Graham Fellows, the character comedian behind John Shuttleworth and various other classic comic creations, is to set out on a series of gigs under his own name.
His 'Completely Out Of Character' tour starts with two preview nights at the Bloomsbury Theatre Studio on January 28 & 29 before travelling around the country and finishing on March 3 on Fareham at the Ashcroft Arts Centre.
Fellows, whose first break in showbusiness was as post-punk pop star Jilted John, will be performing songs accompanied by guitar, harmonium and even a ukulele and telling stories. Subjects wll include 'relationships, self loathing and celebrity encounters' and there may possibly be some Shuttleworth hits too.
As an actor, Fellows has featured as Les Charlton in Coronation Street (ITV), Comics (Channel 4) Coogan’s Run (BBC2), Time Gentlemen Please (Sky), Heartbeat (ITV) and Ideal (BBC2) and played Eric Sykes in BBC2’s Hattie. He provided all the voices for Aardman’s Bafta Award winning short film Stage Fright.
Fellows wrote and directed (and starred in as Shuttleworth) two feature films Southern Softies on location in the Channel Islands, the sequel to the hit film It’s Nice Up North. Both movies enjoyed theatrical releases and were broadcast on Sky Arts.
The last time John Shuttleworth toured it was with his Last Will and Tasty Mint show. A health scare (well, a mild bout of athlete's foot) had made “Sheffield’s finest singer/songwriter” (The Times) focus on his mortality, and the many things he needed to do before the inevitable move into a hospice. Could sole agent, Ken Worthington pull out the stops and make John a star before his retirement? As befits a man living on borrowed time – John considers Life’s major issues: like the excitement he felt when sucking his first mint: “It gave my tongue activity, as the mint’s flavours bore into me, turning my grey world azure blue – I remember my first Polo, do you?” His classic songs include “Two Margarines”, “I Can’t Go Back To Savoury Now”, “Mutiny Over The Bounty” and “Y Reg”.
Dates here
