He’s one of Britain’s most beloved comedians.
Yet Alan Carr has revealed that before he found his place on the comedy circuit he was left traumatised by relentless bullying in childhood.
The Chatty Man host, 48, is set to open up about his upsetting past on Saturday when the second season of his 80s sitcom, Changing Ends, returns to ITV.
The British performer has previously opened up about his ‘relentless’ childhood bullying and how the mocking of his distinctive voice made him a target growing up.
But despite his shocking school experience, which left him feeling profoundly ‘lonely’, he is now ready to carry on sharing his distressing journey with his fans.
Ahead of his new season, MailOnline has looked back at his youth and how he struggled to find his place in life before ‘comedy saved him’.
Comedian Alan Carr, 48, (pictured with younger Alan actor Oliver Savell) documents his traumatising childhood in his 80s sitcom show, Changing Ends, which returns on Saturday
The British performer has previously opened up about his ‘relentless’ childhood bullying and how the mocking of his distinctive voice made him a target growing up (pictured in 2003)
In 2005, the comedian from Northampton was a virtual unknown.
He was performing in a small room at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, where he won over a legion of fans with his camp delivery and acutely observed anecdotes.
Three years later, with his trademark gap-toothed smile and thick glasses, Alan secured himself in British culture as the UK’s favourite ‘Chatty Man’.
But not all of Alan’s life was centered around his waspish sense of humour and making everyone around him fall in love with his witty one-liners.
In his biographical show Changing Ends, he shows young Alan being picked on in Thatcher’s Britain as bullies continue to make Alan’s life a misery.
He felt lost in a ‘match of the day family’ and lonely in school surrounded by football-loving teens who took any chance to pound on him for being different.
But he found his sparkle in drama class and ditched his place as football team captain to explore the wonders of dance, acting and comedy.
Speaking on Desert Island Discs in 2018, Alan revealed: ‘I was bullied, but I was really annoying,’
The British performer has previously opened up about his ‘relentless’ childhood bullying and how the mocking of his distinctive voice made him a target growing up (pictured in 2006)
Ahead of his new season, which will be streamed on ITV1 at 9pm, MailOnline has looked back at his youth and how he struggled to find his place in life before ‘comedy saved him’
‘I look back, and I just wasn’t very self-aware, which is still true now. I’ll be in a restaurant, and someone will ask for a selfie, and I’ll say to a friend, ”How did they know I was here?” And they’re like, ”Alan, your arms have been wafting around. That voice can go through concrete”.’
‘When I was bullied, it stopped at 3.15 when school ended, whereas now the bullying goes on and they film you. Thank God I don’t go to school now, it’s awful.’
Alan also previously opened up to Lauren Laverne on the BBC Radio 4 programme and recalled the moment he realised he had a very distinctive voice.
‘I had the most awful thing when I was about 12 or 13’, he said in 2018.
‘I did drama and we said, ”Let’s watch the playback”… I was like, ”What’s that voice?” My voice soared like a seagull with its wing trapped somewhere.’
‘I am smiling now, but it was like a punch in the stomach. Why didn’t anyone tell me? But, of course, they were. The bullies were telling me every day. It was just awful.’
And while Alan explained that he doesn’t feel like a victim because his tormentors were ‘losers’, he did reveal that the bullying left him feeling ‘lonely’.
But now, Alan appreciates his voice and has come to terms with how he sounds.
He previously told Lauren: ‘I am stuck with this voice.
‘It is weird when I do stand-up. I am a bit like Mariah Carey, I have to protect it. If I don’t reach those high notes, people complain.’
But despite his ‘relentless bullying’, he said, ‘kids today go through hell’ in comparison, as Alan referred to the use of social media.
‘The bullying doesn’t just finish [after school], it’s all online now. There are kids going into school with knives,’ Alan quipped.
And it wasn’t just his classmates who he found difficulties with growing up. His father, Graham, struggled to accept his son’s career choice (Shaun Dooley playing Graham)
And it wasn’t just his classmates who he had difficulties with growing up.
His father, Graham, struggled to accept his son’s career choice.
As a former football player and later manager with Northampton Town, his life revolved around the testosterone-fuelled world of football and he hoped his son would follow in his footsteps.
Instead, Alan told his father he was enrolling at Middlesex University to study performing arts – a moment he jokingly refers to in a previous stage show.
He quipped: ‘Father: “Alan, why are you doing this to me?'” Alan: “I don’t know, Dad, but I can show you through expressive dance.”‘
Speaking of his new season, Alan told BBC’s The One Show: ‘My dad to this day still thinks there was a mix up at the hospital, he thinks there is some hairdresser looking out the window at someone playing football going ‘Why? My salon! Who is going to look after my salon?”’
Despite his differences with his father, they remained close, and Alan previously insisted that both his parents are proud of him.
For the first few years, Graham never seen his son perform live – but Graham was reduced to tears after he watched him perform the 2021 Royal Variety show.
When first opening up about his relationship in 2008, Alan said: ‘Dad’s just not interested in comedy or anything like that.
‘He’s the simplest man you could ever meet. He’s football-mad. There’s nothing else that interests him in the world apart from football.
‘I’ve talked about it with other people, and it turns out all their dads are the same.
‘They’re always a little bit disappointed because they want you to join the army, or be a doctor. I’m a typical Gemini and, from the age of about five, I changed what I wanted to be when I grew up all the time.
‘I’d say I was going to be an actor, then a dancer, then a train driver, then a doctor. My mum was like, “Yeah yeah”. He’s a lovely man, my dad, he’s not a tyrant. He just wanted me to be a footballer – but it never happened.’
Despite his differences with his father (left), they remained close, and Alan previously insisted that both his parents are proud of him (pictured with his father, mother and his brother Gary in 1985)
Also speaking on the One Show, Alan said: ‘It is all written and all ready to go out on Saturday.
‘Basically it is about my life growing up in Northampton, the very butch boy, and my dad was this football manager of the town, very macho, its is basically Northampton’s answer to the Crown.’
At least 450 child actors auditioned for the role of Alan but it was who was ultimately chosen when Alan himself got choked up watching his audition.
Alan’s second season of Changing Ends returns on Saturday at 9pm on ITV1 and ITVX.