The Friday
Night Project
Justin Lee Collins and Alan Carr

At the launch of Channel 4's winter highlights in a swanky London bar, the sound of laughter emanating from one corner of the room is unmistakable. Surrounded by a phalanx of attentive scribes, the hosts of The Friday Night Project, Justin Lee Collins and Alan Carr, are holding court. The studied froideur that is so often worn by showbiz-types at these events is notable by its absence. Instead, Carr and Lee Collins, exuding enthusiasm and bonhomie, are clearly having a thoroughly good time as they wisecrack their way through the questions.

Finally, with the canapés all gone, the glasses cleared away and the throngs departed, there's a chance to actually have a decent conversation with the pair. And what an odd pair they make. Lee Collins is a scruffy hairball of a man, with an accent straight out of The Wurzels, while Carr is a geekily camp Mancunian clothes horse. Yet, somehow, it works on-screen and, quite clearly, off it as well, where the two have become firm friends.

Ahead of a new series of The Friday Night Project, the pair discuss their ideal guests, their favourite moments from the show, and Justin Lee Collins' obsession with Carol Vorderman.

There's a good chemistry between you both. Do you get on pretty well?
AC: It's not just friends, it's a sexual chemistry.
JLC: There is that, obviously…
AC: If we could bottle what we have, we'd be rich.
JLC: We'd both be millionaires.
AC: Everyone would want it - they'd be queuing round the block. What would we call it?
JLC: Milky Goodness.

… And moving on… Do you hang out together away from the show?
JLC: Yeah, we do actually.
AC: He lives in Bristol, I live in Manchester.
JLC: We see each other in London. And Al was in Bristol last week, so he came and stayed with me. He's doing this fabulous tour - you've got to see him live, it's unbelievable.
AC: I wish I could bottle that, an' all.
JLC: It was the best night out I've had in ages.

Do you argue much?
AC: Never. We've never had an argument, touch wood. Maybe it's because I just get my agent to speak to him.

You've had an extraordinary assortment of guests on the show. Do you still get excited about meeting them?
JLC: Yeah. For example Carol Vorderman - I love her so much she made me nervous.
AC: It's true. He couldn't sleep the night before. You know that advert for Eurodisney where everyone's too excited to sleep - he was like that - knocking my hotel door, saying 'I can't sleep, I'm so excited'.

You really love her that much?
JLC: Oh yeah, I love her.
AC: It can be an odd thing when you meet your idols. It's like when I did the warm-up with Jonathan Ross. I'd be there, and I'd meet Nicole Kidman, James Brown, and you meet them, you see them go to the toilet, you see them picking their nose. We had James Brown on and he was talking about his prostate problems. Now I'm a big fan of James Brown, but you think "If he can't get it up, what chance is there for me? He's like the Godfather of Soul."
JLC: Yeah, if the Godfather of Soul can't get it up, something's badly wrong.
AC: But most of the guests on the show have been brilliant. Rupert Everett I'm a huge fan of, so that was dead exciting, and Carol as well. It was great.

Who have been the best guests in terms of jumping in with both feet, getting involved and really having a laugh?
AC: Jamie Oliver was just so hands on.
JLC: Jamie's up there for me as being the best that we've ever had. We really want him to come back on and do the show in the new series. I think he could be the first person to do it for a second time. And if we could have anyone else back, I'd go for Billie Piper as well. That was our very first show.

Has there been anyone who maybe didn't quite get the idea of the show?
JLC: Not really. Christian Slater was so jet-lagged we were worried he'd not have a clue, but he turned it on and was great.
AC: We did have to tell him to take his sunglasses off - I would have thought that was a bit of a given if you're presenting a show. You wouldn't get Moira Stewart or Trevor McDonald doing it, would you?
JLC: I have to say, the person that surprised me, the last show of the last series, we had Girls Aloud on, and I thought Sarah Harding, the blonde from Girls Aloud, was absolutely brilliant. She was up for anything, she gave everything a go, and she was really, really funny.
AC: Those girls didn't complain once, did they? They were just spot on. And Rupert Everett, I thought 'Oh, he's a Hollywood star, he might be a bit queeny,' but he did everything we said. He was great.

How much of the show is scripted?
JLC: Obviously all the stuff the guest host does is scripted. Their monologue is written, all their links are written, the Friday Night News, which is my favourite bit of the show, watching Al do that, Al writes all of that stuff. And then between that, the stuff where we're chatting to the guest host, that's just us chatting.
AC: You can't start planning that, because that'll look crap. I think it's quite a skill to get conversation out of it every week. Every week it's someone else, they've got a different sense of humour, a different career, you have to know about what they've done, it's hard to think of stuff and find a connection in the middle ground. What do I have in common with Rob Lowe? I don't go to The Ivy, I don't have a beautiful girlfriend - I'm too picky!
JLC: You have pointers about what you're going to talk about, so with Patsy Kensit we ask her about filming Lethal Weapon II, and you start talking, and hopefully the chat will be so good that it'll have its own momentum and take its own direction, like any good interview.

What have been your favourite location shoots for the programme?
JLC: The visit to Countdown was one of the best.
AC: I loved Patsy Kensit showing us around Emmerdale. That was great.
JLC: The best ones, like with Emmerdale and Countdown, are when you go into the guest's environment and try and get a sense of what it's like to be in their world for an afternoon.

Who would be your ideal guests to have on the show?
JLC: I'd still love Charlotte Church to come on. I mean, obviously a complete fantasy guest would be Larry David, but we're never going to get him. But in terms of people I like to think we could get, Charlotte Church, I'd love Noel Edmonds, Jack Black would be great.
AC: Oh, he'd be great. Robbie Williams, Madonna - we've got a crèche and baby-changing facilities.
JLC: And to make the baby feel at home for the show, that week the band could be Ladysmith Black Mambazo.

The Friday Night Project returns to Channel 4 on Friday January 5th at 11pm.

By Benjie Goodhart