Interview: Harry Hill

Prince Harry

Having drawn a close to his award-winning Saturday night show TV Burp, Harry Hill is back on the road with his first live show in six years. Victoria Nangle talks to him about stand-up, a Harry Hill movie in the works and co-writing a musical all about the X Factor

Could you tell me something about the contents and structure of the Sausage Time show?
“Well, the first half is me and it’s mainly stand-up. With the music of The Caterers band. They follow me around, so they come on. A little bit of audience participation. Although last night the bloke that got up, he had a bit of a panic attack and walked off.”

Oh dear.
“It’s the first time that’s happened. In the second half everyone thought that was part of the show. The second half of the show is ‘Harry’s’, you with me? And it’s more slapstick, and Gary, my son from my first marriage, comes on, I drink a bucket of water, and there’s his son Sam. And then his son, Sam’s son, comes on. And then it’s sausage time!”

What is sausage time?
“Sausage time is when the sausage is launched. We’ve got a 20-foot sausage. Yeah. It’s an inflatable.”

You are incredibly prolific with DVDs, books and telly shows. It seems to be non stop all the time.
“I’ve always got something on the go, I must admit. I’m not the type to let the grass grow under my feet. It’s always nice to do different things I think, isn’t it? I got a bit bogged down with TV Burp for a long time.”

How do you feel towards TV Burp these days?
“Well, I mean I’ve always thought that it was a great show and a great formula. It was just such a tough show to make. To be honest I’m quite glad it’s behind me. I’d always be wishing it away, thinking, ‘Oh God, another six months of it. When that’s over I’ll do this’.”

What have you got ahead of you now?
“Well, the tour finishes in April, and I’m hoping to make a film. A Harry Hill movie. Which is at an advanced stage. It could still not happen but I think it will. I can’t really say that it’s definite but… I think it is going to happen! I’ve readied the script and everything… the idea is it will be for Christmas.”

Excellent.
“Before everyone’s forgotten me.”

I don’t think that’ll happen. You have such a strong stage and screen persona. Would you ever consider stepping away from that and doing one of those travel or history shows comics are getting more involved in – the reality programmes?
“No. I think if you see me on one of those travelogue shows then you have every right to shoot me. To me, if there’s something you have a real passion about, I mean I know Al [Murray] is very passionate about history… but often I think I like to watch those programmes. You know, I have been approached by them, to do a programme on art because they know I love to paint – but I wouldn’t be any good at that. Just because I’m interested in it doesn’t mean to say I’d be any good at. You want a proper expert, in my view. Anyway, I’d like to see that programme, but I don’t want to be in it. Unless they’re desperate.”

You have an awful lot of strings to your bow…
“Well they’re all quite stretched, those strings. Because the funny thing is you know when you do something well, obviously, like TV Burp you have those things. Someone says: ‘Write a book’. It’s very tempting to say: ‘Yeah! Let’s do it!’. And think about it afterwards.”

Is that how the cartoon strip of Harry Hill in The Dandy came about?
“I knew Nigel Parkinson through a friend of mine, actually – he draws the cartoon. He emailed me about it. It was good fun, that. Shame it all went wrong.”

It must have been quite surreal for you, as the creator of surreal worlds for other people to be placed in a surreal world in a cartoon…
“He did it very well. I’ve got a big stack of all of the comics at home. I’m guest editing The Beano for Comic Relief, funnily enough. It’s going to be the bald issue.”

So is Dennis going to lose his hair?
“Maybe.”

Ooh. That’s subversive.
“Hmm. That will set the Twitter alight.”

Going back to your strong persona, and how visual it is, if you had just a brightly coloured T-shirt with no collar and a hat – can you easily change yourself from being so recognisable to being unrecognisable?
“Yeah. I mean, absolutely. Yeah, without that stuff on. But on the other hand, if I wear that outfit it’s pretty unbearable.”

Did you have that in mind when you initially put that image together?
“It wasn’t really like a conscious thing. It wasn’t like a gimmick. I just put on a shirt with a big collar and… people used to mention it, so then I kept it in. When I got a bit of money I had them made, with bigger collars. It’s odd, isn’t it? I mean it is handy to stand out lookswise if you’re a comedian.”

“If you see me on one of those travelogue shows then you have every right to shoot me”

Do you have any unfulfilled wishes that you would like to achieve?
“I’m really keen to do this film, and I’m really keen also to write stuff that I don’t necessarily have to be in. It’d be good to get a film off the ground that’s not necessarily a Harry Hill vehicle. I’ve been writing this X Factor – The Musical with Steve Brown and that’s been really great. And that’s the first thing I’ve written pretty much that hasn’t got me in it. And it’s really interesting. It’s just nice.”

When do you think that’ll be arriving at theatres?
“Next year. This time next year. Just because it takes a long time… you know you’ve got set design and you’ve got to find a theatre and you know – it’s a whole lot. It can be deeply involved.”

It’s a big process.
“It’s certainly a big thing. You know. It’s not a little show.”

Well I look forward to seeing that. And I hope you get no more panic attacks from people on stage.
“Oh, I know. It was really weird.”

Keep a paper bag to the side maybe.
“That’s a good idea.”

Harry Hill – Sausage Time, Theatre Royal Brighton, Tuesday 12 and Wednesday 13 March 2013, 7.30pm, £31, 08448 717 650, www.atgtickets.com