TIM Vine’s “unique tribute to a legend”, Plastic Elvis, shakes his hip and quivers his lip at Doncaster Dome on March 5 on the last night of his rearranged tour.
Please note, this is NOT a stand-up comedy show by the quick-quipping cracker of one-lines and pantomime regular but Vine’s tribute act to Elvis Presley.
First booked for May and June 2020, the 19-date tour was rescheduled for September 2021 to March 2022, including an October 5 date at Harrogate Theatre.
Billed as a “total sell-out at the Edinburgh festival” – more specifically, a one-off fully booked gig at the 2019 Edinburgh Fringe – Vine invites you to “feel the electricity as Plastic Elvis hits the stage backed by his incredible five-piece The High Noon Band”.
“He’ll shake, he’ll smoulder, he’ll try and control his hair and in the end, he’ll break your heart,” the show blurb promises. “Sing along with some of the King’s greatest songs on a breathless night of rock’n’roll.”
“This is it. The moment has arrived,” says Vine, who plays Doncaster the day after his 55th birthday. “This isn’t a stand-up show, but a concert dedicated to my favourite performer. When I was 11 years old, I would stand in front of my bedroom mirror and mime to the whole of 1972’s Elvis: As Recorded At Madison Square Garden album. This is a tribute act that is 40 years in the making. Well, the waiting is over. It’s time to go public.”
Be warned, Vine’s show “may contain moves that even Plastic Elvis himself isn’t expecting”. Support comes from special guests John Archer as Big Buddy Holly and song-writing legend David Martin, who wrote four songs for Elvis, A Little Bit of Green Let’s Be Friends, Sweet Angeline and This Is The Story.
Martin has sold 26 million records around the world in a career spanning more than 40 years. His songwriting and production team with Chris Arnold and Geoff Morrow has worked up with Cliff Richard, Dusty Springfield, Cilla Black and David Essex, among others.
Tickets for Tim Vine Is Plastic Elvis’s 7pm show are on sale on 01302 370777 or at dclt.co.uk.
Tim Vine’s back story: Quips with everything
Born: Cheam, Sutton, March 4 1967.
Job description: English writer, actor, pantomime performer, comedian and presenter.
Best known for: One-liner jokes and his role from 2006 to 20212 as Lee Mack’s uptight, sensible best friend, Timothy Gladstone Adams, in 34 episodes of BBC One’s studio sitcom Not Going Out.
Stand-up DVDs: Time Vine Live, 2004; So I Said To This Bloke, 2008; Punslinger Live, 2010; Joke-amotive Live, 2011; Tim Timinee Tim Timinee Tim Tim To You, 2016; Sunset Milk Idiot, 2019.
Books: TheBiggest Ever Tim Vine Joke Book and The Tim Vine Bumper Book Of Silliness.
Awards: Winner of Best Joke at Edinburgh Fringe, twice.
TV shows: Not Going Out, BBC One; Tim Vine Travels Through Time, BBC One; hosting quiz show Football Genius, ITV; Taskmaster.
Radio: Hosts Tim Vine Chat Show on BBC Radio 4, interviewing audience members as he seeks to prove that not everyone has a story.
YouTube channel: Tim Vine Televisual (TVTV), regularly serving up nonsense.
Famous brother: Broadcaster Jeremy Vine, BBC Radio 2 and television show presenter, Strictly Ballroom Dancing alumnus and one-man cycling video vigilante.