Television and film Carr's early TV career included guest appearances on
8 Out of 10 Cats in 2005 and
The Law of the Playground in 2006. Carr went on to host two series of Channel 4's game show ''
Alan Carr's Celebrity Ding Dong from 2007 to 2009, and the chat show Alan Carr: Chatty Man'', which ran for 16 series from 2009-2016, with Christmas Specials in 2016 and 2017. Carr was a Traitor on the first series of
The Celebrity Traitors, which aired in October and November 2025. He won the series, with his prize money of £87,500 being donated to Neuroblastoma UK, a charity he personally chose focusing on
childhood cancer. In August 2025, Carr was announced as one of the contestants on the second series of
LOL: Last One Laughing UK, which premiered in 2026 on
Amazon Prime Video.
Radio Carr made his radio presenting debut on Christmas Day 2007 for
BBC Radio 2 as part of their Festive Highlights with the show ''Alan Carr's Christmas Box
. He filled in on BBC Radio 6 Music on 16 February and 14 June 2008, for Adam and Joe and co-presented The Russell Brand Show on 4 October 2008. He also presented Alan Carr's Comedy Outings'' for BBC Radio 2 in 2008. On 25 April 2009, Carr began hosting
Going Out with Alan Carr, a new show for BBC Radio 2, in conjunction with
Emma Forbes (later replaced by
Melanie Sykes). The show was broadcast every Saturday evening from 6pm to 8pm. On 6 March 2012, it was reported that he had made the decision to leave to focus on his
Chatty Man show. His last show was on 31 March 2012. Carr was replaced by
Liza Tarbuck. He returned on Boxing Day 2015 for a one-off show on the station. For four weeks in January/February 2017, Carr again returned to BBC Radio 2 to sit in for
Paul O'Grady on his Sunday show. Carr reunited with Sykes to present a 10-week show called
Summer Escapes sitting in for
Graham Norton on Saturdays from July to September on BBC Radio 2 yearly from 2017 until its final run in 2020 following Norton's departure from the station. It included features based around summer including the
British Seaside Survey.
Stand-up Carr performs stand-up regularly, on tour and on television. He became a regular performer on the Manchester comedy circuit in his 20s, where he met fellow comedians
Jason Manford,
Justin Moorhouse and
John Bishop, and had his own monthly comedy and cabaret show ''Alan Carr's Ice Cream Sunday'' at the Manchester Comedy Store. In 2001, Carr won the
City Life Best Newcomer of the Year and the
BBC New Comedy Awards. Carr has been featured in three
Edinburgh shows and in 2007 he toured throughout the UK, which was followed by a DVD entitled
Tooth Fairy Live. He has performed at the
Apollo Theatre in London, which was televised for the
BBC One series
Live at the Apollo, and has been featured in the
Royal Variety Performance. Carr has appeared and performed at many festivals, including the
Reading and Leeds Festivals,
Latitude Festival in Suffolk and
Kilkenny Comedy Festival in Ireland. He has performed stand-up internationally, including an appearance at the
Just for Laughs festival in
Montreal. In March 2010, Carr took part in ''
Channel 4's Comedy Gala'', a
benefit show held at
the O2 Arena in aid of
Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital in London.
Autobiography Look Who It Is! is Carr's autobiography published in 2008. It details his life from growing up in Weymouth to presenting
The Friday Night Project. In the book, Carr recounts how he grew up in the shadow of his father Graham, and was therefore expected to grow up to be a great
football player, despite his childhood "puppy fat". The book laments on his schooldays. During that time in his life, Carr was picked last for the football team when the other students found out his lack of talent and his father forced him to refuse to communicate with a friend because he was apparently "gaying him up". Carr also tells the story of how puberty left him with "big teeth" and a
camp voice. ==Personal life==