‘Grumpy old dog’ Eclair finds some new tricks to smile about

“It was like a camping trip without any off-licences,” says Jenny Eclair.

The comedian and star of the BBC’s Grumpy Old Women series is talking about her experience in the Australian jungle for the hit TV show I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here!.

Some people were surprised to see her on the reality TV show, often used to revive flagging careers, but she says there was a serious reason behind her decision to do it. “I’d just come back from the funeral of a friend and I was at a low ebb. I didn’t watch the show but I thought it would do me good so I said, ‘yes’. I thought the weather would be wonderful but it was more like the Welsh valleys, because it rained every single day and I was permanently soggy.”

Despite this she enjoyed her time in the jungle. “I did lose some weight, which was good. I was huffing and puffing at the start but by the end I was down to a size 12.”

It also helped boost her latest stand-up tour, Old Dog, New Tricks. “It’s definitely helped put more bums on seats,” she says. The tour, which stops at the Doncaster Dome later this month, is a mixture of new material and what she calls her “greatest hits”. “It’s the best tour I’ve done, and I enjoy being on stage which, after 30 years, you would think I should,” she jokes.

Eclair started out as a stand-up comic in the early 80s, although originally she wanted to be a punk rocker. “I owe punk a big ‘thank you’ because for the first time women were allowed to be as bad as the boys. I really wanted to be a punk singer, but even by punk’s standards I couldn’t sing.”

Instead, she headed to London to try and make a name for herself as a stand-up comedian. “It was a very ‘right-on’ time to be in London, clubs were actively looking for female stand-ups and as there only about four of us we got gigs.”

So who were her female role models? “There weren’t any. Someone like Victoria Wood seemed like she was from a completely different generation. Back then I think I was a bit snooty; it was jealousy really. I’ve got much more respect for her now,” she says.

Although stand-up has become big business, in the early days Eclair found it a hard slog.

“I had some tough times. You would walk on stage to a barrage of people shouting ‘**** off’. There was one club in London that was really bad. I remember hearing Harry Enfield being sick in the boys’ loos before he went on because he was so nervous.”

In 1995, she became the first woman to win the coveted Perrier Comedy Award, at the Edinburgh Festival. “It was a good break but it wasn’t like all of a sudden I had TV shows coming out of my ears.”

Since then her career has grown steadily and in recent years she’s become a stalwart of the BBC’s Grumpy Old Women series. “Being a grump took over my life for about five years. It was great touring with people like Linda Robson and Dillie Keane. We’d be playing to audiences of 2,000 people – it was like being at a pop concert.”

As well as making regular appearances on TV and radio shows, she’s also carved out a career as a writer and is working on her third novel.

“I think there’s a fear that it could all grind to a halt, so I try and throw as much mud at the wall as I can and see what sticks.”

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Jenny Eclair plays Doncaster Dome on June 19. For ticket information call 01302 370777.