Julian Clary invites you to a wedding – and it could turn out to be your own!

The sharp-tongued comic will be pushing the boundaries of his outrageous style of comedy by welcoming eligible bachelors on to the St George’s Hall stage to win his hand in marriage.

Position Vacant, Apply Within, the new show Julian is bringing to Bradford next week, sees him hosting “ruthless elimination games” for potential spouses. You have been warned.

When it comes to spontaneous audience interaction, few comics are in Julian’s league. Anyone who has seen him live will know he’s a master of the withering put-down.

His acerbic wit led him to victory on Celebrity Big Brother last year. “There was a phenomenal opportunity for comedy with that bizarre collection of people – thank God we were able to have a laugh!” he says.

Julian shot to fame in the 1980s as the Joan Collins Fan Club, camping it up on stage with his beloved Fanny the Wonderdog. In recent years he has turned his attention to novel-writing, but remains a showman at heart.

“Getting a laugh is good for my soul and my ego. I look forward to it after nine months at home writing a book. I could never just write books, I need to go out and feel the love,” he says.

Julian describes his new show as “an open audition”.

“We get people up on stage, no man is safe, although they don’t all have to be men. Like Sticky Moments, (the TV dating series he presented in the 1990s) there’s a series of elimination rounds. The eventual winner has a gay marriage with me, conducted by a ‘bishop’.”

He says getting people to compete to marry him “never fails” as a comic device. “People totally get it – it’s greeted with howls of laughter. It may be a load of old nonsense, but it’s great fun.”

Does the show make a point about gay marriage? “We finish with a song, Cool To Be Queer, which you can see on YouTube. It's a serious song about gay marriage and persecution around the world,” says Julian. “Is it political? Everything is political. I dared myself to do it, and I’m very glad I did. People have told me they find it very moving, it’s given them something different to think about on the way home.”

A household name for three decades, and a regular on panel shows, Julian relishes audience participation. “Although it requires a lot of plate-spinning, it wakes everyone up,” he says. “Everyone knows it’s dangerous and improvised and anything can happen. In my world onstage, the rules are different.

“My fans and I have evolved together. It’s rather sweet that people who saw me when they were students are now coming to my shows with their grown-up children. There’s a history there. People know what they’re buying the ticket for: glamour, nonsense and vulgarity.”

Julian Clary is at St George’s Hall on Tuesday. For tickets ring (01274) 432000.