And if you went to Boundstone College in Lancing, you might well know his name, too.

For the former Lancing resident is one of the 4 Poofs and a Piano who are the house band on the popular chat show.

The saucy foursome, described as "More Hairdressers than Barber Shop" for their tour, give a humorous and tuneful introduction to each of the show's celebrity guests.

And now they are going it alone, bringing their first national tour as a headlining act to a theatre near you.

One of their first stops is very close to home for David, at the Pavilion Theatre in Worthing, on September 30.

"This is our first tour by ourselves, without the aid of a safety net," he said.

The 4 Poofs have played Edinburgh twice with sell-out shows and supported Joan Collins in a tour that visited Worthing.

"That gave us a taste of what it's like to get out there," David said. "We only get 20-second stints on the TV show. It's good to get out and show people what we can do. When we do shows in London, audiences are really surprised."

Topical material

For the tour, David will be joined by Dave Wickenden, Stephen De Martin and Ian Parkin to perform mostly original comical and topical material, some of which will be written before the show to make it right up to date.

"There's some dance in the show, too," said David. "Wait till you see the tap dancing. There's comedy and our trademark harmony. It's good fun."

And as David is so close to home, he is expecting friends and family to be in the audience.

"I'm looking forward to it. I like coming back to Sussex," he said. "Last time we were in Worthing, Dave knocked part of the set over when he was getting changed. It was quite funny really as it looked like it as part of the show."

Originally from Australia, David's family emigrated to Lancing when he was in primary school and he moved up to Boundstone College, renowned for its respected performance arts department, a couple of years later.

Fantastic start

"It was a fantastic start at Boundstone with Aedan Kerney and Alan Strong as my mentors.

"I went back to present some awards recently and met up with Aedan. It was lovely to see him. I owe an awful lot to going to that school.

"I was in the Edinburgh Festival at 14 – I was lucky to be around in the heady early days of the Fringe."

David, who plays mainly the keyboard but also the piano accordion, went straight from Boundstone into the world of musicals and being a musical director.

His first professional job was in a production of The Wizard of Oz at Worthing's Connaught Theatre, with Buster Merryfield.

He worked at theatres in Northampton and Derby and at the Young Vic in London, with the youth theatre and composing the highly acclaimed Snow Queen.

At 24 he was MD for the European prèmiere of Seesaw with Helen Shapiro.
Since then, he has worked as MD for Fame the musical on tour and at the Victoria Palace in London for two years.

He has been MD on pantos with Marti Cane, Bonnie Langford, Su Pollard, Joe Pasquale, Lionel Blair and David Griffiths.

TV shows like We've Got Your Number with Brian Conley are among his musical direction credits and he conducted The Sound of Musicals for BBC One with Ruthy Henshall, John Barrowman, Sir Willard White, Mica Paris, Aled Jones and more.

Acclaimed radio ads

In the world of commercials, he produced and performed a series of acclaimed radio ads for Ocado, both solo and with the Poofs, being the original Ocado man.

David joined the 4 Poofs nine months before they got the job with Jonathan Ross in 2001, replacing the original pianist.

"That was 200 episodes ago," he said. "I was used to being in an orchestra pit and it was nice to be on TV performing. I really enjoy it.
"We do have a laugh – and that's what comes across in the stage show, too.

"It's a real privilege to be working with such celebrity guests. I like watching the sound checks with the likes of David Bowie and Robbie Williams, when they are just themselves and chatting with their band.

"It's quite amazing – Robbie Williams is quite a shy person but when he is about to perform it's like electricity goes through him.

"There must have been about 600 guests and most seem to be lovely people. They don't have to show off or be arrogant."

You are invited to sit back and enjoy four men prancing around and having more fun than is appropriate for men of their age, at Worthing on September 30, at 8pm.

Tickets are £14.50 from the box office on 01903 206206 or wwwl.worthingtheatres.co.uk

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