'We need to save the Guild Hall'- exclusive chat with Preston's Phil Ellis ahead of his two homecoming shows

A top comedian from Preston is returning for the fourth homecoming show of his latest tour this week.

Preston comedian Phil Ellis, who you may know best from coming runner up in Taskmaster last year, brings his acclaimed stand-up show ‘Bath Mat’ to Chorley Theatre on Wednesday, September 23.

The gig- which marks Phil’s fourth time in Chorley with this show- sold out months ago but fans who missed out will have another chance to see him live this weekend in Lancashire too.

The former Archbishop Temple and Runshaw College pupil will make an appearance at a Lostock Hall charity night held this Saturday for ‘Succeeding for Sandra’, a family fund raising money for Muscular Dystrophy UK in memory of Preston mum Sandra, who died aged 51 in 2017, and in support of her daughter Alannah, who lives with the condition.

Ahead of his return to Lancashire this week, we spoke to the 44-year-old funny man about the two gigs, his career so far and why the Guild Hall urgently needs saving.

How are you feeling about your upcoming Chorley show?

“That show will be great. This is the fourth night we've sold out at Chorley, and they've all been brilliant. I love the audiences. A lot of people coming from Preston, obviously, and the theatre's beautiful. The Chorley Theater used to be called Chorley Little Theater, but then they realized they were the only theatre, so they just changed it to ‘Theatre’ which makes sense, and it's not that little either, it's quite nice. It's about 250 seats, so we've sold four of those out. We could have done a few more, but I think it got to a point where we went... ‘We'll come back on the next tour and give them something new’. So, yeah, it's great, a beautiful theatre.”

Why have you come to Chorley four times with this tour?

“There's no theatre in Preston big enough since the Guild Hall was closed down. I feel that Preston Council have let down the people of Preston by not having anything like a theatre in place*. Myself, being from Preston, I feel that certain areas of Preston life have been very much neglected, that being giving the people of Preston things to actually do.

“I think Preston needs a kick up the arse. I love Preston. It's my hometown. I go back there and I just feel sorry for the people of Preston now, I feel that their needs are not being met and I think one of those big things is the theatre situation, which it doesn't sound, you know, in the scheme of things of the world, you don't think the theatre is that important. If you go back through history, it actually shows, you know, it does an awful lot for people, even if it's to educate about certain things or to just entertain and have a release, you know, something else to do, rather than go to the pub., I mean, it gives people options. So I wanted to play Preston very much. This is my biggest tour. We've sold a lot of tickets… and that for me, coming home to Preston, was the big thing. And then we literally couldn't. We tried looking at everything, but there was no theatre that was suitable. I mean, there's some lovely little theatres. I'm not having a go at those independent theatres, they're great, but for what we wanted to do, we couldn't do it because there was no theatre. I mean, I think the Guild Hall has since reopened, but from what I can gather, it's just the lobby.”

*Preston City Council is currently reviewing the future of the Guild Hall, their last official statement confirming that they recognise the need for a large-scale entertainment and conferencing centre in the city centre but no decision has yet been made.

It’s called the Guild Lounge

“What is going on? It's a beautiful theatre... I saw Peter Kay there when I was a kid. I saw Harry Hill there, who I now chat to which is weird, isn't it? It's odd how your life turns around, you know, I’ve got his phone number, and you can win that phone number if you call into the Lancashire Evening Post! I’m only joking but yeah, it's just sad to me…We need to save the Guild Hall. That's a big thing I want to push. We need to save that because it's a beautiful theatre. And if they rip it out and turn it into flats… I'm going to make sure they bring back The Big Breakfast show, and I'm going to go on it and have a complaint.”

Well are you surprised that you’ve sold out Chorley four times?

“Yeah, oh, it's amazing. I love it. I've done 100 dates almost on this tour and I don't get bored of it because I keep it fresh. Most people come back which is really exciting because they know that I go off on one a lot in the show. There's a lot of structured stuff, but within it, there's certain elements I keep quite loose, so it can be different every night, and I like interacting with the audience. Not interacting in the way that you see a lot of clips online when people just look at people and go, ‘What do you do for a living?’ and they tell them and they just call them a name. I try and make it a little bit more interesting. So I like to involve an audience in a fun way that they feel part of the show. So yeah, it's exciting, a lot of people come back. I recognize people now, which is quite nice. You get a lot of gifts, which is really sweet. Chorley ones are very lovely, and the Chorley Theatre- can I just say this- the backstage green room, the snacks in there are second to none. We're talking Chorley cakes. We're talking like proper high quality handmade crisps. They even got me a cup with my own name on it and saying ‘four nights sold out at Chorley Theatre’. I mean, how sweet is that!”

Is it different for you performing to a home crowd as opposed to a crowd anywhere else in the UK?

“I always give the same amount of energy to any audience but it's nice because when I'm in Chorley or Preston, a lot of old friends come and you can sort of reference things from your childhood, which is quite fun. I was in Edinburgh, and a friend of mine, I was doing the show, and I mentioned I was from Preston, and this person shouted out ‘I'm from Preston’. They cheered. I asked where they were from and they were from where I grew up. I went, ‘That's weird’ and then I went, ‘Which school did you go to?’ and they said my primary school. I went ‘I went there’. He went, ‘Yeah, I know it's. I'm your friend. I'm your old friend, Mark’, and I haven't seen him for 32 years. I was like, ‘Oh my God’ and I went over, and he'd come with his dad, and we had a big hug, and it was brilliant. And then I started telling some stories that the rest of the audience could relate to but based on our childhood, so it was really nice.”

So Preston does get mentioned in your show?

“It does. Preston does. I love Preston. I mean, that's where my formative years were. You know, my parents still live in Preston, so does my brother, so I go back very often to visit. You know, all the old haunts are still there.”

What are your old haunts?

“Well, we moved around an awful lot when I was a kid so I lived in Fulwood, Ashton, Plungington, then Penwortham but I moved away at 18, and then I never really went back full time. But I spent lockdown in Preston. That was fun. That was just in town, basically going out every night so during lockdown, you might have seen me just wandering around Avenham Park every day, filming myself like a weirdo.”

There's worse parks to have to walk around

“Yeah it’s a beautiful park. Beautiful- sitting by that river, looking all those plastic bags flow by. No, it's lovely. I do like Avenham Park. Oasis played there, you know, when I was younger and then they got bottled. People threw bottles at the stage, and they said we will never play Preston ever again. And you know what? Tell me what you want about Oasis. They've stuck to their word. They've never played Preston again.”

So are you from Fulwood originally then if that’s the first place you mentioned?

“Yeah, I grew up in Fulwood until I was about 12, and then we thought ‘fed up of all these trees and you know nice little quiet roads and that. Let's go to Ashton’ and we went to Ashton and Plungington. I loved Ashton. Ashton was one of my favorite places to live. I don't know why. I just loved it ‘round there. You'd have a little wander. There used to be a bowling alley around the back. Don't know if that's still there. And then you could walk through Plungington. Long summers, friends... They were good days. We then lived in Plungington which I loved living ‘round because it's handy for town, so it was getting to that point when I was just getting a bit older, and we're getting to wanting to go into town sort of days. So a lot of fond memories of Preston. I used to love going to Thunder Books, but I think it's called That Comic Book Shop in town. I used to go there, get all my comics as a kid.”

And did your career start in the Preston/Chorley area? Did you try out Chorley Theatre, Preston Playhouse etc when you were younger?

“No, I did once do a gig at the Fox and Grapes that was almost unplayable. That's not there anymore, it was a pub. That must have been about 18 years ago, and I got in, and there was no microphone or lighting or even a stage. It was literally the corner of a pub and I'd say it went fine, and then I ran for the train station. They used to have a Frog and Bucket in Preston, next to the bus station, which was a good comedy club. It was a beautiful club. Everyone loved playing it, but they just couldn't sustain the numbers sadly so that shut down. But I did a lot of gigs in Preston in my formative years. That was my first foray into like big clubs.”

At this point, Phil spots an unusual trinket in his room- a golden rubber duck- and changes course…

“Oh, I just saw this. This is quite funny. Before I did Taskmaster, they had a live experience in London, and they had an opening night, and I went to it. You weren't allowed to tell anyone that you're on it yet, so I was chatting with Steve Pemberton from the League of Gentlemen, he’d just done the last series, and I was having drinks with him afterwards. I was in a team with him, and… one of my best mates, Joey Page, a comedian. As we went in, everyone's going ‘getting a bit of practice in ey Phil’ and I was like ‘okay…’ And after the third person said that, my mate Joey went, ‘Are you on Taskmaster?’ I went "Yeah’. He said ‘Yeah, It's quite obvious, isn't it?’ I went. ‘Yeah, I've been trying to keep it a secret, but no one else has bothered’. But I was so bad, I got this trophy to say I was the worst person in the team, and that was before I went on Taskmaster…. So I got that, and then I had to go in and actually do it, and I was like, "Aw no, this doesn't bode very well, does it?’ But I came runner up- joint, but you know.”

Is it fair to say that Taskmaster was your biggest break?

“Oh, definitely. Yeah, I've been gigging for 20 years. I've done lots of things. You know, I won an award in Edinburgh 12 years ago. Got my own BBC pilot. Didn't really work out, and then I've done my own radio show, and that was great. But Radio Four listeners, you can get millions of listeners, but they're not the kind of people that really buy tickets because most die before the show starts, and then you know I've had little bits you know here and there that always look like you're about to- but careers, it’s like any career, isn't it really, I suppose it can be a bit up and down… I've had a lot of failures in my career, which I don't mind, I always think at least I tried, and if it fails, you learn a lot from failures.

“It's very easy for people in this business to get very bitter and to look at what other people are doing, and then your life becomes watching other people and going ‘Why am I not doing that?’ I suppose it's, again, like any job. You're like ‘why’ve they got that promotion?’ And if you do that, it just swallows you up. And so the only thing I found is, as I got older, was just focus on what you're doing, and try stuff. And if it fails, who cares? If people go ‘Oh, that didn't work’, you go, ‘Yeah, at least I tried it. What have you done? Just sat in a green room and complained about someone who's on Mock the Week’. You know, at least I've tried and in doing that, I ended up getting nominated again in 2023 for the main award in Edinburgh. Did a tour. 12 people came because people still didn't know who I was but that did the foundation for a sort of a second wind in my career, and it got people looking again. And I just kept doing new show, new show, and just really hammering, working really hard on getting them really, you know, funny. And then I got off for Taskmaster, and that was it [makes blast off noise].

“The Taskmaster audience are the best, in my opinion, because they just like comedy, they're generally nice people. I go out on stage now at a tour show, and I don't mind if people -well, I do I'd rather you didn’t-, but if you shout out, it doesn't really bother me because I'm quite good, and I'll deal with it, I'll try and make it fun, but I don't have to worry about anything like that because it's just nice audiences. And they will shout out but it's usually, not just a heckle, they're joining in, which I like. I love it when people shout out and join in, or they'll just think of something funny and shout it out. And they usually wait; they don't just do it all over a bunch of lines. They're quite comedy literate, and it [Taskmaster] just gets you a bigger audience. That's all, and what you want to do as a comedian is play to the most people I think, and it's lovely and it's just got a new audience and and I think my persona on stage is quite similar to what was on Taskmaster, which helps. You're not coming up and I'm just doing the whole show in a sock, you know, doing a high pitch voice and riding a bicycle in circles for two hours. I'm actually pretty much the person you saw in the show.”

As a testament to your newfound popularity, your Chorley show has sold out again but you have given the people of Preston/Chorley another chance to see you later in the week, haven't you?

“Yes, I'll be wandering semi-naked through the town center, holding a sign, going ‘Reopen the Guildhall’. No, I'm appearing at a charity event on Saturday the 26th in Lostock Hall... It's like a bingo event for ‘Succeeding for Sandra’ which raises money and awareness of muscular dystrophy… Lostock Hall actually used to have a bird of prey sanctuary, and an owl once pooed on me so I did say ‘I'm not going back there’ but I'll be at the Lostock Hall Conservative Club this Saturday. It's just going to be an event to raise money, and they've done it for the past few years. There'll be bingo. There's music. There's games. There's prizes. And they asked me if I'd attend, so I said I'd read a game of bingo for them if they want. So I'm going to be a bingo caller. I'll present some prizes. It'll be fun. I’ll do a little bit of banter. I might even wear a suit, but yeah, I think my mum and dad might come, so that'll be nice.”

Do you personally know the people behind the charity?

“I don't really but they came to my show in Liverpool recently, so I gave them a couple of bits to give away at the raffle, and they're going to be there at Chorley as well, handing out flyers. If anyone is interested in coming to the event, it obviously all goes to charity, all the money. But once I take my fee out, there won't be a lot left for them. No, I'm joking. I'm doing it for free. But yeah, I think it's a good cause. It's nice, and if people approach me about things, and I can do it, I generally will because you might as well do something positive with, you know, being recognized now, because it can be a privilege as well. I think a lot of people take it for granted but if there's anything you can do to help, might as well try. But yeah, it should be fun. It sounds fun- that's another reason I thought I'd do it. My mate Peter is a mechanic in Bamber Bridge. He'll be there with his sister, and we'll catch up. It'll be fun. Come and see me. I'm not drinking at the moment, though, so I'm afraid you won't see me drunk. I might get high on Red Bull, yeah, that would be fun. Just see me all sugared up in the corner, juddering… So yeah, that would be great if people could come and support that. That would mean a lot. These little events can be so much fun. You see a poster and you think ‘no’, but just go along, you can get good comedians coming up. You know it's just a nice place rather than just sitting in a Wetherspoons staring at each other or trying to talk over the screaming of freshers.”

Other than Saturday's event, have you got any other future plans to mention?