Harry and Paul launch their first national tour in Brighton

Brighton Centre, King’s Road, Friday, October 23, and Sunday, November 8

“WE’VE done our prog rock and solo albums and now we’ve come back together for a tour.”

So says Paul Whitehouse on a break from rehearsals in a North London church hall as he joins forces with long-term comedy partner Harry Enfield for their first ever national tour as a double act – which launches tonight in Brighton.

So the story goes the pair met in a Hackney pub more than 30 years ago, and started working on characters for the 1985 alternative comedy showcase Saturday Live.

It’s where early favourite characters like kebab shop owner Stavros and Loadsamoney came from.

Both are set to make an appearance in the show.

“It would have been easy to just churn out the old shows,” says Whitehouse continuing the comedy as rock and roll theme by making reference to bands who get back together to play their greatest hits.

“But we wanted to do something different. We’ll take the old stuff and give it a modern twist. So we couldn’t do Stavros without some kind of reference to the current situation in Greece.”

“He’ll only take drachmas now,” adds Harry.

“I was worried about making Loadsamoney work, but then I realised that he is just a stupid, naughty idiot.”

More classic characters getting a modern makeover come from the later Harry Enfield Television Programme and Harry Enfield And Chums shows which ran from 1990 to 1998.

Home to Kevin The Teenager, who Harry is still planning to play despite being into his fifth decade, it also brought Smashie And Nicey to the world.

The relentlessly upbeat DJ pairing must have played a part in encouraging BBC Radio 1 to get rid of a whole generation of ageing jocks in the mid-1990s.

“You couldn’t do Smashie and Nicey stuff from the past, when there is so much to say about DJs now,” says Harry. “They’re easy to modernise. Nicey’s been away on a ‘holiday’ for a few years.”

“We’re not quite sure where or what his favourite tree is,” adds Paul mentioning there is something about yew trees in the show: “But that sketch is about forestry management.”

A recurring theme is the pair’s advancing years, with Paul, now 57, pointing out they’re much closer in age to The Old Gits now and in need of less make-up.

"We acknowledge in the show that we're not in the first flush of youth,” says Harry, 54.

“We're both so old that we're starting to get ailments. So if we don't do this tour now, we never will. Every year, more of our fans are dying."

"A lot of them can't remember who we are," adds Paul. "But to be fair, we can't remember who we are, either. We'll have a nurse standing by backstage with a defibrillator!"

In 1998 and 2002 Paul took The Fast Show out on the road – the cult catchphrase-heavy sketch show he co-penned with regular Harry Enfield writer Charlie Higson and some of the finest comedy names of the 1990s including Mark Williams, Caroline Aherne, Simon Day, Arabella Weir, John Thomson, and Father Ted creators Graham Linehan and Arthur Mathews.

Despite that experience he admits there are a certain amount of nerves when it comes to getting on the stage for the first time with Harry.

“We want to fulfil people’s expectations,” says Paul. “When we did The Fast Show Live, we got a great a deal of affection from the audience. That feeds your enjoyment and everybody else’s.

“I hope it comes across how much we relish our relationship. We’ve sneaked in some stuff about our relationship and take the mickey out of each other all the time.”

The pair underlined their comedy relationship with the BBC One sketch show Harry And Paul, which began in 2007 and has since run to four series.

More recently they have produced a couple of TV specials together, including a 2014 celebration of BBC Two and last August’s An Evening With Harry And Paul mixing clips and celebrity questions.

“I get so many people coming up to me and saying, ‘When are you and Harry going to get back together?’,” laughs Paul.

“I’m never away from the bloke! I can’t wait to stop working with him, as I’ve got some quality comedy to do.”

“Occasionally Paul tries to drop in a line relating to a certain insurance company, and I slap his wrist,” adds Harry, who has also made appearances in cult favourites Skins and playing Jack Whitehall’s dad in Bad Education.

He admits he’s really looking forward to the tour.

“I think it’ll be great – as long as we know the lines and don’t have a heart attack!”

Starts 7.30pm, tickets from £32.50. Call 08448 471515.