COMIC Karen Dunbar spent her childhood in a smoky Labour Club surrounded by ale-swigging OAPs in the 70s.
Now the funnywoman, who famously played pervy pensioner Auld Betty in Chewin’ The Fat, returns to her roots on a tour of Scotland’s working men’s boozers.
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Karen had viewers in stitches with her portrayals in the comic series, which also launched the careers of Still Game favourites Ford Kiernan and Greg Hemphill.
And she is bringing back a host of much-loved characters from the legendary show as she returns to the place where her career began.
The Ayrshire comic explained: “I would sing in the working men’s clubs, my dad would take me in as it was round the corner from where we stayed.
“There would be an organist on and they would get singers up. I’d get put up to sing Que Sera, Sera in the mid-1970s.
“It was full of old guys and women smoking fags and drinking pints of ale. But it was also full of young ones, it was the heart of the community.
“It was a real social gathering on a Sunday afternoon.”
It was in the club that the telly fave got the bug for performing to a live crowd.
She said: “I was up singing as a tiny wean getting huge cheers of approval. They even threw money at me, they’d throw coppers and I felt like I was rich.
“That’s where I caught the buzz of wanting to be an entertainer. I’ve gone full circle, that’s the best way to describe it.”
Karen started out as a DJ and karaoke host before she attended The Comedy Unit’s open auditions.
There she landed a role in Chewin’ The Fat, which first hit screens in the late Nineties and ran for four seasons, as well as Hogmanay specials and a live show.
She went on to have her own sketch programme, The Karen Dunbar Show — which introduced audiences to characters like Shoeless Josie, a blonde drunkard often seen carrying a bag of chips, and Almost Angelic, a Pub ‘n’ Club duo from Ayrshire.
It ran for three series. But while there is still an appetite for entertainment in clubs and on telly screens, Karen, 53, reckons comedy has gone hi-tech these days.
Karen said: “Most popular comedy shows are of their time. Some of the Scottish stuff you see on TikTok now isn’t too far from what we were doing.
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“Social media isn’t just the way forward for comedy shows, it’s the way forward.”
Karen even uses the platform to keep in touch with her old pals, comedy kings Ford and Greg. The pair recently embarked on their own whisky business.
She laughed: “I still keep in contact with the boys, the last time I saw them must’ve been a while ago though.
“I saw something on TikTok the other night and sent it to Ford. I sent him a bizarre 1960s clip of someone whistling Colonel Bogey March.
“Ford’s whistling always makes me laugh, so I sent it over.”
A string of scenes from Chewin’ The Fat were stripped from the BBC hit as they were deemed too offensive for a modern audience.
In re-edited repeats, scenes featuring Karen’s randy Auld Betty and pensioners Jack and Victor were axed.
Despite this, the show has been regularly repeated on BBC Scotland since it launched in 1999, and still has a strong fan base
The performer still gets recognised by supporters of the show.
She said: “I’ve been in Australia and people have stopped me in the street. And I remember getting off a bus in New York and someone shouted, ‘Karen Dunbar’.”
It’s like stand-up but I’m sitting down
She added: “The majority of people that come to my shows are older people who watched Chewin’ The Fat. Or if they are younger, they were brought up with the show and they’re in their 30s now. The show gets passed down the generations which is brilliant.”
Some scenes may have been forgotten but Karen remembers the whole show fondly as Chewin’ The Fat celebrates 25 years this year since it first hit the screens.
And Karen reckons she has another 25 years in her as she loves being back on the stage where it all started.
She said: “It’s an ongoing tour and I’ve been playing smaller venues all around Scotland.
“It’s basically me getting interviewed and telling funny stories, it’s like stand-up but I’m sitting down.
“I enjoy the audience in the smaller venues as it works better on an intimate level.
“I can relate to playing these sorts of clubs as I was brought up in a working-class area in Ayr.
“I can remember being four or five years old hanging about the Labour Club with my father and big sister.
“It was a big, big part of my upbringing. There’s a rustic atmosphere and a realness I can relate to.
“I talk about my upbringing in Ayr and a bit about me at school and then in the second half, I get into my characters.
“I bring back a mixture of characters from Chewin’ the Fat and The Karen Dunbar Show.
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“I talk about the Teacher, Almost Angelic, Auld Betty and of course the ice cream van sketch.”
Tickets for Karen Dunbar’s tour – which hits Lanark Memorial Hall, on August 24 – are available HERE.
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