Danny Wallace talks to Viv Hardwick about his route to fame and a forthcoming book signing in York

NOT many people would manage to switch between a quirky Hollywood movie, books, newspapers, magazines, TV, radio and stand-up scripts and still feel they have a point to prove. Danny Wallace sits a little uncomfortably under the description of humourist as he prepares to sign copies of his debut novel, Charlotte Street, at Waterstones of York on Wednesday (May 8).

The book, which follows four non-fiction successes, was one of the best-sellers of last year and the Dundee-born writer says of his visit to the region: “I’m a few books in now, so if people tell me they’ve read one of them it feels like we’re already friends and already met. It’s great to meet people who buy my work and let me continue.”

On the plate-spinning nature of his career, which stretches from Jim Carrey movie Yes Man – based on Wallace’s 2005 book – to radio presenting for XFM in London, he says: “It’s just about choosing what you do next. I’m lucky in that sense because I can mix it up a lot and say, ‘This year, I’m going to write a novel’. Then I’m offered a breakfast radio show and that was something I’d always wanted to do.”

He pauses our conversation after bumping into Graham Linehan, the creator of C4’s The It Crowd, which brought Wallace his first acting role.

It’s clear he’s networking, particularly as one of Wallace’s dream projects is to write a TV sitcom.

“My only real career plan is to do what’s fun, but then you can be asked to do something that’s more fun,” he explains.

HE confesses that fun in America can be elusive “because you can either grab it or you can’t when it pops up”.

“After Yes Man happened over there (in 2008) all these doors opened and I had a weird meeting.

I was asked about my next book and I said it was going to be a novel (Charlotte Street) and I was asked if I’d written anything else. I mentioned my column which I was thinking of turning into a book and as soon as I mentioned the title, Awkward Situations For Men, all their eyes lit up and within ten minutes, the room was packed with men I’d never seen before all going ‘We’re very excited about this project’. I told them there wasn’t a project yet. Then I had to come home and tell my publishers that I had to write a book called Awkward Situations For Men because the US might make a sitcom out of it,” he says.

The pilot was a hit but his chances of success eventually collapsed under the weight of additional characters being suggested and the idea of filming in front of a live audience.

“I suddenly found myself on a set with the director of Seinfeld and proper actors and I saw some of the paperwork which said I was an actor of international renown. To be honest, the only thing I’d done up to then was The IT Crowd. They were lying and saying I was an international actor,” Wallace adds.

He explained to the producers that even though he had a baby son, the idea of adding that to the mix would stop his character having so many adventures. A rare awkward career moment arrived for Wallace when ABC dropped his show in favour of another idea in 2011.

“I was a little bit sad at the time because I’d put so much work and effort into it, but, as the same time, it was cool because I went over to the US and made something and ticked another box. It wasn’t a huge project, but we did make a pilot.”

So, is Wallace the type of writer who things happen to or makes things happen?

“I am both I think. Some extraordinarily odd things tend to happen to me, for example I inexplicably become the face of an Egyptian advertising campaign – with my picture on a poster right across the North African region.

There is this picture of me and a chimp and the fact that I put the chimp’s hand covering my mouth was a good shot. That was before I discovered what chimps use those hands for.

“Then I found that the picture was on-line and on Facebook and all I can imagine was that someone from this Egyptian chain of hotels had to come up with a picture of a funny monkey and thought ‘this’ll do’.

“So, it was used on billboards across Africa without my permission, but I didn’t mind. Why not? I’m not very big in Egypt, so it’s not going to do me any harm,” he jokes.

Wallace was less sure about becoming the face of a US campaign called Jesus Ween, which targets the pagan celebration of Halloween.

“They thought Halloween was too dark and nobody should dress as a ghost or a goblin, but have to dress in white and hand out Bibles instead of sweets. There was a picture of me as the only person whose face you could see.

They’d just found my image on-line and said, ‘We’ll use this guy’. Those were things that happen to me, but there are things I do as well.

I suppose it’s karma and the universe balancing,” he says.

Wallace spent a great deal of time on the phone to the US pastor in charge of the website before the church group could be persuaded to drop his face from Jesus Ween.

Wallace admits he feels uneasy if he isn’t working on his next idea.

“I think that’s because I’m self-employed and if I don’t have something in mind, then I feel edgy. As I get older I’m also thinking of ideas for other people in TV formats. There’s definitely going to be another novel and I’ve started that now.

“I don’t think I’ll do another radio show because everything has to be rubbish for a little bit before it becomes a little bit good.

“I’ve been working on a film script and will then try my hand at a sitcom or comedy drama.

I saw the reaction to Ben Elton’s The Wright Way and felt sorry for him because that is what he does. He’s got a precious place in comedy history and he doesn’t have to do this, but he’s trying and getting slated.”

  • Danny Wallace will be signing copies of Charlotte Street between 4.30pm and 5.30pm at Watestones York on Wednesday