Brian Conley: 'My show's the most fun you can have with your clothes on!'

It’s a big statement to make about his forthcoming live show, but veteran entertainer Brian Conley certainly knows his stuff.

No other show has been as successful as the Brian Conley Show – it is Britain’s most watched light entertainment programme.

The rubber-faced entertainer regularly attracted 12 million viewers in the 1990s, who would tune in to watch his variety act stuffed with memorable characters like Brian’s alter ego Dangerous Brian and Nick Frisbee, he of the catchphrase “It’s a puppet”.

It was a surreal time, Brian reminisces down the phone line. He tells me: “We had 12 million viewers which was unprecedented for that time.

“I remember doing a show at the Blackpool Winter Gardens and I was completely amazed. 3,500 people wanted to come and see me, I couldn’t believe it when they told me they’d sold out.

“I was like ‘Oh my God!’ It goes to show the power of television, I don’t think people appreciate how powerful it is.

“I was plodding along doing the show every week and it was only when I started doing live shows that it dawned on me how popular it was.”

Many of the characters from the Brian Conley Show will feature in Brian’s new tour Alive and Dangerous, which comes to Lighthouse, Poole, on Friday.

Brian knows Dorset pretty well – he did a summer season at Weymouth Pavilion back in the late 80s.

“I remember performing with Norman Collier,” he says.

“It was my first experience of being in Weymouth. I had a lovely time down there. I remember the sand sculptor.

“It’s a shame they don’t have the big summer seasons like they used to, but it’s a bit of a sign of the times with seaside resorts.”

It’s non-stop for Brian at the moment, having only just finished his stint as Buttons in Cinderella in Southend alongside Lesley Joseph of Birds of a Feather (Brian is something of a “professional Buttons”, having performed numerous times as the character).

At the time of speaking to me Brian is about to start rehearsing for his show.

He said: “I’m an entertainer and I want to entertain people. Mat Ricardo will be there too and he’s a brilliant variety act.

“Then we’ve got Dangerous Brian and Nick Frisbee. Strictly it’s a variety show. There are many backstage anecdotes for the audience.

“I also do some stuff from the West End shows I’ve been in and there will be a big video screen with highlights from my illustrious career.”

Ah, yes, that long career, I remark. While others have been and gone, Brian is still there.

He tells me: “I started when I was 12. I went to stage school and got my first proper job when I was 16 performing cabaret in nightclubs.

“I think the secret to my longevity is having a good strong background of doing the clubs and being able to turn my hand to other things like television, and I’ve loved doing my act and doing musicals.

“It’s about having one finger in a few pies – I do stage work, television work, corporate work, you have to go to get the work out there and it is out there.

“The problem is there are a lot of famous people.”

And Brian has proved that he can turn his hand (or rather his feet) to anything. He learned tightrope walking for his stint as “America’s greatest showman” in Cameron Mackintosh’s Barnum.

“I had to go to circus school twice a week. It was a demanding show and it challenged me in many ways and I really enjoyed it,” he says.

Not content with his stage work, Londonborn Brian will be back on our small screens again soon with his second series of The TV That Made Me, talking to celebrity guests about their favourite TV shows.

“It’s a vehicle to sit and talk about their childhood, what they liked as a teenager and so on,” he explains.

“The first series was really successful and did well in the ratings.”

With so much going on, I suggest to Brian that surely he’s due for a holiday soon?

“I’ll be resting my throat when I’m doing the tour,” he admits.

“But I keep going. I love what I do. There’s a clip of me on YouTube singing with a busker in Norwich, I was walking past and just wanted to start singing with him.

“I’m an entertainer through and through.”

Brian Conley Alive and Dangerous is at Lighthouse, Poole on Friday, February 19. Tickets are available from lighthousepoole.co.uk or 01202 280000