Comedian Frank Skinner has told Lorraine Kelly of his “love” for Dundee – and revealed how a visit to DC Thomson left him like a “kid in a sweet shop”.
Skinner was on Lorraine on ITV on Tuesday morning to promote his new tour, 30 Years of Dirt – a play on the phrase “30 years of hurt” from the song Three Lions, which he co-wrote.
Lorraine mentioned how Skinner had tried jokes from his new show at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe festival.
‘I love Dundee – I had a fantastic experience there’
Skinner replied: “I really love Edinburgh, but don’t get me wrong, I love Dundee.”
He continued: “I had a fantastic experience once in Dundee when I was on tour there.
“My tour manager phoned DC Thomson, who make Beano, Dandy etc, and said: ‘Frank grew up with those things – can he come in?’
“So I went in and I met artists, I saw original art. It was incredible.
“I was a kid in a sweet shop.”
Frank Skinner: DC Thomson comics ‘always in my blood’
Lorraine called Dundee home for many years until moving away in 2018 – and is a big fan of Dundee United.
In 2008, Skinner wrote an article for The Times in which he shared what comics meant to him – giving special mention to the DC Thomson titles.
He wrote: “I didn’t read a book till I was 21. Until then it was comics that moulded my view of the world.
“Every week I bought the Dandy and the Beano and got lost in the fabulous worlds of Dennis the Menace, Desperate Dan and Minnie the Minx.
“On the back page, it always said: ‘Published by DC Thomson and Co Ltd, Dundee’.
“I didn’t know where Dundee was, but I was pretty sure it had lots of hapless teachers in mortarboards, slipper-wielding dads, and piles of sausage-studded mashed potato.
“The Beano and Dandy will always be in my blood.”
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