Comedian Roy ‘Chubby’ Brown has revealed he has no plans to hang up his microphone . . . despite his recent ill health.
The controversial comic is now in his 70s but has vowed to carry on entertaining until his body “no longer allows it”.
But despite a recent battle with throat cancer he “doubts” he’ll replicate fellow comedian Tommy Cooper and spend his very last moment on the stage.
Chubby, real name Royston Vasey, said: “You have days when you’re really tired and don’t feel anything, but other days you’re like: ‘Come on, let’s get on with it’.
“You can’t be up there all the time. Sometimes I’ve got to stand behind the door when the music starts and psyche myself up, but other times I’m ready.
“I know my job, I’ve been doing it for that long.
“People say I’ll be like Tommy Cooper and drop dead on stage, but I don’t know whether I will or not.
“I want to go as long as I can. As long as I can walk, talk, dance and sing.
“I’ll know, my body will know. Your body tells you when you have to go on a diet, or when it’s time to get out of bed.
“And when you get old, your body will say you can’t do this anymore.”
Roy 'Chubby' Brown
Carving a career out of political incorrectness, the 70-year-old, from Teesside, is known for his risqué, blue humour, often dividing opinion.
But his popularity is there to see and he was famously dubbed the most important comedian of the past 25 years in the book A National Joke.
He is still selling out venues on his UK tour, most recently at City Hall in Newcastle, and his DVDs are flying off the shelves, enough to convince him to carry on doing what he loves.
“We plod on and plod on and I still work because I enjoy working,” said Chubby.
“I’m not doing it for money; I don’t want to be the richest person in the graveyard.
“You can be in Southampton one night, Inverness the next. You go where they’re willing to laugh at you.
“You know when you retire and people say: ‘I’m retired and I’m going to go on long walks, paint pictures and go fishing?’
“I don’t want to do any of that. I just want to tell jokes and I want people to laugh, because that’s my environment.”
Roy 'Chubby' Brown
Chubby showed a softer side when diagnosed with throat cancer in 2002, admitting he passed out when told by doctors.
And away from the stage he is working to raise awareness and cash for research.
He said: “They say within five years it’ll all be cured but I don’t know whether it will be or not. They’re striding towards new things all the time.
“But I feel really lucky because the day they told me I had cancer it feels as though you’ve got a week to live, and you’re wondering how you’re going to spend that week.
“Then the reality kicks in. You think: ‘God, I’ve got a wife, young kids. How are they going to manage?’
“That’s why I’m passionate about raising money to help beat it.”
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