Julian Clary still talks to the late Paul O’Grady.
Julian Clary still talks to the late Paul O'Grady
The ‘Taskmaster’ star revealed that he still follows his usual pre-show ritual of talking to his good pal after the late comic - who shot to fame as drag queen Lily Savage in the 80s - died in March aged 67 from a heart condition.
The 64-year-old comedian told the Radio Times magazine: "Ah yes, I’ll see him [Paul] next time I’m on tour. It was such a shocking, sudden death. Everyone’s finding it really hard.
"I used to speak to him on the phone every few weeks. I forget that he’s gone. He was the funniest person. Whenever he rang, it would be just an injection of joy.
“I was helpless with laughter. He was absolutely filthy.”
Julian performed the eulogy at the late ‘For the Love of Dogs’ host’s funeral and according to attendee Alan Carr, the entire congregation was “in bits” but ended up “killing” themselves with how much laughter was in the room.
The 47-year-old comedian told Kathy Burke, 59, on her podcast ‘Where There’s A Will, There’s A Wake’: "[Julian] did the eulogy at the funeral and of course, we're all in bits and crying, [but before Julian's eulogy] the man comes on and plays the organ.
"He's proper like Les Dawson, all out of tune, and we're killing ourselves laughing - not meant to be- then Julian gets up to do the eulogy.
"[But before that] this vicar comes out - honestly, he must not know Julian's work - and says 'can I just apologise - the organ needed pumping'.”
"Julian just looked round and looked at him and said 'thanks for clearing that up. What a gift for Julian."
Julian also told Radio Times that he doesn’t think being “cancelled” is “new” after he faced backlash for a very blue joke about having sex with the then-Chancellor of the Exchequer Norman Lamont.
He said: "I don’t think it’s new… I was cancelled, wasn’t I? After the Norman Lamont incident, I was allegedly banished…
"I think the rule is you can say anything you want as long as it’s funny. So when people go too far, it’s probably not funny.
“You’ve got to test the water sometimes. We all step over the line, otherwise, we wouldn’t know where the line is.”
Tagged in Alan Carr Julian Clary Paul O' Grady