The last time we heard from John Shuttleworth, he was playing a gig in the Devil’s Arse, which eventually had to be abandoned when someone got lost on their way to the show and had to be rescued from a cliff face at the entrance to the cave.
He’s over the excitement of that now and is touring again to celebrate the 40th anniversary of when Graham Fellows first donned his leather jacket and polo neck and became John Shuttleworth. Fanboy Mark Perkins was keen to lead the celebrations and had a chat with Graham as he dusts off his trusty Yamaha keyboard and prepares to entertain us.
I can’t believe it’s been 40 years of John Shuttleworth shows, but then again, I can’t really remember a time when I wasn’t listening to his songs.
Yes, it was 30 June when I first sent off a cassette of songs to Chappell Music. I think the character has changed quite a bit since then, but the essence of John is still the same. I was around 26 and imagined the character to be about 45. He’s crept up slowly, but I’ve overtaken him now. On 30 June 1986, I sent a song by John, called ‘The World Is Very, Very Round’. I started doing gigs in 1986/87, developing the Shuttleworth character. I did ‘Saturday Zoo’ on Channel 4 in late 1992, following on from my success at the Edinburgh Fringe that same year, then followed it with the first BBC radio show.
It’s not been easy since lockdown to be more disciplined and get down to working on what’s going to be on the tour. The last tour was called John Shuttleworth’s Back, then after lockdown it became John Shuttleworth’s Back … Again. It was on that tour, in May 2022, that the hiker got stuck on the cliff. I’ll be referring to him in the show – in fact, I’ve written a song, ‘The Ballad of the Dangly Man’, which I’ll be performing on the tour. It was someone in the audience who gave him that name when we re-staged the show, so I pinched it.
It will be a “best of” show, but I’ll also play some new songs from my new CD, The Pumice Stone, And Other Rock Songs. I’ve got a basic structure for the show, but I do ramble on a bit, which people seem to like. Then I nip back to my keyboard for a bite of my banana, which is actually an excuse to look at my crib sheet so I don’t forget where I am.
John, in his own way, still believes his career is going well. He’s still getting his petrol money when he plays the local hospice, but more recently they’ve started putting out a little table for John, on his own, with a few sandwiches and a butterfly cake. And a cup of tea, obviously. There will be the usual phone calls with Ken and Mary, who’s now thinking that, as John has now done 40 years, maybe it’s time for him to put the keyboard in the loft. She needs the room, as she’s got a new nest of tables, given to her by Joan Chitty, and she’s hoping John will be packing it in now.
So, we will be hearing all the classics from John’s repertoire?
People expect John to play the greatest hits, so I’ll always end with “Y Reg” and “Two Margarines.” But I think John may realise he’s never going to be Taylor Swift. Or the Dooleys. Still, he’s got some interesting songs that give good advice. He’s written songs on how people should stock their fridge, drink their cups of tea, and, of course, the best car to buy. He’s a philosopher too, with songs like ‘Life Is Like a Salad Bar’ – as he said, you only get one visit.
And I believe you get a mention in Jenny Eclair’s new autobiography, where she mentions being excited that there was a genuine pop star in the year above her.
Yes, we were at Manchester Poly together when I had my hit single as Jilted John. She’s very sweet about me in her book, and she played a character in a TV pilot I did for Granada TV, called Shuttleworth’s Showtime.
I was the host of the show, but it didn’t really work as it didn’t suit the John Shuttleworth character. Sadly, it never got picked up. Mine cost £50,000 and went nowhere. They made two pilots that summer. At the same time, they filmed Caroline Aherne’s pilot show for Mrs Merton – it cost less than a quarter of what mine did, and look what happened there. I do have a tape of my show. I might put it up on YouTube sometime. People seem to like it when I post unusual stuff on there.
Is it too obvious to say that you’re becoming John in some way?
It’s easy to lose your momentum, your sense of career. Sometimes you just want to stop and gaze into the middle distance – well, I do anyway. Maybe that’s the character taking me over. I’m now older than the age John was when I created him. I was 26, and he was meant to be about 46. He’s aged slowly, and I’ve crept up and overtaken him now.
John Shuttleworth: Raise the Oof comes to Sheffield City Hall on 26 March. Tickets (£31.50) are available from Ticketmaster.
