Christopher Hall has always had a flair for the spotlight — even if he’s made a career out of standing just to the side of it. The viral showman, best known for his pitch-perfect Background Singers series, has turned the art of the sidestep into a full-blown main character moment. Now, with a brand-new live show Pizazz and a tour on the horizon, he’s stepping back onto the stage — sequins, stories and all.

Fresh from sold-out runs, internet adoration and collaborations with pop royalty from Sugababes to Natasha Bedingfield, Hall is leaning into something a little more personal this time around. Still joyfully theatrical (don’t worry, the jazz hands are very much intact), Pizazz sees him reflecting on growing up, glowing up, and what happens when the life of the party starts asking slightly deeper questions.

It’s camp, it’s candid, and it’s unmistakably Christopher — part cabaret, part confessional, and entirely ready for its close-up.

 

Congrats on the upcoming tour, the New York date and the lovely write up in Variety. Are you feeling full of ‘Pizazz’ about this upcoming tour?
I am indeed very, very excited! It’s my third full stand-up hour that I’m doing, and it feels great.

I have one question about the word pizazz, is it possible to say it without doing jazz hands at the same time?
Well,  it takes a lot of energy to not. It does what it says on the tin, doesn’t it? it really lends itself to the jazz hands and a sequined waistcoat.

Get out of my head! My next question was that you don’t hear that outside of a lot of circles that include sparkled waistcoats and greasepaint.
Yeah [laughs]

So I was wondering why did you choose that specific word for the tour?
In this show, I reference some stories and some experiences I had when I was a dancer and doing musical theatre, so I wanted a word that encapsulated that.

You described this show as your most self-reflective. Were there any truths that you discovered about yourself while writing this that surprised even you?
I have already performed this show in Australia, and looking back at the performances I think I’ve realized how different my style is from two years ago, comparing it to how I feel on stage now, how much I’m interacting with the audience. So I think if people have seen me before, they can expect a really elevated, evolved version of me.

Any big changes in the content compared to previous shows?
I think I’ve harvested some new experiences. I talk a bit about old jobs in musical theatre or my dancing background. I’m a little bit older now, and everyone is making different decisions, and I’ve had so many new experiences since the backing singer videos went crazy so it’s definitely comething new.

You became famous for your extremely popular background singer series. How did they come about and was your sister in for the ride from the start?
The idea totally came out of the blue, I was living with my sister at the time and I just turned to her with the idea and she was all in. Elizabeth became contracted into a lifetime of becoming a background singer. It was just such a fun thing to do as a pair.

With all your other projects, has it become more difficult to be able to find the opportunities to still create these?
We are trying our best. My little sister is in her third year of uni so apparently dissertation trumps TikTok, which I do understand.

I guess you’ve probably been asked before, but I would like to ask it as well. Why backup singers? Why not the lead?
Because I feel maybe the lead gets enough spotlight already. I feel there’s a certain magic, and there’s a certain chemistry in the choreography that a background singer has. A lot of the times the backing vocals level up and elevates the song into the next stratosphere. So it’s been so much fun to listen to songs and really listen to the little extra bits that make a song so special.

Where do the song choices come from? Because your song choices read like the great gay songbook of the UK.
A bit of everything. We’re a pretty musical family, so there’s definitely artists that my dad liked or my older sister liked that influenced me.

What is the campest song you’ve covered so far?
We did Trixie Mattel, ‘Looking Good and Feeling Gorgeous’ which was pretty camp. If fact we have done so many camp songs. We’ve done Kylie Minogue, ‘Love at First Sight’ and we did Dannii Minogu as well and she’s a camp queen!

You’ve done a lot of collaborations with legends including Sugababes, Natasha Bedingfield and JoJo. Which one made you scream the most when you had the confirmation?
They are all amazing! Last year we did the Sugababes, which was a really special one. We were just like, “This is so fucking cool.” Maybe the first one we ever did was The Jonas Brothers. My little sister was absolutely obsessed and pretty much saw God when she met them.

Do you have a collaboration wish list for comedy? Now that you’ve moved into that world.
Oh, wow, good question. I love Katherine Ryan, Nikki Glaser, Ali Wong, Liza Treyger, I just saw her special it was just wall-to-wall, just, like joke, joke, joke.

Would that be in the form of a stand-up routine? Or would you like to do kind a sketch show?
Ooh, I could do a skit with Ilana. If I could do a sketch with Ilana Glazer that would be amazing ’cause Broad City is one of my favorite TV shows.

Talking about skits, one of your most famous characters is a sassy judgmental cat. Do you think cats are the reincarnation of demon twinks?
Quite possibly. Definitely the reincarnation of a miserable old boots human. So there’s definitely a huge possibility that’s true. We should look into that.

Loverboy is named after the hit Mariah Carey song, and you’ve done a couple of backup singing videos of  Mariah Carey. Do you have a favourite Mariah backup singer moment?
Oof. Um, I love ‘Always Be My Baby’ and I love the backing vocals of ‘I know you’ll be back, boy’, which I know everyone says in the comments, ‘That’s her singing, not the backing singer’ but I don’t care.

Great, what about any incidents? because she’s had lots of famous interactions with the backup singers.
‘Someone’s getting fired’ is a classic. I remember the legendary ‘Stop singing my part now, baby.’ That was in ‘Touch My Body’.

And for the record what is your favourite Mariah Carey song?
I mean I didn’t know this was gonna be asked of me. lol. There are so many I love. ‘Always Be My Baby’,  ‘You’re Mine (Eternal)’, and ‘Your Girl’ from Emancipation of Mimi, oh and don’t forget ‘Get Your Number’.

 

Christopher Kicks off his ‘Pizzaz’ tour on the 30th Septmeber in Margate. You can grab tickets here.