Skinner to leave TV for return to touring

Published Wednesday 16 November 2005 at 10:45 by Liz Thomas

Exclusive: Frank Skinner is to move away from television and work on his first national stand-up tour for eight years, claiming that “anyone can be a chatshow host”.

The star, whose contract with ITV is up at the end of the year, told The Stage that after nine series of the Frank Skinner Show and five series of Baddiel and Skinner Unplanned, he wanted to get back on the road and test himself as a comedian.

He added: “People keep coming up to me on the street and asking when I’m going to do stand-up again. I’ve been doing television for a while and it might be time for a change. Anyone can be a chat show host. You could take some Big Brother contestant, put them in the chair and they’d be okay. You wouldn’t put them on a 72-date tour though. That’s a real skill.”

Although he has performed in the West End and at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Skinner’s last tour was in 1997 where he played 100 dates to 25,000 people. The same year he performed Britain’s biggest solo stand-up gig at London’s 6,000-seat Battersea Power Station.

One source close to the comic said: “Frank has been looking for a way to work in a stand-up tour into his schedule. He is hoping to be able to pick a date when he has fulfilled his obligations to ITV.”

Skinner also revealed that he has a book deal and is working on a novel, which will be finished by July next year.