"It really was a dream that became real" Chris Kamara relives his "whirlwind" signing ahead of show in Portsmouth
Pompey favourite Kammy shares his memories
Portsmouth audiences are in for an ‘unbelievable’ evening as Pompey favourite Chris ‘Kammy’ Kamara takes to the stage at the Portsmouth Guildhall with Ben Shephard for their brand-new live show.
Before the bright lights of television, it was a Royal Navy friendly in Portsmouth that changed everything for Kammy who had joined the service at age 16 where he trained at HMS Raleigh at before transferring to HMS Vernon - now the site of Gunwharf Quays.
The then Portsmouth manager Ian St John signed Kammy for the club after watching him play in November 1974 - agreeing to pay the Navy a £200 buy-out fee. “It was whirlwind stuff… a fairytale that came true,” Kammy said.
Ben & Kammy's Unbelievable Show comes to Portsmouth on Saturday, April 25 where audiences can expect a night that’s as heartfelt as it is hilarious - celebrating not just two extraordinary careers.
How does it feel to be heading to Portsmouth on your next tour date?
BS: I am very excited to be heading to Portsmouth for our next show - the home of Kammy’s very first football club and the home of where the most prolific and global piece of commentary happened, when he missed the sending off. To be able to celebrate all of those things, and chat a little bit about friendship and the importance of having friends that look out for each other in an environment that made Kammy feel so welcome is great. I have always loved being down on the South Coast, so Portsmouth was an absolute MUST when planning the tour.
Kammy, you have a real connection to Portsmouth through your time in the Royal Navy, and it’s where you earned your first professional contract. How did living and working in the city shape you, both as a person and as a young footballer? And did you have a sense at the time that football would take you as far as it did?
CK: The friendly I played in for the Navy against Portsmouth FC reserves changed the course of my life. Within six months I was playing in the first team. The dream of being a professional footballer started to come true. I was on £16 a week in the Navy but as a first year apprentice footballer the wage was only £12. But I would have actually done it for nothing. It was whirlwind stuff and looking back it’s a fairytale that came true.
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There’s that iconic story involving you at Fratton Park that fans still talk about (when he failed to spot Anthony Vanden Borre's sending off during Portsmouth's draw with Blackburn in 2010). Can you take us back to that day and why you think that moment has stuck with people for so long?
CK: I thank god I didn’t try to make out that I had seen the sending off. Being honest is the reason why I think people love it so much.
Do you still feel a sense of nostalgia returning to Portsmouth, given it’s where so much of your journey began?
CK: Yes I had a reunion with the family that I stayed in digs with two years ago this month. Jeremy and David Penny were like my younger brothers at that time and Hazel and Keith treated me like a son. What happened in 1974 when Pompey signed me on the back of one game would never happen in this day and age. It really was a dream that became real.
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You two have such a natural chemistry from years of working together, what made now the right time to bring your friendship to the live stage?
CK: I saw my life flash before my eyes, and I got a second opportunity, so it's the best thing in the world to go around with one of my best mates and do it all.
BS: I've got to rinse every last bit of Kammy juice out of him before it's too late and make the most of it. I think now is the right time because both of us are at a stage in our lives where we're being a bit more circumspect and reflective on what we've achieved. Kammy is no longer at Sky Sports, I'm no longer at Sky Sports, which is where we first met across a crowded football stadium - our eyes locked.
CK: He knew he was getting the job alongside me, but didn't say anything. I’ve never forgiven him for that.
BS: We did a show in Edinburgh, and it was just the two of us just chatting about life and our life and working together, and it was really exciting, wasn't it? It was a really lovely moment as part of the Edinburgh Fringe, and that's when the the idea sort of incubated a little bit to go, could we do this on a on a broader scale, and sort of go out there and share some of the stuff that's happened over the years, and also celebrate it as well? I don't think we get enough of a chance to celebrate how great Kammy is. And, his wife needed a bit of time off.
You’ve both had huge careers in television, but how does it feel swapping the TV studios for a live theatre?
CK: I’m just riding on Ben’s back.
BS: This is a man who was challenged to do stand up, went in front of an audience and all the actual stand up comedians like Russell Howard, Joel Dommett, the actual comedians who now do big stadium tours, watched Kammy do it and absolutely floor the audience. They couldn't believe he'd never done it before. He naturally warms to people and has always excelled in front of a live audience, and maybe it's because he was a footballer, so the arena that he existed in was in front of a crowd, and he loved that. We've done a couple of things together, and he is a master at it, but I think the lovely thing is being able to do it with your friend as it means you've got someone to lean on.
How does this show reflect where you both are in your lives right now?
CK: It's brilliant for me, because I never thought it would happen again. But, you know, life surprises you all the time, which is great. I’m really looking forward to it, I really am. Like I said before, I have a new lease of life, so long make it continue.
BS: I learnt so much from Kammy when we were working together, and we've shared so many amazing experiences, so any opportunity to be around each other, have a laugh and just create more memories is amazing. The job that we've done, and that we continue to do, is so reliant on having an audience that wants to listen to what we've got to say, and so to be able to share some of the stories behind iconic moments we’ve had on TV - which we very rarely get to do - is really exciting.
You’ve called it ‘Unbelievable’, is that a play on Kammy’s iconic catchphrase, or is it exactly what people can expect from the show?
CK: There isn't a day that goes by where somebody doesn’t shout ‘It’s unbelievable’ at me. Just coming here, the workers out on Great Portland Street were shouting at me ‘Come on - it’s unbelievable!’ and asked me for a picture.
BS: It's exactly that, it's the thing that he's really well known for, but also some of the stories behind it will feel and sound unbelievable, some of the moments we've experienced, some of the mishaps, some of the highs, a lot of the lows as well will feel quite unbelievable.
How involved have you both been in shaping the show? Have you approached it like a TV project, or will it be a bit more spontaneous on the night?
BS: It’s going to be a real mixture. We're going to be absolutely at the front and centre of working it out, because we know the bits that we can share. There's so many clips, so many stories that undoubtedly I want to do. I want to make sure that everyone gets to hear Kammy sing, that's for sure. We want to bring a bit of telly to it as well, so there could well be some quizzing type element, because hopefully there will be lots of people who would love to hear about my experience of hosting quiz shows and entertainment shows, of which Kammy has starred on a number of occasions. It will be interactive, it will be engaging, it will be funny, and really intimate as well hopefully. We want people to feel like they've got to know us a little bit more than they maybe already do.
What do you hope the audience takes away from this show?
CK: Hopefully they come away from it and think it's funny and good, which is the most important thing. Our friendship can withstand everything, apart from if this is a flop.
BS: I think both of us just want people to enjoy themselves. It's quite a difficult time at the moment and we don't underestimate the sort of commitment from people, because they will pay money to come and see this show. So we want to make sure that they leave thinking, ‘Wow, wasn't that a fantastic couple of hours!’, that leaves them with a spring in their step and a smile, that's all I want. I want to feel like we're sort of bringing a bit of joy, a bit of humour, and unquestionably, Kammy also being able to share what he's been through with his condition, which is a massively important part of it as well. So we're going to be talking very openly about those things. Kammy has been incredibly open, honest and vulnerable about what he's been through, and I think sharing that with people, and being able to say thank you for the support you've given him is absolutely priceless. We were filming in Lake Como, and this couple stopped us as they had seen a documentary that we made for ITV, and the woman said, ‘My son has apraxia, and you being on television and talking about your apraxia, you will never understand the impact that's had on my son!’. It's not just grown up adults that get it, there are young kids that have it as well, and so to see somebody on television talking about it, being open about his struggles with it, and also his triumphs with it and getting past it - that was a real moment. And I think that's something that we need to sort of celebrate, because there will be, undoubtedly, people in that audience that come and see us, that have experienced this, or may hear something that helps them, and that’s important.
If you had to sum the show up in just three words each, what would they be?
BS: Energetic, emotional and chaotic.
CK: IT’S UNBELIVABLE SHEP!
Ben, you’re used to studio lights and live formats, but what is it like stepping on to stage with Kammy in this unfiltered way?
BS: It’s visceral, because when you walk into a TV studio, yes there are cameras there, but you can’t see the audience and there is also an immediacy in response with a live audience. So as Kammy says, we want it to be funny, entertaining and engaging, and we will be able to feel if it's not, so that adds a level of anxiety. And then I've got to try and keep him on track and keep him on target and keep his focus. It’s like trying to ride a bull, but it’s harder. You’ve worked across many formats – breakfast TV, game shows, and sport.
What has been different about doing something as personal as this with your friend?
BS: I think the telly stuff, particularly the daytime bits like This Morning, there's a lot of us that goes into it, a lot of our experience that we feed into some of the subjects, but often we aren't the story. I’m always happy when I'm not the story, when we're discussing certain topics, when I'm listening to experts, or I'm helping facilitate an interview for somebody, or hosting a big show where it's about other people. Ninja Warrior, The Summit, Tipping Point - I want everybody else to flourish, because that makes a great show. But this is about us, and the reality of that is much more stark, because if people don’t like it, that’s quite harsh, so hopefully they will. It's going to be much more revealing, it’s much more personal, but I'm sort of excited to put myself in that position. It's going to be scary, but he's going to be next to me, so every time I feel a little bit nervous, I'll just look at him and he will make me laugh.
As someone who has supported Kammy so closely in recent years, what does it mean to you to be part of his next chapter?
BS: Kammy is always so lovely about our friendship and what it means to him, but I will never really be able to put into words how important he's been to me and my career. I have learned so much from him, good and bad, but the good stuff, you know, that Kammy has always been amazing at, is he taught me to take your job seriously, but not take yourself seriously. It's like an absolute mantra that I have to hold on to, because I can get very involved in what I'm doing. He was a sportsman all his life, and he's excelled at an elite level in everything he's done, but his biggest opponent ever has been the condition that he's had to deal with. And his biggest victory is being able to stand up on a stage, share that story, and carry on being the amazing Kammy that he is in front of other people. So me being alongside him is a privilege.
Chris, you’ve spoken openly about your diagnosis with apraxia of speech. How has it been preparing for a live show and having the chance to connect with fans who have followed your journey?
CK: The public has been amazing, and my close friends have just been incredible. Everybody's been amazing actually. People I didn't know from Adam, and people who I thought maybe weren't even my friends have got in contact with me, as well as people who knew me from years gone by - so I feel I owe it to them by coming back and trying to put on a show. I haven't beaten my illness, there's no doubt about that. I talk like a 45’ record going round at 33’, but I haven't done a theatre tour ever. I did a show with Jeff Stelling at the London Palladium, and it was amazing. I had prepared for one before lockdown, and lockdown brought it crashing down, so now I've got this second chance with Ben.
You’ve had such a fabulous career in football, commentary, and TV, how did you decide which stories to tell on stage, and can we expect anything you’ve never shared publicly before?
CK: There are secrets, whether Ben will let me tell them or not is another thing. I'm sure I will, but there are stories that I've been trying out with a couple of audiences, and they've gone down well. I'm quite confident we can make this happen, and it will be good and different from anything else that's out there.
Ben & Kammy's Unbelievable Show comes to the Portsmouth Guildhall on Saturday, April 25 at 7.30pm. Details and tickets at www.portsmouthguildhall.org.uk/whats-on/event/ben-kammys-unbelievable-show