Paul O’Grady

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Paul O'Grady bigraphy, stories - British comedian, actor and television presenter

Paul O’Grady : biography

14 June 1955 –

Paul James Michael O’Grady MBE (born 14 June 1955) is an English comedian, television presenter, actor, writer and radio DJ. Becoming famous for his drag queen comedic alter ego, Lily Savage, he subsequently became well known for presenting the daytime chat television series, The Paul O’Grady Show.

Born to a working class Irish migrant family in Birkenhead, North West England, O’Grady went through various jobs in his youth, including working in various bars, for the civil service and for social services, moving around the country. While living in London in 1978 he first turned his hand to drag, developing the character of Lily Savage based upon various female relatives of his. Proceeding on a tour of Northern England as a part of a drag mime duo, The Playgirls, he eventually went solo as a stand-up comedian. Performing for eight years at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern (RVT), he won a Perrier Award for his comedy act, attracting mainstream attention and presenting television shows Blankety Blank (1997–1999) and Lily Live! (2000–2001).

Moving on from his drag act, he appeared in the comedy sitcom Eyes Down (2003–2004) and presented several travel documentaries. In 2004, he began presenting The Paul O’Grady Show for ITV, but after a quarrel with the company re-launched the show on Channel 4 in 2006 as The New Paul O’Grady Show, which ran until 2009. Returning to ITV, he presented the Saturday night chat show Paul O’Grady Live (2010–2011) before stopping to focus on other projects, including presenting a Sunday evening show on BBC Radio 2, Paul O’Grady on the Wireless and two ITV programmes, award—winning documentary series For the Love of Dogs (2012—) and The British Animal Honours (2013—).

In 2003, O’Grady was listed in The Observer as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy, and in 2006 was listed by The Independent at number 32 in their 101 most influential gay people in Britain. Appointed MBE in the 2008 Birthday Honours list for services to entertainment, in 2010, he received an Honorary Doctor of Arts from De Montfort University, Leicester, in recognition of his outstanding contribution to television, radio and the stage.

Publications

O’Grady has authored a three-volume autobiography. The first volume, At My Mother’s Knee… And Other Low Joints, was published by Bantam in September 2008. It was given a rare positive review by Private Eye who noted that the book did not fall into the most common celebrity biography traps of being ghost written, settling scores or not sounding like it had been written by its subject. The second volume, The Devil Rides Out: The Second Coming, was released in September 2010. His third volume, Still Standing: The Savage Years, was released in October 2012, with the official launch event taking place at the Cambridge Theatre.

Chat-show and radio host

The Paul O’Grady Show: 2004–09

O’Grady stood in for Des O’Connor on an episode of the lunchtime celebrity chat show Today with Des and Mel, something that impressed ITV enough that they asked him to stand in for O’Connor on other occasions as well. Eventually they decided that O’Grady would be a success if he presented his own daytime television show, and so commissioned a series, The Paul O’Grady Show, which first aired on October 2004 in the 5 to 6 pm slot. The show, which involved O’Grady interviewing celebrity guests, aired at the same time at Channel 4’s similar series Richard and Judy, creating a friendly rivalry between the two programs for ratings. Despite the competition, O’Grady’s was a success, and won a number of awards in 2005, including a BAFTA and the award for Best TV Comedy Entertainment Personality at the British Comedy Awards. The show ran on ITV for three series, before O’Grady fell out with the broadcasting company and decided to switch to Channel 4.

In producing the show, O’Grady worked with many of his old friends, including Andy Collins, his warm-up man, whose job it was to "make sure the [studio] audience is relaxed, happy and ready for the main event".Simpson 2008. p. viii.