Alan Carr was dressed as Poirot when he found out his dog had died
Comedian Alan Carr has recalled the "surreal" situation he found himself in when he was told his dog had died.
Alan Carr was dressed as Hercule Poirot when he found out his beloved dog had died.
The 48-year-old comedian and his ex-partner Paul Drayton were left heartbroken when their Irish red setter Bev died in May 2022, and now he's opened up about the "surreal" circumstances around the tragedy.
He told Paloma Faith on the first episode of her 'Mad, Sad and Bad' podcast: "It was a really shit time, marriage falling apart and then the first gift that [ex-husband] Paul gave me was the dog and then the dog dies. It was more symbolism than anything.
"When she died, it was the first day of an Agatha Christie documentary I was doing. I was working and Paul said, ‘Bev is going, she's going now’ and then she died and then I got food poisoning on the same day.
"I was dressed as Poirot when I heard she died, it was the most surreal thing ever. I was grieving and then I nearly s*** myself with the food poisoning."
He admitted his own mother thought his grief had cause the unfortunate reaction.
He recalled: "I said to my mum, I said, ‘I think I've s*** myself’. She went, ‘Oh, people grieve in different ways’. I said, ‘No, it's the food poisoning’.
"My mum thought I was so upset I'd s*** myself. But the thing is, I wouldn't mind if I'd s*** myself in my clothes, but I was in the Poirot outfit that [actor] David Suchet had donated to the museum. But I didn't do it. Thank God."
Alan can find humour in sadness, which helped inspire his latest stand-up comedy tour during a "miserable time" in his life.
He said: "The thing is, with my last stand-up tour, if you read it on paper you'd go, ‘Oh my god, that is the going to be the worst show ever’ - COVID, the divorce, my dog died.
"But it was the most brilliant catalyst for comedy. I've never had so many good reviews, the show kept getting extended. On paper it looked so sad but from that misery I got so much comedy from it.
"It's very weird. I was having the most miserable time and then my agent actually said, ‘Do you want to cancel the tour?’ I said no, because for an hour and a half on-stage I was loving going through it.
"I was sort of indulging in the misery. Then at the end, I did feel better when I came off. It was therapy really."
