" I'm still orange", Terry Alderton wails when I call him for our scheduled interview. "I can't get it off and I'm just sat here wondering what to do."
Dressing in drag and performing Tina Turner's Proud Mary got Terry through to the final of Sport Relief's Let's Dance only for him to be pipped to the winner's title by Rowland Rivron.
Fake tan dilemmas aside Terry says the experience was a good one and not too dissimilar to his nights out with fellow comedian Tim Vine.
"I was thrilled to do it and it was great fun", he says. "I am good friends with Tim and if we're on tour we often try and meet up and go out, play pool or do karaoke or something.
"Tim loves karaoke and his song is Proud Mary. When I was asked to do Tina Turner I wasn't sure but then I thought it might be a little hommage to me and Tim going out and I thought if I really went for it then I could pull it off.
"It's thrilling to think that the show made more than £1 million for charity."
Terry started on the comedy scene with his Perrier nomination back in 1999 and has enjoyed a variety of acting and presenting roles.
The former Southend United goalkeeper decided to pursue a career in comedy after winning the Sky TV show Star Search when he was just 18.
He says: "I've had quite a story really. I used to work in a restaurant on the weekends, peeling potatoes and washing up, and I used to tell the two chefs there, Mark and Steve, I think they were called, that I would be a comedy impressionist when I was older. They were real bullies and used to hold me down and pour tea on me but I used to make them laugh a bit with my impressions.
"Then I came home one day and announced to my mother that I was going to be a comedian. With my family's support I just did it. I think a lot of the time you can say you might do something and never get round to it. I just got on with it."
After just doing one open spot in a club in Southend Terry auditioned for Star Search, hosted by Keith Chegwin, and won the show.
He says: "I worked in Potter's holiday centre and so it was quite a mainsteam route really. I tried to do alternative comedy and they thought I was too mainstream but the mainstream audiences found me too alternative. To get to who I am now I must have gone through four or five changes."
Following his Perrier nomination Terry took up various TV roles including hosting the BBC National Lottery Red Alert with Lulu, parts in London's Burning, Holby City, The Bill and Waking The Dead and appearing as a gangster in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.
He has continued in comedy with his unconventional routine featuring Terry and his two conflicting internal voices, but he says he has now learned to be himself.
He says: "I never have a set format I just throw a lot of balls in the air and see where they land. Sometimes I don't catch any and I just go off on one. But what I'm trying to do is do things differently. There are only so many ways you can tell a joke – physically or verbally. I try to look at the science of jokes and what makes me laugh – even if it's nonsense. I talk to the voices, I play with words, it's a conundrum of stuff.
"I also like doing the impressions, I have no shame in saying that I absolutely love watching impressionists. I think doing different characters allows me to be someone else. I am actually shy and I have to lose my inhibitions on stage.
"It all fell into place for me when I read Born Standing Up in October 2010. From then on it changed everything. I thought that's it. If I find it funny then it's in. Originality is the key. I want audiences to like me but if they don't that's fine. I'm not a horrible man, I do my thing and go home to my family and watch Match Of The Day.
"I think the important thing is to keep evolving and never stay the same. I do the voices but eventually I might go somewhere else with it. People might like me one year and then decide they don't the next because I've changed something. That's OK with me."
Terry Alderton plays The Comedy Box on Friday, March 30, and Saturday, March 31, at 8.45pm. Tickets cost £12. Tel 0117 902 0344
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