Leigh said he feared toning Keith Lemon down had made it hard to distinguish between himself and the character

WHEN comedy character Keith Lemon is retired from telly, it can only mean one thing – wokery has won again.

Creator Leigh Francis, 51, has had to face facts — Gen Z just aren’t partial to the innuendos and raunchy games the Celebrity Juice host was famous for.

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Leigh Francis says audiences now just aren’t partial to the innuendos Celebrity Juice host Keith Lemon was famous forCredit: © Evening Standard / eyevine. All Rights Reserved.

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Celebrity Juice’s raunchy games showed a different side of Holly Willougby and Fearne Cotton – here they passed an olive to one another’s mouths
From “Holly Willough-booby’s” X-rated banana game with rival team captain Fearne Cotton to constant sex gags and shocking confessions, the game show was very much of its era — until it ended after 14 years in 2022.

Today, in an exclusive interview, Leigh fully admits it is getting harder to make people laugh.

He reckons the woke movement isn’t leaving any wriggle room for creating classic comedy characters any more, at least not like he used to.

And he has no plans to revive some of his Noughties’ TV favourites, because he concedes he needs to move with the times.

Leigh said: “Just as fashion and flared trousers have come back round however many times, comedy tastes change.

“Now, nothing is acceptable any more — we had ‘the rules were the rules’ in past times, and they’re ­different now, so of course there are things back then that you wouldn’t do any more.

“You don’t set out to offend anyone, you just set out to make people laugh, but for me, now when I come up with an idea, it has to be a straight one, with just a bit of silliness.

‘Taken too seriously’

“Quite a lot of comedians are now presenting straight shows, entertainment programmes that are funny, just maybe not as funny as a sketch show.

“And I think it’s a shame for the viewers who still want to see the comedy stuff that we made back in the day, even when we’ve got to change with the playing field and stick to the rules of the time.”

It is a fact that the comedian knows all too well after he clashed with Craig David over the ­main ­character he based on the R&B singer for Channel 4’s Bo’ Selecta!.

The sketch show, which ran from 2002 until 2009, saw Leigh don rubber masks with exaggerated features to impersonate stars including Elton John, Kelly Osbourne, Mel B, Michael Jackson and David Blaine.

But Craig, 43, spoke out in 2022 about how the character was “racist” and had “ruined his life”.

The 7 Days singer said: “It felt like a vendetta and, when it got a ­following, it became something that affected me.

“People would shout at me on the street and I felt the same feeling I had when I was bullied at school.”

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Craig David complained that Leigh’s Bo Selecta gag ruined his life
Leigh wasted no time in apologising to the star, but even that sparked a backlash.

He said: “At the end of the day, you’re always going to upset someone — but it’s just comedy and, in these modern times, I feel that it’s all being taken too seriously.

“Television is not real, TV shows are not real, and that’s where it should be left — for entertainment.

“But of course I just apologised and moved on, because that’s all I could do — and if someone doesn’t want your apology, then there’s nothing more to be done.

“I got a lot of s**t for apologising, which was weird.

“I wasn’t apologising to any of the people giving me s**t, that apology was mine to give to exactly who I wanted to.

“At the end of the day, Bo’ Selecta! was a stupid show and I don’t know why any of it was taken so ­seriously, because back in the day, those who took part seemed to be happy with it.

“Still, now, people ask me, ‘Have you gone woke?’ but I don’t really know what that means.

“Nobody is mad in this job — you just do what you think will work for your audience.”

It is a reminder that Leigh is not entirely like the characters he plays on screen — most notably, his longest-running alter ego, Keith Lemon.

Keith was born out of an idea between friends in 2002 when Leigh’s childhood pal — whose real name is Keith Lemon — asked to be used in one of the comedian’s jokes on stage.

Taking things one step further, Keith ended up as the face of ITV’s game show, Celebrity Juice, alongside Fearne and Holly ­Willoughby.

Leigh recalled: “I said I would give him a shout out on TV, so I gave him a character.

“I didn’t really know that Keith Lemon was going to become what he became.

“For a while, I think the real Keith liked it, but then he got sick of explaining it to people, to the point he would carry around this black and white photo in his wallet of us together to explain he knew me.

“It had his name, and then the hair came from a man on holiday with bad Anthea Turner hair, and then there was the ’tache that was added, and finally the hats, which I only wore to meet Pharrell Williams at the Brits.

“But every character I do, I guess has an element of me in it.

“With Keith, it’s because I liked to have a good time, but Keith . . . he didn’t know where to draw the line.

“I always say if my Keith had been a real person, he’d be dead now — he was all fun, fun, fun.

“But near the end, the lines started to close and he was just becoming more of me.”

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Leigh has two children with wife Jill and he says he has had to tone down his characterCredit: Getty
Keith’s outrageous side was toned down after the birth of Leigh’s two daughters, Matilda and Dolly, who he shares with his wife Jill, who he ­married in 2002.

He explained: “My name isn’t Keith, it’s Leigh.

“Keith is a prized t**t and that was the entire idea of his ­character, but I’m not that, even if he does have a side of me in him.

“It’s like, I’m just me at home — I’ve always come home, and I don’t bring anything from the telly with me, because it would be weird for Jill, and the kids would be confused about why I was different.

Towards the end of Celebrity Juice, Keith had nearly become me — ­especially in his humour because I had to water things down, not just because I’d grown up a little, but also my time at the school gates.

“For one Christmas special, they asked me to dress up as Santa and pretend to masturbate — but I said, ‘No way, I’ve got the school run tomorrow, I can’t do that’.

“I would just get funny looks from other parents.

“While I’m not shy, I’m not a game show host in real life and, in many ways, I felt like I wasn’t ­connected to their world, like I wasn’t an adult.”

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Celebrity Juice aired its final episode in 2022 after a 14 year runCredit: Handout

‘Time for change’

Ageing has played a huge role in Leigh making the changes to his life — especially since he outlived his dad, who died of ­cancer aged 47.

The comedian admits he has not recovered from his father’s death, which he discusses in his new memoir, Leigh, Myself And I, out next Thursday.

He writes: “It was a shock when he died, I had to grow up.

“Life suddenly wasn’t all silly fun and games.

“He passed and I freaked out.

“I screamed, it was numbing.

“It felt like I was underwater, being punched in the face, I’m sure I blacked out a few times from all the emotional punches.

“Everything in the world was just different.”

On having to revisit those dark days for his biography and audiobook, Leigh added: “It was emotionally exhausting writing about my dad — it’s been ages since he died, but anyone who has lost a parent knows that you never get over it, you just get used to it.

“I’ve got more emotional as I’ve got older, I cry at everything — and writing about him and then doing the audiobook, it was even worse because I couldn’t even speak from the emotion.”

For now, at least, Leigh is happy to be himself — though that doesn’t mean he has killed off Keith for good.

He concluded: “I imagine fans are sick of Keith now anyway, and it’s time for me to have a break from things, but I don’t think I will ever kill him off because you never know when you want to revisit it.

“We had a good time and Celebrity Juice was the best party I’ve ever been to, but now that it’s finished, I don’t have to be Keith for a little while.

“I can just be Leigh.

“It is time for a change.”

Leigh, Myself And I, by Leigh Francis, is out on Thursday (HarperNonFiction, £22).