Comedian Paul Chowdhry said he was hoping to inspire more people to visit Blackburn as he heads to town later this month.

The multi-award-winning stand-up actor and writer has doubled the size of his 'Family-Friendly Comedian (No Children)' tour for 2022 with 43 dates nationwide.  

He comes to Blackburn’s King George’s Hall on the rescheduled date of Friday October 28. 

Paul said he had been delighted to be back on the road again following the lifting of Covid restrictions last year, “The atmosphere has been incredible, it’s like we’ve all been given the freedom we’ve been craving for a long time and not to take this privilege for granted anymore.”

The show sees him tackle the UK’s handling of COVID-19, England football fans, Tom Cruise’s helicopter, Naked Attraction in the Middle East and Nicki Minaj’s take on the vaccine.

Paul is one of very few comedians who has attempted to stay true to his roots. Despite selling out some of the biggest venues in the country his shows still attract fans who fell in love with his use of Punjabi.

It is something that still makes up a part of his act and he said the jokes resonated very well with non-Punjabi speaking audience members.  

He told us: “In fact, I've probably taught Punjabi through my shows as I do occasionally translate the words into English.

“However, no deep understanding of Punjabi is required when the emphasis and delivery are sometimes so brutal it makes the words pretty self-explanatory.”

The tour which has taken in more than 50 venues already passed through some very ‘obscure towns’.

He said: “Some of the venues have been in interesting rooms, looking like leisure centres or swimming pools without a swimming pool. Aldershot was great, but it's more commonly known as Alders**t by the locals.”

On coming to Blackburn he said: “I don’t tend to visit Blackburn for recreational purposes.

“But I’m not sure if people visit Blackburn for their sunny holidays or honeymoons. Hopefully I can make a difference to the local tourism.”

This year Paul signed up for E4’s Celebrity Cooking School, which sees people who have little or no cooking experience attempting to improve their skills.

It also featured Kerry Katona, Toby Aromolaran, Stevo The Madman and Shaun Ryder.
Paul said: “Being Indian, I always wanted to become a Masterchef. But you’ll have to watch the TV show to find out how the drama ensued. I tend to cook very simple dishes, like salads, boiled veg and fresh fish, nothing too exciting.

“But I want to become such a master chef that eventually I can become the best chef in Rusholme and then insult people in Punjabi.”

The Family-Friendly Comedian tour follows Live Innit, his Amazon Prime stand-up special which also extended to a nationwide tour, seeing Paul perform five nights at the Hammersmith Apollo and become the first British-Asian stand-up to sell out the 10,000-seater Wembley Arena.

The show Live Innit – won Best Live Event at the 2018 Asian Media Awards.

Tickets for the show are available here