Leigh hasn’t done his comic book alter since 2023
Leigh’s character was so successful that she got her own movie.
ITV star Leigh Francis said he is furious Keith Lemon ‘keeps calling him’ as he provided his fans with a career update.
The 52-year-old comedian is best known for hosting his panel show Celebrity Juice, which featured Fearne Cotton and Holly Willoughby, as his alter ego Keith Lemon.
With Celebrity Juice running on ITV from 2008 to 2022, Leigh also adopted her lemon persona in Lemon La Vida Loca, the Keith Lemon Sketch Show and the Keith & Paddy Picture Show.
Additionally, Leigh landed her own movie when Keith Lemon’s film hit theaters in 2012, which featured Kelly Brook as herself, David Hasselhoff, Ronan Keating, Gary Barlow, Peter Andre, Emma Bunton, and Jedward.
Having not portrayed Keith since shopping with Keith Lemon concluded in 2023, Leigh said in an Instagram LIVE that he hasn’t been shopping for new TV ideas for ‘ages’ and has been turning down offers.
“I don’t know when I’ll be on TV again. I turned something this morning. I haven’t pitched any TV show ideas in years.
“If I want it and someone likes it, I’ll be back, but if not, I won’t,” he said.
Leigh as Keith Lemon during his Celebrity Juice days
Leigh went on to slam people who chose to call him Keith instead of his real name, admitting he ‘p***** him off’.
He said, “It’s not my name, I keep saying… my name is Leigh. You can also call me Tony.”
Saying he would be more open to a sketch show if it weren’t for the constant backlash, Leigh dismissed the idea of bringing back his show through the keyhole, noting that it will ‘never happen’.
He explained: “It’s crazy, you can’t do anything without upsetting people. If you think you’re going to be offended, you shouldn’t watch it, but I can’t be bothered to get into that deep conversation.”
Last year, Leigh Lifbish called for a BO Selecta! comeback, having played the celebrity-obsessed Avid Merrion on the sketch show from 2002 to 2009.
He said in another Instagram Live: “That will never happen. I think it’s because of society, but it will never happen 100%. It’s a shame.”
Additionally, Leigh has said in the past that celebrity juice has been withheld because ‘nothing is acceptable anymore’.
He told The Sun newspaper: “Just as fashion and flared trousers have come back, so too often do comedy tastes change.
“Now, nothing is acceptable anymore – we had ‘the rules were the rules’ back in the day, and they’re different now, so of course there are things back then that you wouldn’t do anymore.
“You don’t set out to offend anyone, you just have to make people laugh, but for me now, when I have an idea, it has to be straight forward, with just a little bit of silliness.”
