OUTRAGEOUS Scots comic Frankie Boyle last night confessed to an 11-year drink and drugs binge that threatened to wreck his skyrocketing TV career.
The Mock The Week star was once crippled by shyness and turned to booze, cannabis, ecstasy and LSD for help.
It will stun the BBC2 show’s four million fans who only know him as the fearless joker taking on politicians, terrorists — and even the Queen’s naughty bits.
Frankie, 36, admitted: “Everybody in Scotland f***ing drinks and it’s hard to tell when you’ve got a problem. By the time I was a student I was trying to get p***ed five or six days a week, drinking up to ten pints a night. I knew I was an alcoholic.”
And he laid into critics who blasted a shock joke he made about the Queen — broadcast by the BBC just as the furore exploded over filthy on-air phone calls by Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross.
In a Mock The Week segment titled ‘Things she would NOT say in her Christmas speech’ Frankie quipped: “I’ve had a few medical issues this year — I am now so old that my p***y is haunted.”
The show was cited as another example of the Beeb’s failure to restrain artists. But Frankie refused to apologise and declared: “What are we going to do, ban humour? I have two words for the people who complained: ‘F*** off!’”
And it’s below-the-belt one-liners like that have propelled the now-sober dad-of-two to fame — a skill he honed at times in his life when things weren’t always so funny. At 15, ginger-haired Frankie got his first taste of booze. “I remember sneaking a bottle of vodka from my parents,” he said.
“I must have downed half in one day and got absolutely steaming. And from then on I realised drinking was an easy way to forget my problems and have a good time.“
Heavy boozing was the norm in Glasgow, where Frankie grew up in a tenement block with labourer dad and school dinnerlady mum. “I had a pretty grim childhood,” he said. “There was nothing to do so me and my friends started drinking whenever we could.”
Things got more serious when Frankie went to university to do an English degree in Brighton, and teacher training in Edinburgh.
He said: “Ten pints of fizzy lager made me funny. I’d sing Gloria Gaynor’s ‘I Will Survive’ in a French accent and scare the new students. I’d drink until I vomited or passed out somewhere.
“The most I had in one go was about 20 pints. One time I woke at a friend’s in a panic because I couldn’t see. I eventually realised I didn’t have my glasses on. I looked everywhere for them until I noticed they’d fallen out the window and were lying in a pool of vomit from the night before. I carried on like that for years. It didn’t bother my friends or family — in Scotland everyone is f***ed.
“I was 26 when I had my last drink. I had a drinking competition with three Romanians. My last memory is one guy saying, ‘Okay, let’s call it a draw’ before he passed out. I drank them all under the table. I knew it was time to quit. I was bored and ready to do something different with my life. Work became my addiction.”
Even though Frankie quit drinking, he still carried on using drugs for another three years.
He said: “I’d do anything I could get — a lot of weed, ecstasy and acid but never cocaine. That’s an idiot’s drug. But it’s been years now since I’ve done anything.”
Divorcee Frankie — now with a long-term girlfriend — found fame in the mid-90s with an open mike award at the Edinburgh Fringe.
Now he is the dark soul of Mock The Week and guests on 8 Out Of 10 Cats and Would I Lie To You? His current tour, Frankie Boyle Live, began a year ago, with him performing for over 100,000 fans so far.
Recalling the royal controversy he said: “I don’t think we should worry about hurting the Queen’s feelings. She’s got a lot of money. Satire is talking about the people who wield power.”
Turning his venom on Westminster, he added: “If we were a band of survivors do you think we’d elect Gordon Brown to lead us? He’d be like the village idiot. And if David Cameron hadn’t gone to Eton? He’d be managing a Pizza Hut. The minute I get cancer I’m killing all of Britain’s politicians.”
FRANKIE’S new stand-up DVD Frankie Boyle Live, including uncut footage too harsh for TV, is released tomorrow by 4DVD at £19.99.
This guy is an absolute legend. You have to admire how brutally honest he is about everything. Easily IMHO the best comedian out there at the moment.
Will definately be getting a look at his new stand-up routine.
This is the line that caused "controversy" from the PC spackers. I thought it was funny !
The Mock The Week star was once crippled by shyness and turned to booze, cannabis, ecstasy and LSD for help.
It will stun the BBC2 show’s four million fans who only know him as the fearless joker taking on politicians, terrorists — and even the Queen’s naughty bits.
Frankie, 36, admitted: “Everybody in Scotland f***ing drinks and it’s hard to tell when you’ve got a problem. By the time I was a student I was trying to get p***ed five or six days a week, drinking up to ten pints a night. I knew I was an alcoholic.”
And he laid into critics who blasted a shock joke he made about the Queen — broadcast by the BBC just as the furore exploded over filthy on-air phone calls by Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross.
In a Mock The Week segment titled ‘Things she would NOT say in her Christmas speech’ Frankie quipped: “I’ve had a few medical issues this year — I am now so old that my p***y is haunted.”
The show was cited as another example of the Beeb’s failure to restrain artists. But Frankie refused to apologise and declared: “What are we going to do, ban humour? I have two words for the people who complained: ‘F*** off!’”
And it’s below-the-belt one-liners like that have propelled the now-sober dad-of-two to fame — a skill he honed at times in his life when things weren’t always so funny. At 15, ginger-haired Frankie got his first taste of booze. “I remember sneaking a bottle of vodka from my parents,” he said.
“I must have downed half in one day and got absolutely steaming. And from then on I realised drinking was an easy way to forget my problems and have a good time.“
Heavy boozing was the norm in Glasgow, where Frankie grew up in a tenement block with labourer dad and school dinnerlady mum. “I had a pretty grim childhood,” he said. “There was nothing to do so me and my friends started drinking whenever we could.”
Things got more serious when Frankie went to university to do an English degree in Brighton, and teacher training in Edinburgh.
He said: “Ten pints of fizzy lager made me funny. I’d sing Gloria Gaynor’s ‘I Will Survive’ in a French accent and scare the new students. I’d drink until I vomited or passed out somewhere.
“The most I had in one go was about 20 pints. One time I woke at a friend’s in a panic because I couldn’t see. I eventually realised I didn’t have my glasses on. I looked everywhere for them until I noticed they’d fallen out the window and were lying in a pool of vomit from the night before. I carried on like that for years. It didn’t bother my friends or family — in Scotland everyone is f***ed.
“I was 26 when I had my last drink. I had a drinking competition with three Romanians. My last memory is one guy saying, ‘Okay, let’s call it a draw’ before he passed out. I drank them all under the table. I knew it was time to quit. I was bored and ready to do something different with my life. Work became my addiction.”
Even though Frankie quit drinking, he still carried on using drugs for another three years.
He said: “I’d do anything I could get — a lot of weed, ecstasy and acid but never cocaine. That’s an idiot’s drug. But it’s been years now since I’ve done anything.”
Divorcee Frankie — now with a long-term girlfriend — found fame in the mid-90s with an open mike award at the Edinburgh Fringe.
Now he is the dark soul of Mock The Week and guests on 8 Out Of 10 Cats and Would I Lie To You? His current tour, Frankie Boyle Live, began a year ago, with him performing for over 100,000 fans so far.
Recalling the royal controversy he said: “I don’t think we should worry about hurting the Queen’s feelings. She’s got a lot of money. Satire is talking about the people who wield power.”
Turning his venom on Westminster, he added: “If we were a band of survivors do you think we’d elect Gordon Brown to lead us? He’d be like the village idiot. And if David Cameron hadn’t gone to Eton? He’d be managing a Pizza Hut. The minute I get cancer I’m killing all of Britain’s politicians.”
FRANKIE’S new stand-up DVD Frankie Boyle Live, including uncut footage too harsh for TV, is released tomorrow by 4DVD at £19.99.
This guy is an absolute legend. You have to admire how brutally honest he is about everything. Easily IMHO the best comedian out there at the moment.
Will definately be getting a look at his new stand-up routine.
This is the line that caused "controversy" from the PC spackers. I thought it was funny !
Says exactly what a lot of us want to say to the complainers.