Friday Night With Jonathan Ross' house band, 4 Poofs and a Piano, to play Bromley and Croydon

Just because 4 Poofs and a Piano play such a small part in Jonathan Ross’ BBC 1 chat show doesn’t mean the troupe haven’t made a mark.

Styling the same brand of camp comedy which made comedian Alan Carr a household name, donning T-shirts emblazoned with the faces of Ross’ star guests, the band has garnered an impressive fan base, which included the actress Julie Walters.

“We generally go round to the green room where guests sit, have a chat to them and sometimes get them to sign our T-shirts,” said band member Ian Parkin.

“Julie Walters was beside herself. I am a huge, huge fan of Julie Walters, she should be beatified, never mind making her a dame. She’s an amazing woman, so I was biggly boggly when she came in and I wanted to go on my knees and kiss the ground she walks on and she just came running up saying ‘I love you boys.’ “We’ve had a few come on and say ‘we watch you all the time’. We’re very lucky because most of the guests are incredibly generous of spirit and really lovely people.”

Such is 4 Poofs’ popularity there has even been discussion about the boys getting their own spin-off TV show.

Ian added: “We’ve talked to other TV companies about a project of our own but it’s finding the right project and fitting it in somehow.

“I love the idea of some kind of magazine show that’s not so structured. We were on This Morning, and I love that. It’s relaxed, they just chat. They’ve got scripted moments but then they’ll just chat and banter among themselves and I quite like that.

“We did talk to somebody about recreating Priscilla the Queen of the Desert. So they’d take us out to Australia and drive us about, coast to coast. We’d have to do our act in all these Australian towns. But, it’s a huge budget.”

Now that’s something Leisure, and, it’s probably safe to say, Julie Walters would certainly watch.

But first, their debut UK tour. Sure, they have been on the road before, supporting Joan Collins on her tour — where lyrics to their hysterical homage number Hooked on Divas had to be altered so not to cause Joan or her fans any offense — but this time round they get to build on the Friday Night With Jonathan Ross segments making them bigger, better, and of course more over the top.

Ian said: “A lot of people are going to be pleasantly surprised. So far the comments we are getting are ‘wow, you really can sing’.

“We do everything from a camp little parody of the 1960s right through to Bohemian Rhapsody.

“We’ve got dance in there too, we do a Village People spoof, which seems to amuse people no end, we’ve got a tap routine in there – lots of comedy. We do have people coming up saying we didn’t think it was going to be that funny.”

In short, this tour is giving 4 Poofs and a Piano a real chance to shine, because, as Ian himself admits, they don’t get the chance to showcase their vocal and performance talents on TV.

“Well, this is it,” said Ian. “One of the problems we’ve had for a long time is people saying ‘we love you but what do you do?’ “Well this is a chance to come and find out. We’ve got two hours of us singing our hearts out, dancing around like idiots and making people laugh, hopefully.”

The band certainly have come a long way since meeting when they all joined the same choir in 2000.

Ian explained: “We’d all been in the business professionally and hadn’t had work for a while.

“We were all temping and thought we’d join this choir. It’s a good way to keep the voice going and meet a few people,” said Ian.

“We got chatting and discovered we’d all been in the business and came up with this idea for a little group to hopefully get a bit of pocket money at the weekends, doing the clubs and places like that. When this came up we thought ‘this it it, a different path to follow, let’s go with it’.

“Then, eight months down the road, we suddenly find ourselves with a contract with national television. Which was a bit of shock to the system.”

Although the guys don’t tend to socialise with Jonathan, he’s been supportive, plugging the band’s gigs via his Radio 2 show.

Ian says he’s also very generous, once taking him to see Stephen Sondheim’s Sunday in the Park with George, as they both share a passion for the great composer.

So the band has a powerful ally, but it’s their personalities which have kept them in favour.

Reflecting on their success and popularity, Ian said: “I think it’s partly because we don’t take ourselves seriously. We take the work seriously but not ourselves.

“And Jonathan makes fun of us. To start with a lot people thought we were there to be the butt of homophobic jokes, but it’s not that at all.

“He makes fun of us in the same way he makes fun of everyone else and himself. We don’t get offended by it.

“We do it in our own show, we send ourselves up all the time and I think people like that.

“They do seem to like the fact we’re approachable.”

4 Poofs and a Piano at The Churchill, High Street, Bromley. Nov 9. 0870 060 6620 (booking fee).

At Fairfield Halls, Croydon on Nov 11. 020 8688 9291.