two-faced porky

Phill Jupitus alter-ego Porky the Poet is on tour with a new show

Phill Jupitus has many strings to his bow. He’s been a DJ on BBC 6 Music, a team captain on Never Mind The Buzzcocks, a poet who supported Billy Bragg in the 1980s and a star in musicals Hairspray and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

Now he’s on a new stand-up tour, Juplicity, in which he gets to be two people.

Watch in delight and horror as experienced funny man Jupitus drags laughs out of the chaos of his own life and the uncertain world that surrounds it.

There are adult themes, of course, and often delivered childishly.

“The thing that really works for me is that I support myself as Porky The Poet.

“So he goes out and does 40 minutes to start the evening. And because of Buzzcocks and other jobs, I let Porky and the poetry slide.

“But after about a decade I came back to it and wrote new poems – often just chucking stuff out on Facebook for mates to read.”

Jupitus also a proven track record of live music behind him from his time with the all- star Idiot Bastard Band. And much of his latest musical output will be delivered on this latest tour.

“The songs for this tour are now solid; all that comes from the time I was in the band with Neil Innes and Ade Edmondson. Because I’ve spent time away from touring stand-up, you get better at doing it by building the source material,” says Jupitus.

As with many acts who take to the road for a lengthy period, the show that is conceived at the beginning might not exactly be the one which exists by the end.

“What happens on the tour gets added to the tour,” Phill insists.

“It snowballs as it rolls down the hill of the dates. I wish I had the discipline of my comedy brothers and sisters and say ‘it’s all about this, or that!’

“By the end, who knows, it could be about my love of the bridge work of Isambard Kingdom Brunel. Still, that would do well in Bristol.”

He adds: “Wherever I am, I look for art galleries and museums, I’ve got a thing about record shops, bookshops and second-hand tat shops where I might be able to find old badges. Everywhere I go, I try to find those five things.”

‘Everywhere I go, I look for galleries and museums, and record, book and tat shops...’

Poetry in motion: ‘Porky’ is back after a decade out of the public eye