Exclusive interview with Paddy McGuinness

Who’s the Daddy? It’s our Paddy!

Star of popular game show Take Me Out, Paddy McGuinness has certainly proved his worth and is set to accept a bumper new deal from ITV to keep him away from the clutches of their rivals at the BBC. This lad has done good since I last interviewed him seven years ago.

He’s still got the smouldering good looks, the cheeky northern accent and a bucketful of jokes, but now he’s happily married to Christine, former Miss Liverpool, and the proud dad of twoyear-old twins Leo and Penelope, so it looks like he won’t be ‘taking me out’ anytime soon, but then again I am married too!

His last solo tour was in 2011 and Paddy’s keen to get back on the road with his upcoming tour ‘Daddy McGuinness’ which sees him travelling the UK with a rather gruelling 50-date stand-up tour starting in September. This lad is going to be tired. “Funny you should say that,” laughs Paddy, “but it’s probably the least amount of dates I’ve ever done. It’s quite an easy one, and I’ve had to extend it into 2016. Normally with a theatre tour you end up doing over 100 nights, so I’m ‘slacking’ a bit on this one!”

He nearly chokes on his tea, when I sk the Bolton boy where he’s currently living. It’s evident Paddy loves his home city of Bolton, and despite being TV’s hot property he has no intention of moving to London, “Oh no,” says Paddy. “I’m not going down that route!”

In his latest tour, he tackles his new life as a parent and the impact it has had on his life. “I’ve never been on tour as a dad, and as a dad there’s so many things you go through, and what’s amazing is, these things happen to you, and when you’re talking to your friends about the experiences you’ve had with your kids, they just look at you as if to say ‘Yeah… and… did you not know about that?’ and I’m left thinking ‘Why did no-one tell me that?’

“What I perceive as one-offs and a spectacular event, are actually quite normal. A lot of the things I’ll be talking about, if you’re a parent, you’ll be able to relate to it. If not, then I’ll probably scare
you off! I’ll be sharing several stories about becoming a first time dad and parenthood.”

Unfortunately, his twosome won’t be attending his tours and crying from the wings. “It’ll just be me and a microphone,” says Paddy. “Having kids has been the most amazing thing to ever happen to me, but equally it’s the most life-changing bonkers thing to happen as well. Everything changes, even the simplest little thing, like having the telly on. From the minute we get up to the minute the kids go to bed it’s just Baby TV, so it’s pointless when people ask me if I’ve seen something on the news, because I haven’t a clue! There could be a nuclear holocaust going on and I’d have no idea.”

As many parents know children’s TV can be a welcome relief. Personally, I’m a big Mr Tumble fan, and on many occasions good old Tumble has saved the day and my mental state too. However, Paddy’s latest additions, Leo and Penelope, tend to favour Tipa Tupa, “I get the urge to put my foot through the TV, but the kids love them!

“Penelope is very independent and ‘divarish’, where Leo is quiet and has a gentle soul. They get on well, until one of them picks up another’s toy then it’s like WW3.”

I was curious to discover who Paddy decides to pick up first when they’re both crying. “Believe it or not, we very rarely have it where both are crying at the same time. It’s usually one of them ‘kicking off ’ for no apparent reason, and the other’s all right. But, if they‘re both at it, I just try and suss out which one is the most distressed and once you remove one of them from the situation
the other calms down.” He laughs when I ask him which is his favourite, “Obviously, I don’t have a favourite, however I tend to ‘lean towards’ the one who is the best behaved that day!”

Being a busy working mum of three, after a weekend at home I look forward to returning to work on Monday. I find it easier and more relaxing. Like me, Paddy wholeheartedly agrees. “Funny you should say that I was talking about this with my wife the other day; I present a radio show every weekend and the drive from our house to the station is about half an hour and just having that drive on my home is something in the past I would have taken for granted. I actually enjoy traffic jams. I’ve grown to love them.”

When I suggest he should take a flask and a paper and ‘make a day of it’, he laughs; well I have been a parent for 12 years now and know how to make the best of my time.

Apart from his family, another of Paddy’s great loves is football and he is a staunch Bolton Wanderers fan, unlike his wife Christine who is a Liverpudlian lass and supports Liverpool.

“I was performing in Phoenix Nights at the Manchester arena and luckily we managed to watch it on an iPad backstage. I was watching it with Neil Fitzmaurice who plays ‘Ray-Von’. He’s a
Liverpool fan, I was dancing round the dressing room when we went one up, but then at the eightieth minute I had to go on stage, so I walked on a happy man and when I walked off I was told we’d lost 2-1, I was a defeated man.”

Despite his touring stretching the length of the UK, unfortunately he won’t be performing in Bolton, “No, I’m afraid not. Stu Francis is the Godfather at the Albert Halls and he’ll be doing panto there, so no one can get in!” When it comes to comedy Paddy doesn’t believe that there is a north/south divide. “When you’re touring people come and watch you, because they like you. So, if you’re Peter Kay, Lee Evans or John Bishop, it doesn’t matter who you are, people come to you because they like your style of comedy.”

Apart from now being a happily married man and father of two, there has been another life-changing event since I last interviewed him. When I asked him back in the day what his favourite northern dish was he answered “sausage, eggs and chips” which has now been replaced by a Sunday roast.

“Sausage, egg and chips is definitely up there, but right now I’m going through a Sunday roast phase.” Sounds like this lad’s tastes are maturing with age; perhaps he’s getting wholesome in his new role as a parent, “Definitely,” chuckles Paddy. “I’ll be adding vegetables soon!”

To find out if how Paddy is finding parenthood and if he’s been eating his greens, go to www.ticketmaster.co.uk to book your place.