Alan Carr

Alan Graham Carr (born 14 June 1976) is an English comedian, broadcaster, writer, and television personality. His breakthrough was in 2001, winning the City Life Best Newcomer of the Year and the BBC New Comedy Awards. In the ensuing years, Carr's career burgeoned on the Manchester comedy circuit before he became known for co-hosting the comedy variety show The Friday Night Project (2006–2009) with Justin Lee Collins. This led to the release of a short-lived entertainment show Alan Carr's Celebrity Ding Dong (2008), and he went on to host the comedy chat show Alan Carr: Chatty Man (2009–2017).

Carr's other television work includes being a team captain on the comedy panel show 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown (2017–2018), judging the reality competition series RuPaul's Drag Race UK (2019–present), starring in the sitcom Changing Ends (2023–present), and winning the first series of the reality show The Celebrity Traitors (2025). From 2009 to 2012, he hosted the radio show Going Out with Alan Carr on BBC Radio 2.

Carr has written and performed five stand-up comedy tours: Tooth Fairy Live (2007), Spexy Beast Live (2011), Yap, Yap, Yap! (2015), Not Again, Alan! (2020–2021), and Regional Trinket (2021–2023). In 2008, he released his autobiographical book Look Who It Is!. Carr has won three British Comedy Awards, two National Television Awards, and a BAFTA TV Award. In February 2026, it was announced that Carr had bought Ayton Castle, Scottish Borders.

Early life and education

Alan Graham Carr was born on 14 June 1976, in Weymouth, Dorset, elder son of Christine and Graham Carr, and spent the majority of his childhood in Northampton. His father, Graham, whose family comes from the North East of England, is a former Northampton Town manager and Newcastle United chief scout. Carr has a younger brother, Gary.

Carr went to Weston Favell Upper School in Northampton and graduated from Middlesex University with a 2:1 BA (Hons) degree in Drama and Theatre Studies.

After completing his degree in his early 20s, Carr moved to Manchester, aspiring to be a comedian. He lived in Chorlton-cum-Hardy after which he moved to Stretford, which he cites as an inspiration for his comedic work. Carr worked in a call centre for five years and performed on the comedy circuit in his spare time, before moving into comedy as a full-time career.

Career

Television and film

Carr's early TV career included guest appearances on 8 Out of 10 Cats in 2005 and The Law of the Playground in 2006. He and Justin Lee Collins co-hosted The Friday Night Project from series two in 2006 until it was cancelled after the end of series eight in February 2009. Carr went on to host two series of Channel 4's game show Alan Carr's Celebrity Ding Dong from 2007 to 2009, and the chat show Alan Carr: Chatty Man, which ran for 16 series from 2009-2016, with Christmas Specials in 2016 and 2017.

Carr was a Traitor on the first series of The Celebrity Traitors, which aired in October and November 2025. He won the series, with his prize money of £87,500 being donated to Neuroblastoma UK, a charity he personally chose focusing on childhood cancer. In August 2025, Carr was announced as one of the contestants on the second series of LOL: Last One Laughing UK, which premiered in 2026 on Amazon Prime Video.

Radio

Carr made his radio presenting debut on Christmas Day 2007 for BBC Radio 2 as part of their Festive Highlights with the show Alan Carr's Christmas Box. He filled in on BBC Radio 6 Music on 16 February and 14 June 2008, for Adam and Joe and co-presented The Russell Brand Show on 4 October 2008. He also presented Alan Carr's Comedy Outings for BBC Radio 2 in 2008.

On 25 April 2009, Carr began hosting Going Out with Alan Carr, a new show for BBC Radio 2, in conjunction with Emma Forbes (later replaced by Melanie Sykes). The show was broadcast every Saturday evening from 6pm to 8pm. On 6 March 2012, it was reported that he had made the decision to leave to focus on his Chatty Man show. His last show was on 31 March 2012. Carr was replaced by Liza Tarbuck. He returned on Boxing Day 2015 for a one-off show on the station.

For four weeks in January/February 2017, Carr again returned to BBC Radio 2 to sit in for Paul O'Grady on his Sunday show. Carr reunited with Sykes to present a 10-week show called Summer Escapes sitting in for Graham Norton on Saturdays from July to September on BBC Radio 2 yearly from 2017 until its final run in 2020 following Norton's departure from the station. It included features based around summer including the British Seaside Survey.

Stand-up

Carr performs stand-up regularly, on tour and on television. He became a regular performer on the Manchester comedy circuit in his 20s, where he met fellow comedians Jason Manford, Justin Moorhouse and John Bishop, and had his own monthly comedy and cabaret show Alan Carr's Ice Cream Sunday at the Manchester Comedy Store.

In 2001, Carr won the City Life Best Newcomer of the Year and the BBC New Comedy Awards.

Carr has been featured in three Edinburgh shows and in 2007 he toured throughout the UK, which was followed by a DVD entitled Tooth Fairy Live. He has performed at the Apollo Theatre in London, which was televised for the BBC One series Live at the Apollo, and has been featured in the Royal Variety Performance.

Carr has appeared and performed at many festivals, including the Reading and Leeds Festivals, Latitude Festival in Suffolk and Kilkenny Comedy Festival in Ireland. He has performed stand-up internationally, including an appearance at the Just for Laughs festival in Montreal.

In March 2010, Carr took part in Channel 4's Comedy Gala, a benefit show held at the O2 Arena in aid of Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital in London.

Autobiography

Look Who It Is! is Carr's autobiography published in 2008. It details his life from growing up in Weymouth to presenting The Friday Night Project. In the book, Carr recounts how he grew up in the shadow of his father Graham, and was therefore expected to grow up to be a great football player, despite his childhood "puppy fat". The book laments on his schooldays. During that time in his life, Carr was picked last for the football team when the other students found out his lack of talent and his father forced him to refuse to communicate with a friend because he was apparently "gaying him up". Carr also tells the story of how puberty left him with "big teeth" and a camp voice.

Personal life

Carr is gay, but does not consider his sexuality to be a focal part of his act; in 2008, he said: "I just think gay people need to get over themselves. Just because you're gay and on the telly doesn't mean you're a role model. I'm just a comedian. That's all I am. I don't talk about being gay and I think what better equality for gays than that?"

According to Carr, he has been aware of his sexuality from a very young age. When Eddie Izzard was a guest on Chatty Man and asked Carr when he came out of the closet, he replied that he was "never really in" and other children were already making fun of his camp behaviour when he was eight or nine years old.

In January 2018, Carr married his partner of ten years, Paul Drayton, in Los Angeles. The wedding was officiated by his best friend Adele. The couple announced their separation in January 2022 following Drayton's conviction for drunk-driving. Carr lives in West Sussex.

Stand-up tours

DVD releases

Filmography

Television

Film

Awards

Bibliography

• Carr, Alan (2008). Look Who It Is!. HarperCollins Publishers. ISBN 978-0007278220.
• Carr, Alan (2016). Alanatomy: The Inside Story. Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0718180751.

External links

• at IMDb
• at British Comedy Guide