Known higher as madcap foolish man Keith Lemon, he of the flamboyant outfits and bonkers hats, Leigh Francis is, for a change, being interviewed as himself.
The zany entertainer, whose ridiculous masked mimicry on Bo’ Selecta! and subsequent panel present shenanigans as Keith Lemon, host of Celebrity Juice and Through The Keyhole, has lifted the lid on his precise life in his new memoir – Leigh, Myself And I.
Meeting him at present over Zoom, Francis, 51, remains to be carrying foolish stuff – quirky straw hat, saggy T-shirt and Andy Pandy-style blue and inexperienced huge striped trousers, which he exhibits me with relish.
His resolution to take a break from Keith Lemon, no less than for the time being, got here after Celebrity Juice ended after 14 years.
“I’m not saying I used to be handcuffed to Celebrity Juice as a result of it was like the greatest occasion ever, however whereas it was occurring I needed to be Keith Lemon.
“Now, when I tell people in the street that I’m called Leigh, it’s like saying some truths about Santa Claus and you see their face, either puzzled or they laugh.”
Switching to his actual self has by no means been a difficulty at residence together with his spouse Jill, with whom he has two daughters, or together with his mates. He all the time left Keith Lemon at the entrance door.
“I’ll have a little break from Keith Lemon, I don’t know for how long, but I just feel like character comedy is not in fashion, I don’t think panel shows are in fashion at the moment, and I really wanted to go in a different direction,” the Leeds-born entertainer continues.
“I don’t ever class myself as a comedian. I guess it’s like acting. When you are doing tomfoolery acting, you’re a pretend person.”
Bo’ Selecta! – his sketch present which ran from 2002-2009, during which he wore latex masks to do foolish impressions of celebrities together with Craig David, Michael Jackson, Trisha Goddard and Mel B – later acquired him into sizzling water. David spoke out about the impression it’d had on him, accusing Francis of “bullying” and saying that carrying black masks on the present was “racist”.
In the renewed focus of the Black Lives Matter motion in 2020 following the demise of George Floyd, Francis posted a tearful apology on Instagram.
He and Channel 4 agreed to take away Bo’Selecta! from its on-line streaming service, and he stated at the time: “Been talking to some people, I didn’t realise how offensive it was back then. I just want to apologise, I just want to say sorry for any upset I caused.”
Today, Francis has moved on: “I don’t regret anything, you just learn by it. If I could do things differently now, I might do things differently, but I don’t regret what I did. But that’s hindsight.”
The guidelines of comedy are altering all the time, he observes.
“The landscape changes all the time. I might do something tomorrow that I might think, ‘I wish I’d done that differently’ 10 years later.”
Does he assume comedy is altering for the higher?
“My concern is that comedy is taken so significantly, as if comedians are anarchists, not court docket jesters. I communicate for myself – I’m a court docket jester.
“I’m solely there to make you snort. I by no means perceive why comedy is taken so significantly in any respect when there’s actual issues like the current riots, after which comedy is put in the similar plateau as what’s occurring on the market, particularly on-line.
“It’s ridiculous! It’s a TV present that you may select to observe or not watch. It’s as much as you whether or not you assume it’s humorous. Comedy is so subjective, in the similar college as vogue and music, particularly for the way issues change and are available again spherical, however it’s as much as you to decide on to observe it.
“Why would you select to observe one thing that’s going to offend you? I as soon as learn a assessment about my tour that I did. [It said] ‘Leigh Francis seems to only write what he thinks is funny’. That’s precisely what I do.
“You hope that you can make other people laugh with your thoughts and ideas, but you can’t make everybody laugh. You can’t make everybody like you.”
He says he worries about being cancelled to a sure extent.
“But I feel lucky. I’ve had a really good career. I could go off now and do a totally different career. I think public cancellations are ridiculous,” he provides, “because even people who get cancelled still have their following that enjoys them.”
There are issues he wouldn’t do now on display screen, he admits.
“All I would do now is what I’m allowed to do now. You’re not going to come up with an idea you don’t think is going to get commissioned in the current climate. It’s pointless.”
How does he see himself now?
“I’m as normal as a cup of tea and biscuits, I’ve never really tried to grow up. I don’t believe in growing up. I believe in being responsible as an adult, but I’ve always wanted to keep that spirit of messing around. That’s what I do for a job.”
What has made him develop up so much is demise, he displays. His father died from throat most cancers at age 47 – Francis moved to London quickly after.
“I was in shock, even though he’d been ill for two years. Initially I felt angry that I’d lost a parent. I stayed in for a while. I didn’t see anyone because I didn’t want to put upset on my friends. One of my friends said, ‘I didn’t call you because I didn’t want you crying and embarrassing yourself’, which I appreciated. He made me laugh.”
There have been instances when he disappeared into his fictional characters to flee the grief, he admits.
“There was guilt that I was using Keith Lemon to escape from the problem, but I felt I had to put on a brave face in front of Jill and her mum and dad.”
In later years, his buddy, presenter Caroline Flack, took her personal life . He discusses the impression that had on him in the e book.
“She came up with the most profound hashtag, #bekind,” he remembers, recalling the on-line trolling she suffered.
“This is part of the cancel culture as well… there’s no mindfulness at all for cancellation. Everyone’s always going on about mental health. The world contradicts itself all the time.”
As a toddler, introduced up in a working class household, the younger Francis cherished movie – he grew up watching E.T., Gremlins and different basic motion pictures – and was a gifted artist who went to artwork school to review graphic design.
When he was first breaking into TV with Paramount, he would take storyboards he’d sketched as an example his concepts and created wacky animations. His friends included Dom Joly, Sacha Baron Cohen, Simon Pegg and Noel Fielding, Matt Lucas and David Walliams.
Art is unquestionably one thing he needs to get again into, he says.
Might he reinvent himself as an artist, going the similar route as Jim Moir (aka Vic Reeves), who has moved on to artwork programmes? Possibly, however in a extra light-hearted manner, he suggests.
“I’ve a few things in development bubbling away. I want to do something art-related, but still whimsical. I really feel that the art world projects elitism and the man on the street isn’t interested in art because of that. I’d like to bring a fun side to art.”
Leigh, Myself And I: The Autobiography Of Me by Leigh Francis is printed by HarperCollins. Available now.
