Perhaps one of the most shocking things about Leigh Francis is that he is
mild, sweet, shy and awkward in his own skin — literally. He is rarely in
his own skin. Rarely does interviews as himself. He is perhaps most
comfortable as his over-the-top, flame-haired, neck-braced TV creation Avid
Merrion. Avid as in fan. Merrion after a shopping centre in Leeds. He lives
in Camden, but his inspiration is Leeds, where he grew up and worked as a
graphic designer before creating the show Bo’ Selecta!
He claims that he has to like a character to be able to “do them”. And here’s
the weird thing. No matter how dark and offensive and ridiculous their
portrayal seems, he fails to see that they might take it the wrong way.
To him, darkness is fun, not malice. Mel B, who perhaps had most to complain
about — she was portrayed as gruff-voiced with a hairy chest and big glasses
in Bo’ Selecta! — liked her character so much that she and
Francis have become friendly in real life.
Craig David, who was portrayed as incontinent with a Yorkshire accent and a
pet kestrel, at first went along with the joke. Then he claimed that Francis
was responsible for causing him all kinds of pain and torture. In an
interview I did two years ago, David told me that it was relentless. He
couldn’t leave his house without people assaulting him in his prosthetic
character’s voice. It drove him close to a breakdown. Francis’s version of
Oprah Winfrey had a Southern accent and ate fried chicken. Then, of course,
there was his Michael Jackson: obnoxious , loud-mouthed with a Bronx accent
— nothing like his real, reclusive self and very funny for it.
Bo’ Selecta! has been greatly mourned by its fans since it last
appeared on TV in 2006. But now Francis is coming back with a one-hour
special Jackson tribute show. Isn’t it a little too soon? Isn’t it funnier
to send up the living rather than the dead?
Francis shuffles uneasily, but, even at 36, has a need to explain himself.
“When this horrible thing happened to Michael Jackson my agent said we would
do a sketch. I was quite upset. I didn’t want to. And then a few weeks went
by, so I put it on Facebook and Twitter. I got 214 messages back in 40
minutes. Three of them said that it was too soon. And that’s why we’re doing
it. Out of homage. Because Jackson has died we have to put the Bo’
Selecta! character to rest as well. I cried when he died. I do want to
handle this sensitively.”
Before I met Francis I would not have thought sensitivity was his strong suit. Bo’
Selecta! could be brutal. That’s why it was so good. It was probably a
way of escaping his own insecurities — just another mask.
He seems to consult his wife Jill, a beauty therapist and make-up artist,
about everything. They have a six-month-old daughter, Matilda. Francis shows
me her picture on his phone dressed in a Spider-Man baby outfit, and he
remains close to his widowed mother and sister who have moved from Leeds to
Spain.
Before making a decision to go ahead with the MJ tribute he talked to
Jackson’s friend David Gest. “Gest phoned me and said ‘I hear you are doing
a mask of me. I have this footage of Michael Jackson, do you want it?’ He
showed us the unseen footage which really showed Jackson in a different
light. You saw his sense of humour. And he said Jackson would probably like
the idea of us are doing this.”We are sitting in his studio amid a rail of
MJ-style jackets: military, Bad, sequinned. A red and black Thriller jacket
is actually Francis’s. “I bought this before any television stuff happened.
It cost me £60, but it felt like £600 then. I didn’t go out for three weeks,
but I thought one day that will come in handy, and it did.”
Because Francis still seems a little awkward in his own skin I suggest he
wears one, a blue-sequinned number, for the rest of the interview — as
someone else he might feel more relaxed. Just how shy are you? “On a scale
of one to ten I would say seven.”
You wonder if Francis doesn’t like it if life gets too real. He likes to slip
into voices of other characters as he talks. “Yes, I use it as a barrier I
suppose, doing characters. I worry that people will say you’re horrible,
you’re not funny.” He blushes slightly when he tells me, as if a layer of
his skin is burning away.
“When people get on Facebook and tell me I’m rubbish I reply to them because I
want to convert them and say this is why what I do is funny. I suppose I
feel it is my duty. I think if people don’t like me I can try to be someone
else that they might like, just for fun. Like when I was a kid I would play
with my toys and create characters for my Action Men. It’s similar to that,
so I feel really lucky.”
I suspect that Francis still plays with his Action Men. A collection of them
reside in what he calls his room of shame. “I have a lot of toys. I collect
toys.” In particular he has a lot of Spider-Man memorabilia. “It’s not out
of the ordinary for me to come downstairs of a weekend dressed as
Spider-Man. I’ll run around and Jill will laugh and then I’ll go back
upstairs and say, ‘Time for the pub’.
“I used to go to school with my Spider-Man costume under my clothes. Then I
would undress and come out as Spider-Man and get chased. I used to think,
‘Why are they chasing me?’ Spider-Man is a good guy. Then I realised I am an
absolute d***head.
“I don’t really play with the Action Men now, but I do look at them. Jill has
got a cabinet with Sindys and Barbies.” It’s easy to see why he and Jill get
on so well. I don’t think he could have ever fallen for someone who didn’t
have a doll collection.
“I’m a bit addicted to buying stuff on eBay, but I’ve never sold anything on
it,” he says. I wonder if he’s worried about getting bad comments as a
seller. “I just buy stuff that I like. I remember when my parents couldn’t
afford a Big Trak. I’ll see it on eBay and say look at that Jill, shall we
get it, and she’ll say yes, it’s good, let’s put it on the shelf of shame.
I’ve got Spice Girls dolls, ETs, Gremlins and Star Wars. I’ve got a room
full of shame and a one-hour special. Nothing to complain about because
however much of a geek I am, I’m married and I’ve got a baby.”
He is blushing, his cheeks pinker than Barbie’s lipstick. “That’s because I’m
not very good at being me. I’m always somebody else.” He shows me the new
Jackson mask — tiny nose and putty coloured. They had to change his face
because he did. I say that when Michael Jackson’s hair was burnt off it
seemed to be the moment that seemed to define his downfall, when he became
too vulnerable.
“That’s what Gest said. Obviously the painkillers added to his downfall. For
me he was a great performer. As for all the horrible stuff that he was
supposed to have done, in my mind I reacted by saying that’s horrible, let’s
hope it’s not true.” He deals with it with a typically off-centre way. In
the show he brings out a workout video for kids and the angle they have is
that MJ is a fattist. But the Jackson character says no, it’s not true, I am
just helping people.
Ridiculous enough to be funny and close enough to hurt. When I say Craig David
told me that he almost broke down because of the Bo’ Selecta!
character, he looks bewildered, hurt almost.
“I made up his character that was so far away from him it wasn’t really him.
Was it really Craig David, UK garage sensation? He had a Yorkshire accent
and a kestrel.”
Why did you give him that pet kestrel? “I have little fads where I watch the
same film quite a lot and I was watching Kes and doing the voices and
my wife was laughing. I thought I’ll give Craig David that voice. Imagine if
he wasn’t a UK garage sensation and really cool. Imagine if he was really
like that. It made us laugh and I didn’t think, ‘oh I’m going to
ruin his career’. I don’t think I have. He’s sold a lot of records. Is he so
upset?.”
He doesn’t understand how David could have reacted so badly when others, such
as Mel B, are now friends. There were a few mixed messages. The real David
appeared on the show three times.
“He must have swotted up on Bo’ Selecta! because he was
quoting from the show and I thought, ‘Ooh, he watches it and seems really
into it’. Then he invited me to do his encore at the Royal Albert Hall and I
thought, ‘He’s really into the show. That’s nice’. Maybe his management told
him that it would look like he’s got a sense of humour. And then he’s saying
that I’m not real comedy because I’m not Ricky Gervais. I don’t want to
upset anybody. I really don’t.”
You believe him when he says that. A lot of celebrities came on the show
because their management told them it would make them look cool and Francis
has often wondered whether they had actually ever watched it.
“I can honestly say that the only two people that I’ve ever upset were David
and Abi Titmuss when we did a spoof of a porn video with her. She wasn’t
happy about that. The person who should be upset is Mel. She looked almost
like Jim Bowen. But she thinks it’s funny. I don’t know if it’s because
she’s from Leeds.”
Several of the most loved characters will appear in the special, but not the
Beckhams. “Because we’ve run out of money and the old Beckham masks have
rotted away and we only had a certain amount of money to make new ones.
“We’ve got the old masks of Jackson and Mel B and David. I took them home and
looked after them like I was at school and got to look after the hamster.”
Did you take those because they were your favourites? “Yes, I thought I’m
looking after these. I don’t want anything to happen to them.”
He talks so lovingly about the masks as if they are his pets, as if they are
real sentient beings. What makes Francis so intriguing is how such a shy man
is so brilliantly, effortlessly cruel. The answer seems to be, he has no
idea that he is.
Cha’mone Mo’Fo’Selecta! screens on E4, on September
24; www.chamone.tv
My perfect weekend
Weekend bus or bicycle?
I don’t like buses. I’ve got four bicycles. That’s what fame has brought me —
bicycles.
Classical or hard rock?
I like pop, although I do like Danny Elfman who did the Beetlejuice
soundtrack.
Full English or fruit salad?
Full English, and I’ll have that for dinner and lunch as well. Sometimes I
wish I could get fish and chips twice for myself without feeling bad.
Savile Row or M&S?
Zara or H&M, but now and again I’ll go to All Saints.
Organic veg box or Iceland frozen?
Neither. I love Marks & Spencer’s microwave meals.
Couch potato or gym bunny?
Couch potato even though I don’t like my couch. It separates in the middle and
I fall in. We’ve got a new one, but for some reason we never sit on it. We
sit on the one that’s got baby toys everywhere.
Slapstick or satire?
Slapstick. Vic and Bob with frying pans.
Town or country?
Town. I like shopping. I’m a bit like a lady when it comes to shopping. I’ve
got a walk-in wardrobe.
I can’t get through the weekend without?
A smile from my baby and a drink with my mates. I like a nice glass of wine
and a gossip. I’m like one of the ladies from Sex and the City, the ginger
one.
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