Frank Skinner reveals why he has stopped telling sex jokes on stage

Tom Beasley
·Contributor
·2-min read
Frank Skinner became known over the years for telling jokes about his sex life, but has toned those down in recent years. (SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty)
Frank Skinner became known over the years for telling jokes about his sex life, but has toned those down in recent years. (SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty)

Frank Skinner has said there are fewer jokes about sex in his stand-up comedy routines than there used to be — simply because he's having a lot less sex now.

The 65-year-old comedy legend told an upcoming edition of The South Bank Show — reported via the Daily Star — that he considers his performances to be at least partially autobiographical, reflecting where he is in his life.

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"I don’t talk about my own sex life now on stage for the same reason I don’t talk about climbing trees. It stopped," he joked.

Skinner added: "For me stand-up is like a diary. It really reflects where I am at that point in my life."

Melvynn Bragg is set to interview Frank Skinner on a forthcoming edition of The South Bank Show. (Sky UK)
Melvynn Bragg is set to interview Frank Skinner on a forthcoming edition of The South Bank Show. (Sky UK)

But that doesn't mean Skinner will be side-stepping into cleaner or family-friendly material when he returns to the stage.

"I will still do, to use the shorthand term, k**b jokes. I still love them," Skinner added.

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Skinner first performed stand-up comedy in the late 1980s and rose to fame quickly after winning the Perrier Award at the Edinburgh Fringe in 1991.

He subsequently formed a comedy partnership with David Baddiel, hosting sport-based show Fantasy Football League — which is set for a reboot starring Matt Lucas and Elis James — from 1994 until 2004.

Frank Skinner has been performing stand-up comedy since the tail end of the 1980s. (Tolga Akmen/AFP/Getty)
Frank Skinner has been performing stand-up comedy since the tail end of the 1980s. (Tolga Akmen/AFP/Getty)

Skinner is due to return to the stage this year, performing a new hour of comedy — entitled 30 Years of Dirt — at the Edinburgh Festival.

It's his second show in the last few years, with his previous tour Showbiz concluding in 2020, just before the COVID-19 pandemic brought an end to the live comedy scene for several months.

Read more: Ricky Gervais says he's trying to get cancelled with new show

Away from the stage, Skinner hosts his own weekly show on Absolute Radio every Saturday morning, as well as Frank Skinner's Poetry Podcast.

The South Bank Show's interview with Frank Skinner is due to air on 20 July via Sky Arts.

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