THEY may be more hairdresser than barber shop, but Four Poofs And A Piano - with their slick harmonies, comedy intros and reworked classics - are a hit with viewers of TV's Friday Night With Jonathan Ross.

Otherwise known as Ian Parkin, Stephen De Martin, David Wickenden and David Roper, the foursome will be one of the stars of this year's Manchester Pride, bringing their unique style of cabaret to the main stage over the Big Weekend.

All four come from a theatrical background but it was in 2000 that Four Poofs And A Piano got together.

"Dave, Simon and I joined the London Gay Men's Chorus," explains Ian Parkin, during a brief break from rehearsals.

"One evening we got chatting and found out we had all performed professionally and decided to put a group together. David, who is a theatre pianist, is our third pianist but now our longest-serving; he joined us about two years later."

Their rise to TV stardom was one of those happy occasions where they were in right place at the right time. "We were spotted in the Groucho Club, in Soho," Parkin recalls.

"Dave was working there on reception and they were putting on a big charity show, which they do every year. He asked if we could do a number.

"Some of the Jonathan Ross production crew happened to be in and that was that.

Business

"We had all been in the business for a while but we weren't getting the work any more, so to suddenly get this was amazing.

"It took about four series before we were able to give up temping jobs, but all the other work has now built up. It has changed our lives."

The show is regularly watched by five million viewers and means the Four Poofs get to rub shoulders with some of the biggest stars in the world.

Their comedy ditties have introduced the likes of Madonna, David Bowie and Robbie Williams. But it's not always as exciting as you might expect.

"Some of the guests are really quite dull," Parkin confesses.

"We record over two hours, so that they can get the best bits. Some guests you expect to be dull are fantastic, while others you are expecting a lot from and the interview seems to go on for ever."

Over-awed

However, Parkin adds that he is still occasionally over-awed by a celebrity. "I always get starstruck by Elton John. I'm not his biggest fan but he has done the show twice and always says hello to us. I shake his hand and I open my mouth and nothing comes out.

"Another moment was with Paul McCartney. It was halfway through the interview and I suddenly thought, 'That's Paul McCartney! He's a Beatle!'

The Poofs are currently rehearsing for a nationwide tour that kicks off in September, which promises to be a truly theatrical experience, mixing new material, comedy songs and covers. Pride will be different. "For Pride, we will be doing a lot of loud and lairy pop stuff and a bit of comedy; we have some songs we are sure will go down well."

When they hit the big time, the Poofs were wary of appearing at gay festivals.

"Some people misunderstood the premise of the Jonathan Ross show and thought that we were there just to be the butt of homophobic jokes, so we weren't terribly popular with some gay men.

"When we started doing shows like Mardi Gras and Pride, we didn't know how people would receive us, but as the series has gone on, people see that although Jonathan makes fun of us, he makes fun of his guests and himself and it is always lovably done, there's no malice there.

"We did our first Pride and we went down a storm and everyone made us feel so welcome that we love it now."

Four Poofs And A Piano play the Big Weekend at Pride on Bank Holiday Monday, August 25. Click here for more information. Tweet