Singing comedian Lloyd Griffith coming soon to Cambridge
Back for his third UK stand-up tour, Grimsby’s favourite football-loving comedian and choirboy discusses his two passions.
Since his last live tour, All Rounder, comedian, choirboy and (still) ‘aspiring’ goalkeeper Lloyd Griffith has fronted BBC Three’s Can You Beat the Bookies?, co-hosted Netflix series Flinch and been a regular host of Sky’s Soccer AM.
Touring the the UK with his new show, Not Just A Pretty Face, Lloyd will be calling in at the Cambridge Junction on Tuesday, March 17.
“Basically, the title doesn’t bear any real resemblance to the show,” explains Lloyd, who also created and appears in the YouTube series, Premier League Fan Reactions, “and the show is about me, a little fat guy from Grimsby, who wanted to be – like a lot of people growing up – a footballer. And that didn’t happen, for obvious reasons.
“And then how I became a choirboy, and then a professional choirboy – travelled the world doing it – and how I then got reintroduced to football over the last few years, having hosted Soccer AM and a number of different football shows.
“Essentially, the show is about me trying to combine my two loves – singing and football – ahead of the Euros this year. Ultimately, it’s a funny, feel-good show.”
Lloyd often gets told that he looks like actor Jack Black, a very versatile entertainer who played a romantic lead in the 2006 film The Holiday.
“He’s been a romantic lead in a lot of films,” says Lloyd. “I think he’s retiring, so if any directors are looking for a similar build and style of actor, then I’m more than happy to fit in and do some Hollywood films.”
On his impressive singing voice, Lloyd says: “I’ve supported Jack Whitehall on his arena tours, and I sing at the start of that – and people don’t really expect it. You can see their faces and the gasps of ‘Is this really happening?’
“It’s definitely a string to my bow and also a bit of a USP – people remember you from singing, and it’s something that I’ve always done and something that I love doing, so I love to include it in the stand-up.”
So Lloyd will be singing on the Junction stage? “Yes, there’ll be singing in the show,” he confirms. “I wouldn’t say it’s a musical show, but it’s definitely a comedy show with little blasts of music here and there.”
Lloyd has sung in many wonderful places, including Westminster Abbey and St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle, and has had plenty of other memorable moments as a singer.
“There’s been some amazing experiences,” he says, “I sang on the Bee Gees’ last Christmas album, I sang at various minor royals’ weddings and celebrity weddings...
“It’s bringing the kind of music I do to the fore. Paul Potts and Russell Watson have made a career out of this, but what I’m aiming to do is mix football and singing.”
As Lloyd is from Grimsby, I was curious to know what he made of the 2016 film The Brothers Grimsby, starring Sacha Baron Cohen.
“It was fine,” he says. “I don’t really think it was specifically about Grimsby – he just wanted a working class town to take the mickey out of!
“However, I think the way it was received speaks volumes, really. It wasn’t the greatest film that’s ever been written... I was actually asked to audition for it.
“They were looking for an overweight Grimsby Town fan in his early 30s and I thought, ‘That’s it, there we go – that’s exactly the role I’ve been training myself for for the last 20 years’.”
Tickets: £15.50, £13.50 (concs) from junction.co.uk.
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