BUSINESSiQ Awards: Mike Hughes interviews Alfie Joey

It’s rumoured that his little black book of contacts is now a 50gb hard drive… and that he can’t let a day pass by without saying ‘he’s behind you!’ or ‘oh no he isn’t…’

Alfie’s welcome to use any of that comedy gold, but somehow I don’t think he needs it.

As the host of so many awards and presentations – you will all have seen him at something in the last year – a panto star, impressionist, stand-up comedian, former radio show host, accomplished artist and expert on the power of public speaking, he has a CV to die for.

I’d also better mention that he is a former trainee priest, otherwise that opening sentence won’t be quite as hilarious.

When we are arranging the BUSINESSiQ Awards we secure our venue and date and then check that Alfie is available. He really is that important to a live event.

So it was a long-overdue treat (for both of us, I imagine…) to talk to the man himself in the Echo boardroom.

The pit village lad has come a long way, but as the kid of a miner, the idea of being an entertainer was so far-fetched that he was more likely to be a priest – so that’s what he did.

“It was all a bit Billy Elliot,” Alfie tells me.

“It was very odd for a coal miner’s son to want to go and be a priest during the time of the miners’ strike and everything. But I really thought that’s all I would ever do. I always loved showbusiness, journalism, entertainment, but I never thought that was possible for a pit village lad.

“It was more conceivable to go and train to be a priest. So off I went, did that for 15 years and two things happened that were pivotal. One of them was I did a comedy module when I was a school chaplain and really enjoyed doing drama and stuff with the kids and they sent me off to do a drama degree in London.

“I lived in the monastery in London and went off to do this degree, but there was a module in stand-up comedy and that was a big lightbulb moment because I had always done entertainment from being very young, and always presented things or did spoofs or skits or impressions.

“But the other amazing thing happened when I was a school chaplain in Liverpool I always loved drama and the head of drama had asked me to be his best man. I told him I’d love to do that, but he said his Uncle Eddie was going to be there and he never laughs at anything – don’t let that put you off, he told me

“I then found out his Uncle Eddie was Eddie Braben, who wrote all the Morecambe and Wise scripts.

“So I then wrote a speech for Stu and Jane, but also for Eddie Braben and I chose to do ‘best man speech – the musical’ with hats, wigs, impressions, the lot.

“At the end Eddie came over and said ‘what do you do, son’? And I said, well, I’m a monk. And he said, forget that….”

So the journey into the spotlight took another sharp turn. A Wise move.

“I ended up doing lots of comedy in the clubs and then I did TV warmups for shows like University Challenge in Granada Studios and guest spots on radio. And out of the blue, the boss of BBC Newcastle heard about me and gave me a show and that led to me then hosting The Breakfast Show, interviewing politicians, pop stars, Oscar winners and Olympians.

“I always enjoyed interviewing business people because they’ve just got more skin in the game. The really impressive ones have so much passion because it’s what they’ve dreamed of and at any point they can lose it all.

“That’s what business is – investment in yourself.”

It was as if the North East itself had been noticing Alfie, talking about him and planning just the right roles for him. Now able to combine all that experience, at his core he is a communications coach, realising the transformative qualities of good presentations, confidence and stage presence – not only for businesses and leaders, but finding another side to individuals facing their own challenges.

“I’m obsessed and fascinated by communication and I coach people like businesses or charities about how to communicate a message.

“Clearly, that is key in business and yet so many don’t do it or are reluctant to do it. I think it’s a British thing or maybe even a North East thing where we’re reluctant to show our medals, and I get excited by helping businesses or charities to do that.

“When they do it well, I love it and at the BUSINESSiQ Awards you get it at its best. It’s basically, for me, about the stories that are shared and the excitement about those stories.

“It does baffle me when people don’t tell their stories. In the old days, not that long ago, you had to get a billboard, buy Yellow Pages space or get an advert, but those days are gone.

“People don’t look up at billboards anymore. They look down at the phone – and that’s free.

“For me, this is the golden age of storytelling, the age of the Zoom boom, the Reels revolution and the podcast and if you’re not using those free spaces, you’re mad. Go and do it.”

One of the many benefits of having Alfie in the spotlight at our awards is that he is a business himself – an SME facing all the same challenges as the hundreds of people who will be in front of him at the Hilton Newcastle Gateshead on April 22.

He knows about the choices to be made, the finely balanced finances, the unwavering faith you need to have in your product.

He told me: “Sometimes I get carried away with the excitement and the brilliance of it. But I think what makes it so exciting is it’s hard – it will always be tough when you can take nothing for granted.

“And sometimes you’ve really got to dig in and get yourself out of these problems, but the passion is the bit you’ve got to remember. When you think you’ve dried up with stories, you’ve dried up with social media posts, remember the passion you started with.

“Tap into those goosebumps.”

As the driver of events across the region, he is a perfectly tuned powerhouse that always seems to be ‘on’ – with so much experience that he can change gear, take a fast corner and wave to the crowd as he does it.

Really looking forward to the 22nd….

• To be part of the big night with Alfie as host of the 2026 BUSINESSiQ Awards at Hilton Newcastle Gateshead on April 22, go to bit.ly/2026BiQAwards for more information and to tell us who your business heroes are.