Exclusive chat with comedy legend Mick Miller ahead of his Lancashire show tomorrow

75-year-old Mick Miller is one of Britain’s most respected comedy veterans and he’s currently part way through a UK wide ‘Audience With’ tour.

Although hailing from Liverpool, Mick has lived on the Fylde Coast for the past fifty years and this week he’s bringing his new show, compered by Blackpool Comedy Station owner Ryan Gleeson, to one of his local theatres.

Mick, who lived in Starr Gate, South Shore for 25 years and more recently Poulton-le-Fylde since 2001, performs at the Fleetwood Marine Hall on Sunday, December 14.

See what he had to say about the show, his love of the Fylde Coast and his soon-to-be-aired Royal Variety Performance below...

How are you feeling about bringing an "Audience with Mick Miller" to Marine Hall?

“Great! I've done Blackpool for many, many years, all the piers and most of the hotels so it's nice to get up to Fleetwood. Yeah, I'm looking forward to it.”

Have you performed at Marine Hall before?

“No, never been there before.”

So you’ve not been for leisure either?

“Well, me and the wife, we go up to the fish place in Fleetwood and we always get fish and chips once ever week.”

Once every week?!

“Yeah, there's the fish dock opposite Asda, and we always take a trick trip up there. They've got a fish and chip shop, which is very good next to it, called the Shark.”

Ah so when you come up to do your show, do you think you'll pay another visit there?

“I might do, yeah, but I think it closes at seven and I don't usually eat before I go on stage.”

Why is that?

“It’s always been a thing you know. When I first started, I used to throw up before I used to go on stage so it's just been a thing since then- that you don't eat before you go on stage, and then you pig out when you get off!”

Well aside from your digestive habits, can you describe to us what your show is?

“Yeah well it’s an audience with me, obviously. I have Ryan Gleason, the comic who runs the Comedy Station in Blackpool, he goes on and does 10 minutes, he introduces me and I do 50 minutes. Then Ryan interviews me for an hour about my career.”

So for the first half, can you give us a hint of what sort of comedy we might expect?

“Well, I'll mention Blackpool and the Pleasure Beach and all the normal things. Then I'm a one liner man, really, you know, like the grandson, he said grandad, there's a man at the door with a bald head’, I said ‘well tell him I've got one’. Just one liners, not many long stories.”

Then obviously you’ll have a lot to talk about regarding your career but can you give us some highlights?

“Yeah, well, I started as a footballer. I played for Port Vale many, many years ago, and I was signed by Sir Stanley Matthews, who was like the Maradona of the day, as you might say. So, yeah, I had three years living in Stoke on Trent, and then I got on the road. I was a blue coat at Pontins. Then I got on the road supporting people like Bob Monkhouse and Tommy Cooper and Shirley Bassey and people like that. So I did that for a few years. Then I got on a program called New Faces, which is the equivalent of Britain's Got Talent. So I won my heat on that and then in 1980 I got on the show called The Comedians, which was very popular. I did that for three years and since then, I've done lots of stuff. I've done a bit of acting: I was in Ideal, which was Johnny Vegas, there were eight series of that and I played his father, then I was in Car Share with Peter Kay. I've also been cruising for 25 years: I do all the Cunard ships so I've been all over the world doing that. I've worked abroad too: I worked in Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong. I did a lot of troop gigs: I did the Falklands War, I'd been out there three times, and then the Gulf War, I went out to that one with Bradley Walsh.. And, yeah, I've been doing this for 50 years.”

Well I hope this ‘audience with’ isn't a farewell then?!

“No, no, no! Well, I'm booked right through until next November and of course, I've just done the Royal Variety Performance so that was a great honour.”

How was that?

“It was at the Royal Albert Hall and it was great, loads of people were in it. Jessie J was on, and Westlife, Madness, Michael Ball, Stephen Fry and Biggens, of course, because they did the pantomime sketch. Jason Manford was great as the host too. So, yeah, I enjoyed it and I did well so I'm looking forward to seeing how that comes out.”

And did you get to meet William & Kate, what were they like?

“Yeah you do. You know, they come on stage and have a chat with you. So, yeah, William was interested in the troop gigs I've done, and he was laughing. Then Kate just said she really enjoyed it and she was saying the children have started telling jokes now!”

Well the Royal Variety Show is on TV on December 21 so why should people tune in to see your performance?

“Well, it's Christmas and it's a good day to be on, it's a Sunday and it's on about six o'clock for two and a half hours so, yeah, I think there'll be a lot of people staying in, you know the couple of days before Christmas. A lot of people watch it every year, because it's a good charity. And, yeah, I just did well. I did all my one liners so everyone laughed. I'm pleased with it.”

Have you done the Royal Variety Performance before?

“I did it in 2011 but I was only a theatre act so that meant I was just on in-between, you know, while they got things ready. So I did it in between Penn and Teller and the musical Singing in the Rain. I did really well so they phoned me up a week later and they said ‘Oh, your stuff was that good that we've put it in the main show’. But the only thing was, I didn't meet the Royals and I didn't do the walk down at the end. So anyway, flash forward to now, the producer had seen me at a comedy club and she said ‘Would you do it again?’ So I jumped at the chance!”

So how does it feel, after you've been doing comedy for 50 years, to finally get to perform in the main Royal Variety Show?

“Oh brilliant. The main three things is, you know, the London Palladium - so I've done the London Palladium-, the Royal Command, I’ve done that now, and I worked in Vegas. So you can't top them three, can you?”

Oh, well, I'm going to try - can you tell me more about your history of performing in Blackpool?

“Well ‘79 I did South Pier. That was a 25 week season, you know, it was brilliant, a summer season in Blackpool, because you get the summer and then you also get the lights. An entertainer would start in June to like the 30th of October. So it's a great thing and I was invited back for the second year. Then I went on Central Pier: I worked with Linda Nolan on Maggie Mays for two years. And then I was on North Pier: they gave me my own place called Mick Miller's Comedy Store at the front of the pier. So I did two years there, and then I did five years at the Viking, Claremont and Cliffs, because I like staying at home, you know. So, yeah, I've had a great time in Blackpool, a great time. And I've done like the Lowther Pavilion, and I do quite a few gigs now and again at Lytham Hall. I’ve done everywhere.”

Being a long term Fylde Coast resident, does your tour’s Fleetwood show feel like a hometown show to you now?

“It does, yes. Well, I did the Little Theater in Thornton, but it's only a small venue that so when Fleetwood asked me to do it, I said yeah, so it'll be great to get up there and have a look.”

What are Lancashire audiences like?

“They're lovely, they're lovely. But now with social media, you know, people will travel. Last Sunday, I did the Hot Water Comedy in Liverpool, which is a great venue and people came from Leicester, North Wales.So, you know, people coming up to Blackpool for the weekend may get a ticket, and there’'ll be the local people that will want to come. But yeah, people, people travel now, and it's all down to social media.”

Well you're not traveling far from your home to the show, but will you make a night of it?

“Not really. It’ll be too late to go to that fabulous restaurant in Fleetwood that does seafood. I forget what it's called now, but it's always a bit late when you finish work, you know, it's usually a kebeb. There's always one of them open in Blackpool!”

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Why should people buy tickets to see you in Fleetwood if they haven't already?

“Well, just come and see! It's nice to find out what I did in the past, you know, a lot of people are quite shocked when they learn I was a professional footballer. They find out about gigs I've done over the years, who I’ve worked with, you know, they like stories about Tommy Cooper, Bob Monkhouse and les Dawson was a great pal of mine, so I used to spend a lot of time with Les socially. Yeah, it's been great for me, Blackpool, well, the Fylde Coast.”

You mentioned you're booked up until November next year, are there any plans you want to share with us?

“Well, if it goes well, I'll come back next year! I do New Brighton’s Floral Pavilion once a year, and that always sells out which is lovely. I'm doing Glasgow Empire, I'm doing all the way down south as well. I'm doing Ipswich, South End, Bournemouth. So yeah, it's going well. I'm hoping this Royal Command performance might boost a few tickets down south!”

Final question, do you have any advice for anyone hoping to be a comedian?

“Just get yourself a bit of an act and go to a comedy club on a tryout night, you know, an open mic thing, and just keep at it. It took me two years to get things bedded in, you know. And don't worry if you die on the first one, just go back and try again and just get a start and an ending -usually what comes in the middle will find its own way.”