Alan Carr exploded onto the UK comedy scene in 2001; 18 years later, he’s still at the top of his game. Having spent the past two decades entertaining his fans with his chat shows, radio performances, and comedy gigs, Carr’s next role is set to be one of his biggest. In February 2019, it was revealed the comedian will be joining RuPaul’s Drag Race UK alongside Graham Norton as a rotational judge. The show, which is due to premiere on 3rd October 2019, looks likely to cement Carr’s status as one of the biggest draws on TV. Learn more about the star with these 10 quickfire facts.
1. He’s published 2 autobiographies
He may be only 43 years old, but that hasn’t stopped Carr publishing 2 autobiographies. Apparently, he’s lived a full enough life already to fill two tomes: the first, Look Who It Is (2008), documents Carr’s early life growing up in a football-crazy family in Northampton. The 2nd, 2016’s Alanatomy, takes the reader further into the mad-cap world of the popular comedian, providing a witty, warts-and-all account of his rise to fame.
2. His breakthrough came in 2001
After several years of touring the comedy circuit, Carr’s big breakthrough came in 2001, when he won both the City Life Best Newcomer of the Year and the BBC New Comedy Award. He spent the next couple of years building a reputation as one of Manchester’s most popular local entertainers, before being offered the chance to take his talents nationwide on the TV show, The Friday Night Project. Carr hosted the program alongside fellow comedian Justin Lee Collins from 2006-2009, but eventually decided to leave the show for new opportunities.
3. He dedicated an award to Karen Matthews
Anyone who picked up a newspaper in 2008 will remember the name Karen Matthews, the woman who sparked a major missing persons police operation after kidnapping her own daughter, Shannon, in an effort to get rich off the reward money. In a rare PR disaster for the comedian, Carr dedicated his award for Best Entertainment Personality at the British Comedy Awards to Matthews, saying “I should dedicate this award to her [Karen]. She would be my dream guest. I think she’s a gay icon. People like a bit of rough, don’t they?” After a public outcry, Carr was forced to issue an apology for his remark, telling the BBC “I realize what I said was insensitive and I am very sorry for any offense caused.”
4. He doesn’t make his sexuality the focus
Although Carr is open about his sexuality, he doesn’t feel that it is (or should be) the focal point of his act. “I just think gay people need to get over themselves. Just because you’re gay and on the telly doesn’t mean you’re a role model,” he told the Observer. “I’m just a comedian. That’s all I am. I don’t talk about being gay and I think what better equality for gays than that?”
5. He doesn’t want to be cutting edge
A large part of the reason Carr has become a success is down to his “Middle-England” sensibilities. Unlike some comedians who like to walk the tight rope between humor and offense, Carr prefers to keep things light, relying on observational humor, anecdotes, and an engaging personality to win the audience over instead. ‘I don’t know what’s up with people. Maybe I’m showing my age, but everyone’s got a Madeleine McCann joke, a rape joke or a pedophile joke,” he told The Guardian. “You go to a comedy club now and it’s like a barrage of people outdoing each other seeing how close to the bone they can get. I’d rather be “Middle England” – that’s just another way of saying popular, isn’t it?”
6. His mistook his engagement ring for a loose filling
When Paul Drayton, Carr’s partner of more than a decade, proposed to the comedian while they were on a romantic break in Indonesia, it was so much of a shock it took Carr a while to catch up with what was happening. In a traditionally romantic gesture, Drayton had hidden the engagement ring in Carr’s dessert. When Carr bit down on the ring, he at first mistook it for a filling. “I was like, ‘Oh my God, a filling’s come out, just my luck on holiday’,” he recalled to Hello. “I pull it out and it’s this ring, and then the man on the organ starts singing Can You Feel The Love Tonight? Then the chef, all the staff came out, and the manager, and sang Can You Feel the Love Tonight?, but they didn’t know the next lyric, so they just sang, ‘Can you feel the love tonight? Can you feel the love tonight?’ But of course, I said yes.”
7. Adele officiated at his wedding
2 years after they got engaged, Drayton and Carr married in a star-spangled ceremony in 2018, officiated by none other than singing sensation Adele. “She said ‘I want to do your special day, let me do everything’. So, she got ordained and she married us.” Alan recalled on the daytime TV show, This Morning. “She is the kindest, sweetest, loveliest person ever. She flew us to Vegas to see Celine Dion sing. She sang my first dance. It was the best day of my life.”
8. He gave up alcohol to support his husband
Carr may once have been known for his love of an alcohol-soaked showbiz party, but since his wedding in 2018, he’s an all-new man, In a show of solidary, Carr decided to give up alcohol to support his husband’s efforts to conquer alcoholism. In typical Carr-style, he revealed the little titbit to his fans with the line, “He’s been sober for 161 days. I haven’t had a drink during this time either… or a smile.”
9. He’s a multi-millionaire
Carr may have working-class, northern roots, but these days, he’s one of the richest comedians in Britain. The entertainer is currently worth a mammoth $10 million
10. He was in The SpongeBob Movie
Over the past couple of years, Carr has appeared in a number of different films, but the highlight is surely his 2015 appearance as a seagull in The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water. Whether he’ll be asked back for the 2020 sequel, The SpongeBob Movie: It’s a Wonderful Sponge, is still up in the air.
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