Tap shoes, jazz hands and Comic Relief: an interview with Charlie Baker

Tap shoes, jazz hands and Comic Relief: an interview with Charlie Baker

29 March, 2011
by: Emma

Comedian Charlie Baker shows Emma McAlpine the moves that won him the Comic Relief dance crown...

I’m standing in Camden Passage, watching Charlie Baker tap-dancing his socks off, in a suit and bow tie, swinging off lamp posts and receiving some rather baffled looks from passers-by. As far as out-of-office mornings go, this is definitely a highlight.

Having just won BBC1's Let’s Dance for Comic Relief, Baker is here to tell me about his experience, but not before kindly agreeing to a ridiculous public photo shoot beforehand to go with the interview. We find a spot outside a rug shop with a bit of room for some acrobatics and I get to witness some of the more impressive moves from the show. He can even do one of those jump-in-the-air, side-kick thingies and knows what I’m talking about when I ask him if he can do one. We should be collecting even more for charity.

A celeb-filled charity dance competition, Let’s Dance For Comic Relief first started in 2009. Since Peep Show’s Robert Webb entertained a nation with a genuinely impressive ‘Flashdance’ in spandex, it has featured several amusing drag performances, including Noel Fielding as Kate Bush this year. Baker, and his dance partner James Thornton (from Emmerdale), are in fact the first non-drag act to win the competition, as voted for by the public.

“It’s also the first time a complete unknown has won it as well,” laughs Baker, as we retire to a nearby cafe. “We were only booked on the Tuesday beforehand to do it. James and I met up in the studio and said to each other: ‘So what have you got?’ We then rehearsed for four days non-stop and I have never been so scared in my life!

“It wasn't particularly funny our dance, I think we got the nanna's vote! And don’t forget the Emmerdale vote, you can't underestimate that. Eight million people a day watch that show. We certainly weren't getting the cool Noel Fielding demographic anyway.”

Whether or not he won the cool kids' vote; Baker’s dance, inspired by 1940s musicals like Easter Parade, helped to raise £1.2m for Comic Relief. Not bad for four days work. So how did a full-time stand-up comedian, with a not altogether athletic figure, pull off a dance like that?

“I graduated from drama school in ‘97 and tried show business for several years. It was horrific. It took a long time, far too many drinks and nearly messing up my life to realise I was in the wrong thing and what I had really always wanted to do was be a comic.

“Once I was doing an awful production of Pinocchio in Stoke-on-Trent. It was a Christmas show so we were doing morning matinees in schools. We'd been out the night before and I got hammered and turned up hugely hung-over. I was sat there dressed as a crab, about to be sick and I thought ‘something's gone wrong here!’ So I booked an open spot at a comedy gig.”

It’s been a tough climb up the comedy ladder since then, but Baker has survived, where many before him have given up. “It was quite a big decision because you’re not making any money for the first three years. I remember when someone first gave me £30 for a gig, I was nearly in tears! I think because I was a bit older when I started, I knew it had to work. It gave me the energy boost that I didn't have with acting.”

Since he started out on the comedy circuit, Baker has reached the final of C4’s So You Think You’re Funny? competition, closed the venerable Comedy Store and last year won the Mervyn Stutter Spirit of the Fringe award. As well as compering lots of gigs, he often uses his skills as an accomplished jazz singer in his act, satirising the likes of Frank Sinatra. I wonder whether he’ll be tempted to bring more dance on stage now too?

“I'll just do everything I've got and try and make it funny. Sometimes I wonder where old school entertainers have gone. That scene has become quite naff, but I think as long as you are making people laugh you can go off on any tangent at all.”

While he’s clearly a multi-talented performer, there’s no doubt chatting to Baker, he’s a comedian first and foremost. As the interview draws to a close, a ruffled, toothless old crazy approaches our table, sways for a second and mumbles: “It only does food or drink this place."

 “That’s my agent.” says Baker.

Photo credit: Alex Brenner

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Emma