The Carr man

"You're the first person I've spoken to today so I sound all butch - you are the lucky one," giggles camp comedian Alan Carr as we begin our early morning interview. "It's a once in a lifetime experience that."

The Friday Night Project co-host says: "I've just come back from Morocco, and you know what it's like when you've eaten and drunk loads on holiday. My tan looks good; it's just my belly and man boobs."

It's this tongue-in-cheek, selfmocking humour that has made Carr a huge hit with TV and standup audiences alike, and has led Channel 4 to hand him his own game show, Alan Carr's Celebrity Ding Dong. While he says he's over the moon about the show, 31-yearold Carr does admit that it's a bit daunting not having his usual copresenter and pal Justin Lee Collins standing beside him.

"On The Friday Night Project, if one of us is having a bad day or is hungover the other one can just take over and roll with it. When you're on your own there's no one to pick up the pieces when there's an awkward silence," he says with a grimace, before adding that he did feel ready to branch out on his own.

Carr's new programme pits five celebrities against five "civilians"

(who according to Carr "are always looking for something to nick in the studio") to win a slice of the star lifestyle. Does Carr reckon there's much difference between ordinary folk and those in the spotlight?

"I think people are scum. Why can't they be on telly like me, what's wrong with them? If they got out of bed every once in a while and stopped watching Jeremy Kyle they might be a star too," he says with a cackle. "This is going to come across really well, isn't it?"

Of course, Carr is only joking. It wasn't so long ago that he himself was a "civilian", before finding fame through The Friday Night Project. Life has changed beyond all recognition for him he confesses, as he recounts a story about how he and Lee Collins presented Kylie Minogue with her Icon gong at last year's Q Awards, a massive thrill for them, only to have Paul McCartney give them a thumbs-up backstage.

"It's hard for me as a stand up comic - I can't start living that life or be seen as having that life, because when you go on stage audiences are going to start booing. Nobody wants to hear that my electric gates didn't open, and then Clara the maid tripped over.

"But when I was on tour I went to Lowestoft and the dressing room was immaculate - it was all newly painted and there were flowers. I said, 'Oh, you shouldn't have done that.' They said, 'Oh no, it's not for you, last week it got trashed by an Abba tribute band,"' he laughs.

Carr's also more popular in his romantic life. However, he explains, it seems to be the wrong sex that ask him out on dates.

"I always get women, only women," he sighs. "And they're always going through the change. I had a naked photo of a woman sent to my agent saying, Look what you've done to me'. It's not exactly what I wanted; it's sort of backfired. I think they see me as a challenge. A very big challenge."

He insists he never used to be the kid who cracked all the jokes at school, so stand-up didn't even occur to him.

"I was never the class clown.

People just used to laugh at me full stop. They laughed at my face, my voice and all that lot. I didn't go out to make them laugh, they just laughed anyway. I'd stick my hand up and answer a question and they'd all giggle."

But far from turning to comedy to stick two fingers up at his cruel school peers, Carr says his decision came like a bolt of lightning on his 21st birthday.

"A gipsy fortune teller in Camden told me that's how I was going to make my living. I was in a dead end job in a Barclaycard call centre so I decided to give it a go, and it went really well. I mean, if I'd failed the first time I would have just packed it in."

Some would say that making such a life-changing choice was extremely brave, but not Carr.

"Well, I was in a rotten job, and I mean really rotten, I had psoriasis, I was covered in scabs and I was depressed. Sometimes you feel like you've got nothing to lose."

Carr is the son of former football player and manager Graham Carr, who had hopes his boy would follow in his footsteps to become a sports star.

"He was always trying to get me into football," he remembers. "I'd have to run around trees and touch bollards, or do star jumps. I joined a football team to please my dad, and they gave me a place because of who he was. He came along to see me and told me to pack it in because he said I was embarrassing. I was screaming and hitting the ball away with my hand. I tried my best, and that's all you can do isn't it?"

But now Carr is a bona-fide comedy star, and both of his parents are as proud as punch.

"I think stand-up is one of those jobs that people respect, because not everyone can do it," he reflects.

"And it's quite similar to football.

Me and my dad both travelled around the country and performed, he played football and I tell jokes, so I think I get a lot of respect from him."

* Alan Carr's Celebrity Ding Dong, Channel 4, Friday, February 1, 10pm