Davies, the Taskmaster himself!”
The 47-year-old comedian began his stand-up career in 1998, which was the same year that he was an extra in a sketch involving today’s other guest on the Chris Evans Breakfast Show with Sky, Frankie Dettori! He explained: “The last time I worked with Frankie Dettori, he was on Noel’s House Party! They did a Gotcha… and I was an extra in his prank where he was doing a radio thing and Noel Edmonds walked in and surprised Frankie Dettori, and it was like a spoof radio interview, and today I’m with him on the radio for real!”
Family Friendly Comedian continues this Thursday at The Forum, Bath. Tickets for the tour are available via paulchowdhry.com
For more great interviews listen to The Chris Evans Breakfast Show with Sky, weekdays from 6:30am on Virgin Radio, or catch up on-demand here.
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