Julian Clary delighted to able to show off his outrageous side on visit to Shrewsbury and Birmingham

"Yes, it has a Western theme," the old buckaroo Clary confirms, sipping Bourbon from a pint tankard.

The revered comic – who recently featured as part of the series 16 line-up of C4’s Taskmaster – will play 46 shows across the UK. Yee-haw! You’ve heard of The Man With No Name? Well, here’s The Man With No Shame….

This year's jaunt will be his first tour since 2022. he will play two dates at Theatre Severn Shrewsbury, on May 23-24, and move to Birmingham's Alexandra on May 26.

He has toured across the world with his one-man shows. Having started working on the cabaret circuit as The Joan Collins Fan Club, he went on to become a household name in the late 1980s and remains one of the country’s most popular (and least predictable) entertainers.

Following an appearance on Saturday Night Live, Channel 4 offered him his own show, Sticky Moments. More TV work has followed across his starry career, including Celebrity Big Brother (which he won), Strictly Come Dancing, Terry and Julian, All Rise for Julian Clary, Prickly Heat, It’s Only TV But I Like It, Have I Got News For You, Who Do You Think You Are?, QI, Your Face Sounds Familiar, Piers Morgan’s Life Stories, Give a Pet a Home, Nature Nuts and Passions. He is a regular panellist on BBC Radio 4’s Just a Minute.

"I love touring, it is a very lovely, creative process. Every night is different. I look forward to seeing how things evolve: a tiny spontaneous idea one-night can become a twenty-minute routine after a few shows. That sort of thing can only happen on stage – no amount of thinking in the comfort of your own home can bring it about.

"I also love travelling around with my tour manager Bertha. She has been by my side for 25 years. We have a laugh, or lapse into a nice, comfortable silence as the mood takes us. Bliss."

The tour is set to have a Western theme. What inspired that from a man distinctly unlikely to go full method Western?

"Placing myself in the macho world of the Western seems like a jolly wheeze. All those un-washed cowboys, spitting and swearing. Not to mention the clothes. There are rich pickings for a camp comic to plunder, I’m sure of it."

Clary is well-known for his love of bringing unsuspecting audience members on to stage with him. How does he go about picking out the audience members that he thinks are going to be the most entertaining?

"I’ll be creating a new Western drama called The Magnificent Seven Inches. For that I’ll need a posse. Sadly I don’t have one with me so I shall have to rely on the kindness of unsuspecting punters.

"Yes, I’ll be needing some male members. I seem to have a psychic ability to pick the right people 99 per cent of the time. I need to look them in the eye and then I know. Heterosexual men are best fodder for my purposes. They are, after all, responsible for most of the troubles in this world and I see it as my duty to make them pay."

Clary is also renowned for his fabulous costumes. Without revealing too much, he's got plenty up his sleeve for this tour.

"I can’t give too much away but I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. I’ve always wanted to slip into a pair of chaps.

"My costumes are designed by Hugh Durrant who creates all my panto extravaganza. If you’ve seen the London Palladium panto you’ll know that Hugh doesn’t go for subtlety. I’ve said too much."

Aside from treading the boards in the provinces, Clary will also be returning to his ‘spiritual pantomime home’, having just headlined his eighth consecutive run at the London Palladium. What does it mean to you to be so closely aligned with such an iconic venue and are you looking forward to your two nights there in May?

"I can’t believe my luck! At this time of life I thought I might be doing the odd gig in a room above a pub somewhere provincial. The Palladium is a truly magical place. And two nights! I feel truly blessed. As soon as I walk through the stage door of the Palladium I feel overcome with happiness."

2023 saw Clary join the line-up of Channel 4’s Taskmaster, and he has said since that it was one of the most enjoyable television shows he'd been on. How was that experience and did he find himself becoming more and more eager to impress Taskmaster, Shropshire comic Greg Davies, as the series progressed?

"Greg is an Alpha Male, so of course one wants to please him however possible. He’s like Big Brother, all seeing, all important. He might be the second coming, even. I love Taskmaster. It is so silly, so trivial, but I was swept along by it. Alex is funny, too, in a nerdy way."

He also made a surprise appearance on the Christmas Special of ITV’s The Masked Singer, which he had to keep incredibly secret.

"The secrecy was half the fun. I can’t tell you – balaclavas, visors, hoodies, gloves even – every time you left your dressing room. Then for the performance being inside your costume is a strangely liberating experience. I was most upset to be knocked out by Carol Vorderman dressed as a Reindeer. What a camp show!"

While Clary is planning his tour, there's much more in the pipeline.

"How long have you got? I’m still touring here and there with Jesus Christ Superstar, giving my Herod. I can’t get enough of the show and the talented cast. Very life-affirming. My children’s books ‘The Bolds’ are being re-issued as a box-set, so I’ll be promoting that in Edinburgh and elsewhere. And at last I’ve managed to write another adult novel – ‘Curtain Call to Murder’, which comes out in October. Then maybe Panto again… I am multi-tasking, I’m sure you’ll agree. It’s a wonder I have time for this interview, frankly."