Leigh Francis announces first-ever live tour
Comedian Leigh Francis has announced his first-ever tour, with the star set to perform a number of dates across the UK next year.
The star has been well known for his character Keith Lemon in recent years, though originally rose to fame for various characters and sketches on TV series Bo’ Selecta!.
As part of the 2024 My First Time tour, Francis will be bringing out many of his well-known characters including Lemon, Avid Merrion, ‘David Dickinson’, ‘Ant and Dec’ and Myrtle, with the set also including a number of sketches as well as audience interaction.
The tour will start on March 6 in Bath, continuing throughout the month around the UK before concluding in Francis’s hometown of Leeds on April 6.
The full dates are below, with tickets set to go on sale on Friday (June 23) at 10am:
- Wednesday, March 6 – Bath, Forum
- Thursday, March 7 – Guildford, G Live
- Friday, March 8 – Bournemouth, Pavilion Theatre
- Saturday, March 9 – London, Palladium
- Thursday, March 14 – Cambridge, Corn Exchange
- Friday, March 15 – Sheffield, City Hall
- Saturday, March 16 – Halifax, Victoria Theatre
- Sunday, March 17 – Salford, The Lowry
- Wednesday, March 20 – York, Barbican
- Thursday, March 21 – Glasgow, Royal Concert Hall
- Friday, March 22 – Hull, City Hall
- Saturday, March 23 – Bradford, St George’s Hall
- Sunday, March 24 – Buxton, Opera House
- Thursday, March 28 – Newcastle, Tyne Theatre
- Friday, March 29 – Nottingham, Royal Concert Hall
- Saturday, March 30 – Liverpool, Philharmonic
- Sunday, March 31 – Birmingham, Symphony Hall
- Saturday, April 6 – Leeds, Grand Theatre & Opera House
“I’m doing my first ever tour!” Francis said, announcing the live dates. “Never done one before. It’s gonna have masks in it! The Bear, Avid Merrion, Amanda Holden’s Gran, not her actual gran but me playing her.
“I’ll also be playing Keith Lemon, I look just like him! It’s me doing all the characters I do that hopefully have the intent to provoke hilarity! So many exclamation marks, and the word ‘intent’ and ‘provoke’ twice! I’m excited!
“Come see ME being other people LIVE for the first time! It’ll be your first time and my first time! Hence the title of the tour MY FIRST TIME! (There’s another exclamation mark) how exciting!”
Last December, Francis confirmed that he had filmed a pilot episode for a Bo’ Selecta! reboot, telling The Sun: “Avid Merrion is wandering around somewhere.
“He’s a bit different though, he’s grown up. The Bear was in the pilot too. I don’t know if he’ll stick around, it’s all in the hands of the TV Gods.”
The series originally ran on Channel 4 between 2002 and 2009, though was pulled from All4 in 2020 in agreement between Francis and the broadcaster after a backlash over its use of blackface.
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Sam Warner
NME
