Julian Clary
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Julian Clary (25 May, 1959) is an English comedian known for his camp style. He was born in Teddington, Middlesex and went to St Benedict's School, a strict Catholic school in Ealing, London. He went on to study English and drama at Goldsmith's College.
Clary's comedy career started on the alternative comedy scene in the early 1980s as The Joan Collins Fanclub, complete with his sidekick, Fanny The Wonderdog. Clary dressed in outrageous fashions, usually involving leather and hinting at bondage. He wore shocking make-up, although he did not fall into the categories of cross dresser, transvestite or female impersonator.
After a number of successful appearances on Friday Night Live, he presented the gameshow "Sticky Moments with Julian Clary". The gameshow was noticably less formal than most, with Julian usually awarding points because he liked the contestants rather than for any particular outstanding performances in any of the various challenges. He followed that up with the sitcom "Terry and Julian", and "All Rise for Julian Clary".
He also appeared in the film "Carry on Columbus", his double-entendre-laden performances being one of the few highlights of the film.
Clary's comedy relied then, as now, on extremely near-the-knuckle innuendo and often explicit sexual references (compare with Paul O'Grady's alter-ego Lily Savage). More recently he has attempted to enter the mainstream, toning down his outfits and wearing sharp suits (although wearing women's makeup), but his style of comedy has always proved too much for some parts of the public. Clary was cast into the showbusiness wilderness after making a sexually explicit joke about politician Norman Lamont ("I've just been fisting Norman Lamont") during a live broadcast of the 1993 British Comedy Awards ceremony.
However, he has since been rehabilitated. In 1999 he became a team captain on the quiz show It's Only TV... But I Like It along with Phill Jupitus and Jonathan Ross, and also makes frequent appearances on the BBC Radio 4 panel game Just a Minute.
In 2004, Clary was one of the celebrities taking part in the BBC's popular Strictly Come Dancing series, a competition in which he finished third with his partner Erin Boag.
In 2005, Clary hosted Come and Have A Go for the National Lottery and published an autobiography A Young Man's Passage which covers his life and career up until the Norman Lamont incident.
On 1 February 2006, he appeared on the BBC 2 programme Who Do You Think You Are?, a genealogy series which traced his ancestors to a WW 1 flight engineer and a German immigrant.
Awards
On 7 September 2005, Goldsmith's College made Clary an honorary fellow.External links
- [Official site]
- [The 1993 British Comedy Awards] at OffTheTelly.co.uk
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