It is hard to believe but Julian Clary has just turned 50, though the camp comedian admits he couldn’t be happier.

“I threw a big garden party when I was 50 in May, and we had a fab time,” he says.

“I’m loving the age and I’m a much happier person now, I get more content with every decade.

“I was nervous before the birthday, it always sounded like a comedy age, but in fact it’s great.

"Once you’ve got all the cards, you soon get used to it and the great thing is, at this age you can do what you want.

"You’re so far away from your twenties and all those great expectations.

"You have to embrace fifty, what’s the alternative? A number of people haven’t made it to this age, so you owe it to them to really enjoy it.”

Clary loves the milestone so much he has parlayed it into a major theme in his new live show, Lord of the Mince - a title he says stems from the fact that: “I have done for mincing what Michael Flatley did for dancing.”

It's his first nationwide tour in several years and he is relishing the experience.

“At first, I thought: ‘Do I want to tour at my age? Will anyone turn up? Am I past it?’" he says.

"But as soon as I got the show on the road, all those doubts evaporated and I’m having a lovely time.

“It’s going back to basics, it’s how I started in comedy.

"I get very playful on stage, which makes it great fun and it’s a very silly show, I’ve always liked the lighter, more trivial side of life.

"There is no hidden message , no attempt to change the world, it’s just about fun for its own sake.

"That’s the service I offer.”

Clary proved a popular hit in Strictly Come Dancing in 2006 and earlier this year took part in the arena tour around the country.

“It was thrilling,” he says.

“I’m never going to play an arena again and get laughs out of 10,000 people and I’d never been in such close proximity with a whole gang of heterosexuals before.

"It was fascinating, everything’s a competition for them, from arm-wrestling to burping and farting.

“I played it all for comedy as everyone takes Strictly seriously and you have to stand there while the judges say rude things about you, it’s crying out for someone to send it up.

“On the tour, my intention from the start was to get revenge for all the nasty things the judges said about me on TV.

"So if Craig Revel Horwood called me, limp, languid and lacklustre, I’d make some reference to Australian drag queens and what happens if you overdose on Botox.

"As he’d say, it’s just like panto, and he’s been cast as the panto villain.”

Julian Clary - Lord of the Mince, Fairfield Halls, Park Lane, October 15, 8pm, £19.50. Call 020 8688 9291 or visit fairfield.co.uk.