Spice Girls

HE’s got almost 2 million followers on TikTok alone, has an army of A-list celebrity fans and now US comic Corey O’Brien is preparing to invade the UK.

After blowing up on social media post lockdown with his hilarious videos impersonating everyone from Dua Lipa and Justin Timberlake to the Spice Girls– who all shared his clips online – the 34 year-old former dancer’s comedy career has gone from strength to strength.

And next week he’s performing in London for his first ever UK show, much to the delight of both Corey and his legions of British fans.

“I’m a real anglophile,” smiles Corey, as he chats to The Sun from his home in Los Angeles.

“I’m really excited because I feel like my comedy goes across really well with a UK audience.

“I’m unhinged and have no filter, and I feel like you guys really get that. I have no boundaries, I say whatever the f*** I want to say and I think that’s quite a British sense of humour.”

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He may live 6000 miles away from Blighty, but Corey admits he avidly follows UK pop culture – whether it’s binging classic early seasons of Love Island with his former NFL star boyfriend Ryan K Russell (“we stopped having sex at one point because we were so obsessed with watching Hannah Elizabeth) to keeping abreast of every development of the Beckham family feud.

“I am so invested in that drama,” he confesses. “I’m team Posh, of course. If Victoria wants to come to crash my wedding, do a full dance number and make the night all about her, I wouldn’t hate it.

“She could slap me in the face in the middle of my vows and I would probably say thank you. She’s Victoria Beckham. She was my gay awakening.”

Indeed, when Corey impersonated all five Spice Girls for his own take on the iconic Say You’ll Be There video three years ago, he never expected it to get more than three million views and be shared by the legendary pop group’s official social media channels.

“I think I cried when that happened,” he confessed. “It was one of the most amazing things to ever happen. My boyfriend was upstairs at the time and I screeched as if someone was killing me. He was quite concerned.”

It’s not just iconic British girlbands that Corey is obsessed with though – during our chat he happily recounts his favourite moments from various UK Celebrity Big Brother series.

“Oh my god, I’ve watched all of Chris Hughes and JoJo Siwa‘s romance, I can’t get enough of Farrah Abraham‘s fight with Aisleyne Horgan-Wallace and of course Tiffany Pollard’s ‘David’s dead’ moment is my all time favourite,” he laughs.

“I’d love to do Celebrity Big Brother. If any casting people are reading it, get me on there! I’ll get nude if they want me too!”

Anyone who follows Corey on social media will know he’s more than happy to flash his naked buff body – either in the name of comedy or simply for a bit of a thirst trap.

“I’ve not said this publicly before, but I microdose Ozempic,” he confesses when asked about his increasingly toned physique, before admitting to making a big mistake when he started on the fat jabs.

“I ordered some off some random website for like $400 and, believe it or not, I’m not a doctor so I didn’t really understand the dosages,” he deadpans.

“The first time I took it, I shot up a whole month’s worth of it in one go and I didn’t realise. I lost like 12 pounds in a week and it was all muscle that I lost. So yeah, now I just do little microdoses here and there.”

And he’s more than willing to show off some skin when he hits Britain next week.

“I’ll show my nudes on stage, hell, I’ll show them in person for like 20 bucks,” he laughs.

“I need to make some money – the exchange rate is crazy right now!”

Corey O’Brien: Live In London is at the Top Secret Comedy Club in London on Monday February 23. Doors open from 5.30pm.

For tickets, book here

Chris Evans has made a major comeback with the relaunch of TFI Friday and brought the iconic programme to his radio station almost 30 years after it first aired

Chris Evans has relaunched his hit 90s series TFI Friday. The presenter, 59, fronted the hit series during its initial run on Channel 4 from 1996 until 2000 and it became staple viewing at the start of the weekend.

The format featured a mix of live performances and celebrity interviews. Chris left the programme after the fifth series, and big names like the Spice Girls, Davina McCall and Elton John stepped in to take the reins for the last run of episodes in the build up to Christmas 2000. Now best known for fronting his radio show on Virgin, the TV star, who also presented the short-lived revival in 2015, has brought the programme back once more.

The revamped version of the iconic series is currently being released on Virgin Radio’s YouTube channel, and welcoming the audience to the first episode, Chris said: “Hello friends. Thank you for tuning in! Welcome to TFI Unplugged.

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“On the way today, Delroy Lindo, currently nominated for Academy Award, Hollywood Sim Car of course. Also on the way, the hilarious Ross Noble going to be here!”

Some of the more regular segments during the original run of the show included Freak or Unique, which encouraged participants to show off a strange talent. Other items included Fishbowl Challenge, Show Us Your Face Then and Sink Or Swim.

The show also ran a segment called Someone’s Going to Be a Millionaire!, based on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?, and on Christmas Eve 1999, TFI Friday became the first British programme to issue a £1 million prize, almost a year before one player won the jackpot on the ITV game show.

Chris became a major television star in the early 1990s, as the Channel 4 show The Big Breakfast which he presented alongside Gaby Roslin, before other showbiz favourites like Denise Van Outen, Zoe Ball and Kelly Brook took on the hosting role.

He wrote and presented TFI Friday whilst working on the BBC Radio 1 Breakfast Show, which he eventually resigned from whilst he was live on air in 1997 after Radio 1 refused to allow him to work a four-day week.

He also presented The One Show on Fridays between 2010 and 2015, and later became the lead host of Top Gear in 2015 after the sacking of Jeremy Clarkson.

In 2022, Chris explained on his radio show that a reboot of TFI Friday didn’t need to be on television anymore thanks to the advent of streaming. He said: “Can I tell you a bit more about it?

“Oh, sure. The thing is, you don’t need a TV channel now. You don’t don’t need one. It’s amazing what you can do. TFI Friday doesn’t have to be an hour long, it could be longer, we could livestream it!”

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