Adele used to be David Walliams' next-door neighbor, “so I would see her quite a bit,” says the British comedian, actor and writer. “She came to dinner and said it was hard to write her new album. I said, 'The problem you have is that you're against yourself, because you're trying to write someone like you every time you write a new song. To be creative, you have to feel free.”
At this point, a message from his publicist appears on our respective video screens: “PLEASE END!!!” We realize that we are almost an hour into what was supposed to be a half hour talk.
“But I was in the midst of losing my name!” Walliams jokingly protests.
Walliams is on a mission to instill a love of reading in children.Credit: Nic Walker
This is what it's like to speak to one of Britain's favorite performers. Walliams, dapper and handsome at 52, though he looks younger, eschews stock answers in favor of thoughtful responses. If an issue is controversial, he prefers to consider it from different angles, rejecting the performative moralizing he hated in adults as a child. You can easily spend 15 minutes discussing, say, the censorship of classic children's books.
It's 7.30 in London when Walliams and I meet via Zoom. It's in her kitchen, a light-filled space with marble countertops and a warm white color scheme. Barely 60 seconds later, Walliams' head is obscured by the puppy he's holding in front of the camera: an adorable nine-week-old border terrier, Eric (named after one of his comedy idols, Eric Morecambe).
To describe Walliams as “effortlessly camp” is an understatement. he is intrinsically camp; a shy and sensitive boy who liked to imitate Wonderful woman at schoolyard.
“It wasn't for effect; I loved the TV series and wanted to be her,” she writes in her excellent 2012 memoir, Camp David. “When I realized the other guys were laughing at me for it, instead of shying away from it, I embraced it so I could be in on the joke.”
In September, Walliams will return to Australia for a national tour – 10 shows for adults and five for children and families. Those attending the first will know Walliams from the TV hits Little Brittany i come fly with me, which he co-created, wrote and starred in with longtime comedy partner Matt Lucas. (The couple is working on a new project, details of which have not yet been announced.) He has had high-profile stints as a judge. Britain's Got Talent i Australia has talent and his children's books have sold 56 million copies worldwide.
“When you see Ricky Gervais, Dave Chappelle or Chris Rock deal with taboo things in an intelligent way, it works.”
David Walliams
“There's a connection between the British and the Australians,” says Walliams. “We're in tune with our sense of humor, we watch each other's TV shows and we like each other's comics, whereas America doesn't look outward much.”
His show for adults, An audience with David Walliams, is not a traditional stand-up; instead, he'll be appearing as some of his most beloved characters, sharing hilarious behind-the-scenes anecdotes, answering audience questions (rude queries welcome), and playing video clips from his childhood and early career.
Lucas, whom she met at the National Youth Theater in the early 1990s, videotaped much of her early work, including her first show and clips of Little Brittany when it debuted as a radio series in 2000 before moving to television in 2003, becoming a cultural phenomenon in the UK and abroad.
Among Walliams' most memorable characters are the Prime Minister's aide Sebastian Love, who can barely hide his attraction to his leader, and the customer service representative Carol Beer, whose catchphrase “l 'computer says no' earned its own Wikipedia entry.
“There's a lot of stuff that nobody's seen before,” says Walliams, “and stuff about the process of inventing our characters and our comedic sensibilities.”
Ever since he was a boy, Walliams knew he wanted to be funny on stage; he just didn't feel fit to stand up. Seeing his favorite comedian, Barry Humphries, perform live in 1987 changed everything.
“I thought, 'Oh, this is what I want to do'”, he remembers. “It was a person, but in a stand-up environment. It was a lot of fun and I loved all the rawness. It just didn't hold back.”
Walliams (left) with fellow comedian Matt Lucas. The pair co-created, wrote and starred Little Brittany i come fly with me – and they have a new project underway.Credit: BBC
Walliams appreciates that tastes and standards change; in 2020, he and Lucas apologized for some now-deleted scenes Little Brittany which contained blackface. At the same time, he distrusts the self-styled curators of comedy.
“You end up with a list of things you can laugh about and things you can't, but who's in charge of that list?” he says. “When you see Ricky Gervais, Dave Chappelle or Chris Rock deal with taboo things in an intelligent way, it works. You can still get it wrong, but often, the exciting things happen when you're walking the tightrope.”
In Camp David, Walliams describes a father who struggled to bond with him and a mother who overcompensated, showering him with affection as he battled what was then called a “nervous strain.” Comedy was more than a distraction; Whether watching a sitcom, listening to a comedy album or attending a live show, he instinctively analyzed the structure and timing of jokes and the physicality of performers like Rowan Atkinson.
He is particularly frank about his experiences of depression, including the attempts he made on his own life. “It would have been dishonest of me to write the book without talking about it,” he says. “But I don't want that to be my whole identity. I'd rather make people happy.”
What makes Walliams happiest is his 11-year-old son, Alfred, who he shares with ex-wife Lara Stone. “He'll hold my hand and kiss me before he gets on the school coach,” she says. “There will come a time when he doesn't want to do this, so I'm treasuring those moments.”
In 2008, Walliams published his first children's book, The boy in the suit, partly inspired by his early experiences of his sister putting him in a mauve robe and his teachers introducing him as female characters in school plays. Now a prolific children's author, his books have been translated into 55 languages and many have been adapted for stage or screen.
TAKE 7: THE ANSWERS ACCORDING TO DAVID WALLIAMS
- Worst habit? Eating Cadbury chocolate fingers late at night (Cadbury – if you're reading this, please send me some freebies).
- Biggest fear? Someone found out I've had extensive plastic surgery.
- The line that stuck with you? “The computer says no.” Someone says it to me every day or I see it as a newspaper headline.
- Biggest regret? When friendships or relationships end.
- Favorite book? The Twits by Roald Dahl.
- The piece of art/song you wish was yours? Monty Python's Life of Brian.
- If you could travel in time, where would you go? I would go back to ancient Rome. It seemed more fun.
In the family sphere David Walliams book samplewill share funny stories about his childhood, reveal the inspiration for his most famous characters, act out scenes from his books, read funny fan letters aloud and give a prize to the child with the best question.
Asked about sanitizing classic children's books to remove “problematic” sections, he's conflicted.
“With Roald Dahl's books, there are some changes where you think, 'that's probably reasonable,' but in Matilda, the list of authors he likes changes,” he says, referring to Rudyard Kipling and Joseph Conrad being replaced by Jane Austen and John Steinbeck. “I found it intrusive and annoying. If we keep doing this, we learn nothing from the past. There is a danger of thinking that 2024 is the point of the year and that we have everything right now and nothing will ever change again.”
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As Walliams well knows, children are the harshest critics: unlike adults who work through critically acclaimed but sad novels, children simply toss a book aside the moment they lose interest.
His show has two purposes: to entertain families and to instill or reinforce a love of reading.
“Kids often feel misunderstood, isolated or secretive about the things they want to do,” says Walliams. “One thing I always say when I talk to kids is, 'We all feel different in one way or another and that should be celebrated.'”
An audience with David Walliams i The David Walliams Book Fair will tour Australia from September 7. Tickets at tegdainty.com
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