The all-singing all-dancing kitsch caricature was invented by comedian and former pop journalist Mark Trevorrow in 1984, but despite his 13 years, Trevorrow reckons there's still plenty of life left in the old character yet.

And while his Australian counterpart Barry Humphries has spun out two completely opposite characters to play with - Dame Edna Everage and Sir Les Patterson - Trevorrow says Bob Downe is quite enough for him. He told Teletext:

"There's got to be another four or five years of fresh new stuff for him to go on and do." "Bob lets me do everything I want to do - that's sing, dance and a topical monologue. There's really not much else I'd want to do - he's 360 degrees. Besides which, I don't feel I've reached the full potential of the character yet.

"I'd love him to have a full prime-time TV series - then there's theatre and panto. There's got to be another four or five years of fresh new stuff for him to go on and do. Then there's all the pop music side - easy listening, jazz or pop - people enjoy that kind of music."

Trevorrow isn't exactly putting all his eggs in one basket though - if he ever finds Downe is on the way down and out he has plenty to fall back on. A showbiz journalist by trade, Trevorrow worked on the Melbourne Sun as part of his training and as Arts Editor on Vogue in Sydney.

"I would love to go back to editing," he says. "And I'd also love to do some singing - but as myself, not in character."

As a journalist, Trevorrow eyes the celebrities he meets with a certain incisiveness. When he saw Humphries on stage in Australia along with a star-studded audience only he and Julian Clary went backstage to pay their respects - something he still finds surprising. He says of Barry Humphries:

"He's unusually intense, extremely intelligent and focused, and has the energy of someone 20 years younger."

As Bob Downe he gets plenty of fan mail, "extremely lovely letters from little old ladies in Bristol". He seems surprised that he has a wide family appeal which includes children, despite the fact that his stage act is quite outrageous. He says:

"Families, young married couples and elderly people are the ones who come to see my shows. But I would never tailor the act to make it into Bruce Forsyth."

Away from the stage, Trevorrow is now "happily single" after a painful break up at the end of last year from his gay partner of four years. But the experience has left him still feeling the hurt. He says:

"It was one of those on-off relationships that staggered along so in a way I was quite relieved when it finally finished. I went back to Australia for six months and now we're the best of friends."

Despite a lifestyle many would consider glamorous, Trevorrow says he's not one for rushing from one partner to another.

"After a long involvement you need some breathing space, a chance to get yourself back together. In fact, it would be a long time before I would want to live with someone again."

The pressure of his profession - which sees him spending half his time here and half in Australia - doesn't help his relationships. But in any case, he says, he's truly appalling in relationships, selfish and too focused on his work, pushing his partner around "like they're an audience".

If there's a downside to his fame it's his public recognition - and that makes it harder for him to meet a potential new partner because his cynical side makes him wonder why people want to know him. "The wrong people come up to speak to you in those situations - whereas the right people wouldn't dream of bothering you."

So what about him doing the chatting up? The 38-year-old says: "I used to be terrible at it but I'm getting better now. I can win over a smaller audience on stage which is harder to do than a large one - but I'm just not so good with one other person. I am getting more practice though as I get older."

He's also far more at ease with himself now, more self-confident than some years ago. "I don't care what people think - if someone doesn't like or fancy you, you shouldn't let it worry you."

On a professional level, it's definitely a case of "no worries, mate". After finishing his stint at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival at the Queen's Theatre, Trevorrow flies back to Australia for the ARIAS music industry awards in which his record Jazzy! has been nominated in the best comedy album category.

He comes back to Britain again for a national tour from October 10 - November 30, then he's on TV in the first episode of BBC's new Lily Savage show starting this autumn.
Rona Levin

'I've never met Kylie Minogue and I would love to meet her, but if I meet Dannii one more time, I'll slap the bitch. She is just so deeply untalented.

"Is that going to be the headline, 'Dannii is talentless, says Bob Downe'?"
Is this the same camp perma-grinning chat-show host who claims to be simply high on life? No. It's his alter ego, Mark Trevorrow, and he sounds quite unlike his garish creation, Bob Downe.

This particular morning he's hot under the lapels about everything from Dannii to Soho to his home town Melbourne.
A cult comedian here and in the Antipodes, Trevorrow has made London his base for the last 10 years.

While Trevorrow has finally left his residence in "dirty" Soho, Bob Downe still performs in the heart of the West End, playing in Drury Lane from Wednesday, June 11.

Downe says of the show: "Set the stereogram of your mind to lots of bossa nova, samba, percussion, Hammond, vibes, tacits and accents! I want UltraLounge! Audrey Hepburn in Funny Face! Know what I mean? Cool but swinging; not too heavy ... not too light. Seriously good music, backed by top-line musicians - and cabaret-funny too!"

This is fairly typical hyperbole from Downe, the synthetic showbiz allrounder who sings, dances and takes very good care of his hair. However, what becomes particularly striking in the course of the interview is the unsettling degree to which Trevorrow wavers in and out of character.

Unmasked, un-wigged even, Trevorrow is a little more blunt than his Bob Downe creation. His morning belligerence is in stark contrast to the daytime telly presenter's bitchy backchat.

"I moved out of Soho because of the F...ING noise and dirt," blasts Trevorrow.
"Particularly since they were building the f...ing Empire State outside my window."
Now a resident of the salubrious Fitzrovia (in the shadows of the BT tower), Trevorrow still isn't entirely satisfied.
"I'd like to know any residence in Britain that has perfect plumbing, and if so, I'd like to be shown it," says Trevorrow.
"Britain is a joke, and London really has the most appalling plumbing in the galaxy. I've never met a London plumber I've liked or disliked, because I've never actually seen one."

This seems far removed from Bob Downe's idyllic home of Murwillumbah, a country town in a sugar cane and banana growing district that Downe describes as "Hull with palm trees".

As the mythical television presenter of Good Morning Murwillumbah, Downe claims he's really "at home" in the Now Or Never Caravan Park. Here he lives in a luxury L-shaped caravan which, as a confirmed bachelor, he shares with his mum, Ida.

"Ida was a power in the district as a member of the militant faction of the Murwillumbah Women's Institute (a violent Hezbollah faction) and a former Banana Queen in 1954," claims, I presume, Downe.
"The Banana Festival is a pagan fertility thing, and every year the most nubile 16-year-old Murwillumbah schoolgirls are dragged along the street in a truck, all dressed up. Mum won three years running and incredibly again a couple of years later."
He also claims that drag queen Lily Savage is his fiancee, but this is a best kept secret from Ida.

"It's a risk I have to accept as a minor celebrity fast climbing my way to the middle," says the Downe side (forgive the pun) of Trevorrow's personality.
All nonsense, of course. Yet, Trevorrow is without doubt a huge fan of Savage's.

"Above and away the best comic - head and shoulders, literally and metaphorically, above everybody - is Lily Savage. No-one comes near," says Trevorrow.

"All the comedians the likes of Time Out rave on about are garbage. They don't like Lily because they see him as just a 'poof in a dress'.
The closest equivalent to Trevorrow's act is Barry Humphries and, unsurprisingly, he was his greatest influence.
"I went with Julian Clary to see the Les Patterson show and we showed our respects after the performance," says Trevorrow. "He was an extremely nice person. He gave us a great bottle of Australian chardonnay. He doesn't drink any himself, of course - he's off the booze," he adds with a laugh.

Although Trevorrow can be scathing, it seems comics are exempt ... well, most.
"Look, you're not going to get me to slag any other comics, you'll have to go on another tangent, unless it's Frank Skinner," Trevorrow says with spite.

"You can quote me on him, but that's it, I refuse to slag off any other comics."
His actual hometown of Melbourne, however, is certainly fair game. Born there in 1959, he was a journalist for Melbourne's Sun for four years before becoming arts editor for Vogue Australia.

"I used to write the features, and the nicest man I interviewed was Roy Orbison. He was a lovely, gentle, quiet man. But I know you journalists. You really, really want me to slag someone, don't you? Let's see, who was a prick?" he asks himself.

Unable to recall anyone, Trevorrow decides to slag off Melbourne instead.
"Growing up there was dull as dishwater. My God, what a dull town. I left in '82. That was the year that 27 years of unbroken Tory Government were broken. Labour came in and changed the licensing laws and the whole town changed. Now it's very, very hip."

However, he claims that Melbourne is still "shockingly provincial" and public transport is "appalling".
"I'm going to get in trouble. A lot of Melbourne people are going to write in to TNT and complain now. Just say in the article that if anybody writes in complaining about what I've said about Melbourne, I'm going to write back a letter saying, 'What the fuck are you doing living in London then?'," he maintains.

Trevorrow has built up a serious head of steam now and his wrath extends to Melb-ourne's fanaticism with sport.
"Don't even ask me anything about the [Ashes] cricket. Who are they playing? I wouldn't even know," he claims. "Are they playing America? Canada?

"I can't stand cricket. Why do you think I left Melbourne? Because it has an obsession with sport which is more than unhealthy - dangerous.
"I grew up in a household where it was compulsory to watch the Aussie rules on a Saturday night. And you've got to remember I was from an era of one television per household. It was monstrous. Just thinking about it, OHMYGOD."

One of Trevorrow's happier Melbourne memories is watching the legendary singer Marcia Hines in a production of Hair. He suddenly breaks into a rendition of (This Is The Age of) Aquarius.

"Aquarius is my star sign. Bob's is Leo. He's too stupid to be an Aquarius. His defining trait is, 'look at me, look at me, shut up, shut up, look up at me'. That's typical Leo," says Trevorrow.

"Whereas Aquarians possess incredible loyalty, beauty and spirit, talent and intelligence and uncanny ability to tune into the zeitgeist."

Dannii Minogue and Frank Skinner might disagree.

Bob Downe performs Jazzy at the New London Theatre, Drury Lane, London WC2 on the following Wednesday nights - June 11, June 18, June 25 and July 2. Tickets £12. Bookings 0171-405 0072.