Play your Carr right!
Alan steps into Brucie’s shoes for show revival
ALAN Carr has revealed Sir Bruce Forsyth helped him as he started out in showbiz before he attempts to recreate one of Brucie’s shows tonight.
The comedian, 43, presents Play Your Cards Right for his new ITV series Alan Carr’s Epic Gameshow.
He admits it will be a special moment. Alan said: “I was a huge fan of Brucie. He was my first guest ever on [chat show] Chatty Man and he was an absolute star as you’d imagine.
“He had invited me to his house and I went to see him and tell him about this new chat show I was doing.
“After the show aired my phone rang and I didn’t pick up as I thought it was PPI because I didn’t recognise the number. It was in fact Brucie telling me how much he’d enjoyed being a guest and that he thought I had a big hit on my hands.
“It was the loveliest message to receive, especially from TV royalty like him. On Chatty Man, I would take the mick about how rubbish his jokes were on Strictly Come Dancing. He told a joke which bombed and he said, quick as a flash, ‘Alan Carr told me that!’ Cheeky sod.”
Bruce died in 2017 aged 89 after a lifetime in showbiz.
Alan will host five classic gameshows for the series, with Michael Barrymore’s Strike It Lucky, Jim Bowen’s Bullseye and Des O’Connor’s Nineties show Take Your Pick to follow. But he does not copy the original hosts’ style, saying: “They are too iconic.” An all-celebrity line-up takes part on Play Your Cards Right tonight.
The show ran on ITV from 1980 to 1987.
● Alan Carr’s
Epic Gameshow is at 8.15pm tonight on ITV.