Taking his ‘The Joy of Mincing Tour’ across the south, Julian Clary will be at The Mayflower on May 8 2016 and The Anvil on April 21 2016. Here he reveals some of what audiences can expect.

Why have you named your tour, The Joy of Mincing?

I always like to get ‘mincing’ into the title. We’ve had Lord of the Mince, Natural Born Mincer, and Mincing Machine was my first tour in 1989. I don’t know why - it sets the tone, doesn’t it? I suppose mincing, apart from being a means of walking around, is a way of life. The Joy of Mincing is a declaration of the joy of life despite disapproval perhaps.

Is the show as rude as ever - you haven’t toned things down?

No, I don’t think so. It’s the one time you can let rip a bit… on stage. I don’t want to be filthy for the sake of it, but I think it’s a comic device. You just exaggerate who you really are. I’m quite fond of moments of vulgarity.

You’ve been performing for 30 years. How has comedy changed during that time?

Yes, it’s my 30th anniversary next year. It’s changed beyond all recognition. It used to be an eclectic selection of people in small rooms above pubs, in the 1980s. Our comedy was a reaction against the right-wing men in bow ties who were being offered as light entertainment in those days.

And has your comedy changed?

Yes, a bit. I think you evolve, whether you want to or not. There was a certain amount of anger and delight in confronting people when I started, which has more or less gone now. Making people laugh is my main aim in life these days. I don’t think there’s so much to be angry about now.

What sort of stories will you be telling on this tour?

Well, there’s a rather long, meandering tale about how I once saved Joan Collins’s life in a swimming pool in St Tropez that fills the first half. Then the second half is about MBEs. I’ve noticed a lot of my friends are getting these awards. They’re handing them out like Smarties. I think, ‘Ooh, I’d like one of those’ but it’s never happened so I’m obviously not favoured by the Establishment. I can only blame myself…

Is it right you’ve turned your back on partying and now live an idyllic rural lifestyle in Kent?

Yes. Well that’s what I’m telling you anyway. I think there’s nothing drearier than a 56 year-old homosexual hanging around Soho in Lycra. Mercifully, one grows out of that. Thank goodness.

You don’t miss those days, at all?

Absolutely not! You’d have to pay a lot of money to get me into a nightclub, sniffing and snorting and dragging some trollop home with me. Yuck. I like to keep myself nice these days.

If we had told you years ago that you would end up living in the country, with dogs, pottering around your garden, would you have believed us?

I probably would, actually, because as a child I was very into animals and nature. Obviously I got distracted for a few years… with gay urban and all the rest of it. So I’ve come full circle.

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