Telford 24 Seven

Bringing a distinctive voice to Telford

The voice is unmistakeable. “You a’lright mate,” it squeaks, like a trod-on frog

Joe Pasquale

. “Joe ‘ere. Joe Pasquale.”
Pasquale is on the blower to talk about his impending gig at The Place @ Oakengates Theatre. He’ll appear there on November 23, the final night of his UK tour.
“I’m looking forward to coming to Telford,” he says. “Though I don’t know what’ll happen. It’ll be the last night of a very long tour.”
But let’s cut to the chase. Though Pasquale has been entertaining the masses for 20 years; though he’s appeared at five Royal Variety Performances; though he’s hosted The Price Is Right, captivated nine million viewers during his own TV special and earned a fortune from voice-overs in Hollywood movies, he will forever be remembered as: Joe Pasquale - King Of The Jungle.
“Winning I’m A Celebrity… did change my life,” he says. “I went in there and was 100-1. The bookies thought I’d be the first one out. Two days later I was the favourite.
“For me, it was life-changing. I didn’t think I’d get on with the other celebs. I also told the producers about about my fear of flying, so they had me jumping out of a helicopter before we even started.
“I looked at it as a gig and I loved it. It was like being on a crap holiday with lots of people I didn’t know. I’ve been on worse holidays and had worse food. Some of the kebabs I’ve eaten are worse than bush tucker.”
Pasquale enjoyed his newly-raised profile after emerging victorious. Offers of work flowed in, he was recognised wherever he went and lots of strangers stopped him to say ‘well done’. But the real legacy was overcoming his fear of flying.
“The big thing was jumping out of the aeroplane. I was scared of flying before I went out there. Since then, I’ve learned to fly.” Who’d have thought it? Joe Pasquale: Private Pilot.
“I’m A Celebrity… raised my profile and opened doors. But I’ve been doing this for 20 years. The trick is to just be yourself. You can’t be a comic for three weeks, it’s just not real. You wouldn’t be able to keep it up. You just have to be yourself, that’s all you can be.

Joe Pasquale

Pasquale was born Joseph Ellis Pasquale on August 20 1961 in Grays, Essex. He dropped out of school at the age of 15 and worked in a number of professions before turning to comedy. A short stint in the Civil Service’s Department of Transport failed to captivate while the hours at Smithfields meat market were too much. Building sites didn’t appeal, nor did an ill-fated job at the Ford factory in Dagenham.
“I just used to muck about at work, I couldn’t take it seriously. It wasn’t that I’d been the funny one in school or anything like that; quite the opposite. I was the quiet one who sat at the back of the class. I started having a laugh at work. Then I got a job at a holiday camp. That was 20 years ago.”
Pasquale honed his act while working as an entertainer at camps across the UK. His big break came when he entered and came second in the New Faces competition in 1987.
“That was the launchpad,” he adds. Six years later, he was performing for the Queen.
“I played my first Royal Variety Show in 1993. There was a long gap between going on and meeting the Queen and there was a lot of champagne for the performers. By the time I met her, I was more drunk than I’d been in my life. I was completely smashed when she came to say hello. She didn’t notice though. I don’t think she knew what day of the week it was.”
A series of successful live shows followed, including Live & Squeaky, Twin Squeaks, The Everything I Have Ever Done and the First of Many Goodbye Tours, Return of the Love Monkey and Back on the Road. He took to the stage, became one of the best known pantomime performers in the UK and also appeared in the Mel Brooks’ West End musical The Producers as Leo Bloom.
In more recent times, he’s been much in-demand for voice over work. 20th Century Fox asked him to play the role of Claudius the mouse in Garfield: A Tale of Two Kitties and this year he played Dentist of Whoville in a major cartoon starring Jim Carrey and Steve Carrell. The cartoon, called Horton Hears a Who!, was the follow-up to How the Grinch Stole Christmas and grossed more than $300 million.
But, whatever new projects he takes on, Pasquale is immortalised as King Of The Jungle. The national treasure is framed in our memories as the man who got on famously with emus, who gave a new meaning to the word ‘Jacobs’, who earned full stars in a bushtucker trial and who survived being buried underground for five minutes with rats.
“I don’t mind if people remember me for that. I still pinch myself at the life I lead. I was out doing some comedy awards in LA recently with Billy Connolly. I just remember thinking ‘this is brilliant, how did I get here’.
“I’m A Celebrity opened up a lot of doors for me in showbusiness. It also encouraged me to get my pilot’s licence. It taught me to face my fears. I thought, if I can jump out of one, I can fly one. Flying is my golf. It’s where I get my peace and tranquility.”
There’s time for one last question before Joe has to go. So, Mr Pasquale, what do you enjoy most about your life. What’s the best thing about being Joe Pasquale? “I don’t have to work. I just go out and have a laugh. I don’t enjoy the travelling and you can never get decent food when you’re on the road. I get to go out every night and let my hair down for two hours with people who think I’m funny. I can’t take it seriously. I just keep on going on and having a laugh. As long as I don’t have to get up in the morning and do a proper job I’m perfectly happy.” And with that, the King of the Urban Jungle is off to another farflung town to bring mirth and merriment to thousands more fans.

Joe facts
Pasquale is the voice of Frankenstein’s Cat, a CBBC animated television series.
His first video had sales in excess of £1,000,000.
In December 2001 he went to Los Angeles and was the only British
performer to be invited to appear in a show celebrating the 25th anniversary of The Muppet Show.
He is also a straight actor and in spring 2004 played the philosophical role of Guildenstern in Tom Stoppard’s play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead.
In December Joe will open in Peter Pan at the Orchard Theatre in Dartford.