Julian Clary made an art of giving television comedy a particular kind of mischief: polished, camp and unmistakably his own. His rise from the alternative comedy scene of the early 1980s to a Channel 4 game show, West End theatre and the London Palladium is also a story of how an openly gay performer brought his sexuality and persona into British popular entertainment on his own terms.

From Teddington to the alternative scene

Julian Peter McDonald Clary was born in Surbiton, Surrey, on 25 May 1959. He grew up in Teddington, Middlesex, and attended St Benedict’s School in Ealing before studying English and drama at Goldsmiths’ College, University of London. In the early 1980s he entered the alternative comedy scene, performing under names including Gillian Pieface and The Joan Collins Fan Club. Earlier, he had appeared as Leo Hurll, a fictitious keyboardist for the pop project Thinkman.

The Joan Collins Fan Club gave Clary a name under which he could make an entrance as well as tell a joke. His stage persona combined flamboyant clothes and make-up with innuendo, audience interaction and a deliberately composed manner. His whippet mongrel, Fanny the Wonderdog, also became part of the act. The performance style was not incidental decoration: it established the playful, self-aware character through which he could address audiences directly.

Clary’s work on stage included a sequence of solo tours, among them The Mincing Machine Tour (1989), My Glittering Passage (1993), Natural Born Mincer (2003) and Lord of the Mince (2009–10). The titles signal the continuing importance of wordplay and persona in his comedy, while the tours show that his career was not confined to television appearances.

Making a television format his own

After appearing on Channel 4’s Friday Night Live in the mid- to late 1980s, Clary co-hosted the ITV game show Trick or Treat in 1989. That year, Channel 4 gave him a more distinctive vehicle: Sticky Moments with Julian Clary. It used the form of a quiz show while gently undermining its rules. Points could be awarded because Clary liked a contestant, rather than because that person had demonstrated a particular skill. The format let his comic sensibility shape the whole programme, not just the lines between its questions.

He continued to move between presenting, panel shows and scripted television. In 1992, he starred with Lee Simpson in the Channel 4 sitcom Terry and Julian and appeared in the BBC drama Virtual Murder. Later television work included three series of Sky’s Prickly Heat, which he presented with Davina McCall and, for its final series, Denise van Outen. He was a team captain on It’s Only TV...but I Like It, competed on Strictly Come Dancing in 2004, and presented or appeared in programmes ranging from Have I Got News for You to Nature Nuts with Julian Clary.

One of the most discussed television moments of his career came at the British Comedy Awards in 1993, when a joke about former Chancellor Norman Lamont provoked a strong reaction. Clary continued to work on television afterwards, including in the BBC series All Rise for Julian Clary in 1996. In 2012 he won the tenth series of Celebrity Big Brother. His appearances on programmes with very different formats show how readily his established persona could travel from a comic quiz to a reality competition.

Stage work, books and other forms

Clary’s stage career has encompassed plays, musicals and pantomime. In 2002 he played Leigh Bowery in the London musical Taboo, returning for its UK tour in 2004. From 2007 to 2008 he played the Emcee in the West End production of Cabaret. A decade later, he appeared opposite James Nelson-Joyce in Le Grand Mort, a play written for him by Stephen Clark. He has also been a regular performer in Christmas pantomimes, including at the London Palladium, where he was inducted on to its Wall of Fame in 2019.

His pantomime roles have included Dandini in Cinderella, the Genie in Aladdin and the Spirit of the Bells in Dick Whittington. In 2023, he played Herod in the UK tour of Jesus Christ Superstar. The roles make clear that his work on stage has not depended on one genre: he has brought his comic presence to musical theatre, plays and the familiar seasonal form of pantomime.

Writing has provided another outlet. Clary published the comedy books My Life With Fanny The Wonder Dog and How To Be A Man, and wrote a fortnightly column for the New Statesman from 2005 to 2008. His first novel, Murder Most Fab, appeared in 2007, followed by Devil in Disguise in 2009. Briefs Encountered was published in 2012; the later novel Curtain Call to Murder followed in 2024. His autobiographical books include A Young Man’s Passage and The Lick of Love: How Dogs Changed My Life.

Since 2015, Clary has also written the children’s series The Bolds. Its books include The Bolds to the Rescue, The Bolds on Holiday and The Bolds Go Wild. Meanwhile, his radio work has ranged from hosting the BBC Radio 1 problem-solving show Intimate Contact in 1992 to appearances on Radio 4’s Just a Minute. In 2024 he played Neil in the Radio 4 comedy series Tom and Lauren Are Going OOT, returning for its second series in 2025.

A comic identity in public

Clary is openly gay, and his sexuality has informed much of his comedy. Rather than separating that fact from his stage character, he made it part of the material and the performance: the flirtation, innuendo and knowing campness were integral to how he addressed an audience. His career placed that presence within British television and theatre over several decades, from Channel 4’s Sticky Moments to pantomime and panel shows.

His wider working life has included music as well as comedy. In 1988, credited as the Joan Collins Fan Club, he released a humorous version of “Leader of the Pack”; it reached number 60 in the UK singles chart. He also released “Wand’rin’ Star” in 1990. In 2016 he became an ambassador for the Adelaide Fringe, promoting the festival internationally. These projects sit alongside, rather than replace, the central thread of his career: a performer who carries a clearly formed comic identity across different stages and formats.

Clary received an honorary fellowship from Goldsmiths in 2005 and an honorary Doctorate of Civil Law from the University of East Anglia in 2014. He married Ian Mackley in 2016, after they had been in a relationship since 2005. The account of his career is consequently not just a list of television credits: it connects a recognisable performance style with work in comedy, theatre, writing, radio and children’s books.

Why Julian Clary deserves a place in British Legacy

Julian Clary deserves a place in British Legacy because his contribution is specific and visible: he created a comic persona that could lead a television format, command a live audience and move between popular entertainment and the stage without losing its defining character. Sticky Moments with Julian Clary made that principle part of the programme’s structure, turning the conventions of a quiz into material for comedy. His continued work in television, radio, theatre and pantomime demonstrates the reach of a performer who was not limited to one show or medium.

His legacy also lies in making an openly gay identity an unhidden part of mainstream performance. Clary’s camp style, innuendo and direct engagement with audiences made sexuality part of the joke’s language and of the performer’s public character. That matters to British cultural history not as a vague claim to have changed society, but because it records a distinctive gay comic presence in programmes and venues reaching broad audiences. His work as a novelist, autobiographer and writer of the The Bolds series extends that career to readers of different ages. Taken together, these achievements show a British entertainer whose influence rests on both a recognisable voice and the variety of work he has sustained across decades.

Sources

Julian Clary (revision 1370852891)

Adapted in part from Julian Clary by Wikipedia contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Text has been edited and combined with the existing article; this adapted text is shared under the same licence. Contributor history.