See Keith Lemon, Avid Merrion and Myrtle in the flesh (or latex)

Leigh Francis has announced his first ever live tour, following ITV’s cancellation of Celebrity Juice after 14 years.

The comic has announced 18 dates of My First Time, kicking off in Bath on  March 6 next year and including a date at the London Palladium.

And it promises to include characters such as Keith Lemon, Bear and Avid Merrion, as well as celebrity spoof including David Dickinson and Ant and Dec.

However, it does not look like he will be reprising his caricature of Craig David, long criticised for being racist and which was a staple of his Channel 4 show Bo Selecta, which ran  from 2002 to 2009.

The singer has claimed ‘Leigh Francis had normalised bullying by making it comedy’ and said he felt like the comic had a ‘vendetta’ against him.

As recently as March, David said: ‘It was very reminiscent of days at my school, when I was growing up, when I'd been bullied…. Once you've experienced it, it's like a trauma that sticks with you.

'And I felt that all over again with this, it was being ridiculed and bullied all over again on national TV. The fact that he was wearing a black rubber mask, I mean that throws open the whole thing of him blackfacing, which just wouldn't be acceptable now.'

Francis has apologised but said David should just move on, telling one interviewer: ‘The only way it’s ever going to go away from him, if he feels people are going on about it, is to stop talking about it. It’s ages ago, isn’t it? It is, 20 years ago.’

The tour will also include Myrtle, the character of Amanda Holden’s grandmother he played in the ITV2 series, The Holden Girls: Mandy & Myrtle, which has reportedly been commissioned for a second series.

In a press release to launch the tour, Francis said: ‘Hey, really exciting news! Well exciting for me! I hope it’s exciting for you! Or at least provokes some sort of interest! I mean, just look how many exclamation marks there is in this quote! It’s definitely news with exciting intent!

‘So what is this exciting news? I’m doing my first ever tour! Never done one before. It’s gonna have masks in it! The Bear, Avid Merrion, Amanda Holden’s Gran, not her actual gran but me playing her. I’ll also be playing Keith Lemon, I look just like him!

‘It’s me doing all the characters I do that hopefully have the intent to provoke hilarity! So many exclamation marks, and the word ‘intent’ and ‘provoke’ twice! I’m excited! Come see ME being other people LIVE for the first time! It’ll be your first time and my first time! Hence the title of the tour MY FIRST TIME! (There’s another exclamation mark) how exciting!’

Celebrity Juice came to an end in December after 309 episodes, which Leigh hosted as Keith Lemon, winning a Bafta along the way.

Tickets for the tour go on sale from 10am on Friday.

» Leigh Francis:  My First Time tour dates

Published: 19 Jun 2023