Ha-ha. Yes, they are! Oh my God. I actually hadn't thought of that. Yes, they are! And I'm performing them! [laughs]

Which of them have you actually met? Oh, I met Peter Allen, I wish I'd met Judy Garland. I sat behind Liza Minnelli [laughs] once at an off-Broadway show, Ruthless! She came in as lights went down, scurrying down the aisle and sat right in front of me, throwing off her fur coat which rested on my knee for the entire show. I pretty much watched the back of Liza's head for most of the show and every time she'd laugh I'd say to my friend Oh, she's laughing! She laughed! She laughed at that. She liked that! Oh, I was young. I wouldn't do that now [smiles]. I'd actually watch the show.

I know it’s a cliché that I like Bette Midler but she's been really influential for me, right from, oh, about 15 years ago when I did my first one-man show. I kept saying to my musical director – I had no experience of doing a one-man show back then – I kept saying I want it to feel like a Bette Midler show. And funnily enough the actor Caroline Gillmer said to me “It's got a real Bette Midler feel to it” and I was like, oh, thank God!

With Bette you never know what's coming up next. She can go from soaring ballads to full-on wacky comedy. That's always stuck in my head. I want people to laugh. I want them to feel something but I mainly want them to laugh.

You've said all these performers influenced you over the years. Which songs, or moments from songs, have imprinted themselves on you? Lots. Especially in our Prince medley. We’re doing three Prince songs. I’ve seen three or four Prince concerts around the world. What I like about his stuff is, again, you don't know what you're gonna get next. You could get jazz, you could get him talking or you could get pop or funk or hip-hop, you just have no idea. Or you could just get like Enya-style music. That always impressed me.

And he did this song and I just love the sentiment and the melody of it from a small album of his, The Vault. The song is The Rest of Your Life and the chorus is “Today is the first day of the rest of my life”. I've been singing it the last few days and losing my voice [laughs]. It’s a lovely sentiment. It talks about heartache and tragedy but that's all gone from today ’cos it's the first day of the rest of my life. It's got optimism to it. And that's what I like about Bette Midler, the optimism in her material.

You’re often referred to as the tough judge on Dancing with the Stars. But the fact is you're not like that at all. There's the story I tell about a previous interview we did. I rang you at the appointed time, you didn't know anything about it, you were shopping in the supermarket, you said gimme two seconds and I'll go sit down in the corridor outside. And you did. And gave me a great interview. It’s not the sort of thing you expect from a . . .

. . . horribly tough judge on Dancing with the Stars . . .

. . . TV star.

I don't know, I don't know. When Dancing with the Stars comes back I'll probably be that guy again but, I don't know, look, I obviously don't know what sort of person I am [laughs]. I am pretty honest, like when I work, I've been putting this team around me these last few years, especially for the live one-man shows, a good publicist, a good touring agent, a good theatrical booking agent and a really good band. I had the chat to them all: I said I don't want fans, I don't want grey, when I ask you questions and your opinion on stuff I don't want grey, I want black and white.

I've got a lot of that in me. It was how I was brought up. If I get your opinion, black or white, I can make a decision knowing you haven't just given me what you think I want to hear. And that's how I approach Dancing with the Stars. I’m gonna give it to you in black and white. It’s the only way people grow.

Was there ever a moment you regretted playing the nasty judge? Oh, nearly every time I say something mean [smiles]. I do! It just comes out! [giggles]. And then it comes out the next week! [giggles]. And it still does. Look, I do black and white on that show with my tongue in my cheek. Pretty much everything in my life has a comedy element to it. Even the tragedy stuff is kind of funny.

But, no, I don’t think so, I don’t really regret anything. I mean, there are a lot of moments on Dancing with the Stars when people have wanted to kill me, competitors and their fans. But no, if I say it, I'll claim it.

You've never hidden the fact you’re gay. How do club audiences react, they can be pretty unpredictable. Oh my God, that's the thing! It’s fascinating. This is gonna sound so clichéd, but [breathe in] when I first went and saw a Peter Allen performance in 1977, and I saw him perform another three times throughout my life before he passed away, and as I was watching the shows at the Hilton I couldn’t get over the fact his audience was predominantly general-public middle Australia and he was outrageous, you know?

Especially for that era. It always struck me. I'd look around and go, God, look at this audience, they're not the audience I thought would come to this show. When I was researching The Boy from Oz it was my real goal, to find out what it was that brought middle Australia to this outrageous show. You know what it was? It was as simple as this: he was just himself on stage. He did what made him laugh, he sang what he liked to sing. He was himself and that was the absolute key.

People will let you get away with anything as long as they think you're the real deal and what you’re saying is what you're feeling and what you’re performing is what you're feel and that's why I think I get away with it. And my audiences are exactly the same audiences as Peter’s and thank God they are! Because to me there's no real longevity in performing to a niche market. And I want to keep performing so I have to tap into middle Australia and the club circuit and regional tours.

Look I don't just have women I have women and men and I think good on you, you know, and I being gay I kind of I feel like I come with a slight sly something, to be a little bit naughty, a little bit blue, but I’m never crude, never crass. 

What if you get the occasional slur from the floor? I do! A few times. I do lots of things. I go down and sit on their lap and horrify them. And if they continue throughout the night I just say, Look, you're in my show, nearly more than me and I'm in my show a lot and we're a bit sick of you [smiles] and people laugh. Or I give them the microphone! That's the other way to shut them up. I go down and hand the mic to them and say Go! You're on! And that shuts them up [giggles]. I actually like that sort of thing. Or sometimes I just say Shut up, it’s my show!

This time I’m gonna open the floor up to the audience during the show. I’m gonna set it up at the beginning and say you can ask me questions tonight and I'm just warning you at the beginning I’m gonna come back to you in the second half and if you've got any questions just ask me. We normally do at least 10 minutes of that. Each show’s different. And I know my audience will ask questions. I don't know what they'll ask but I know they will. [smiles]

The first half of the show is kind of a bit olde worlde, it's bit more kind of me back then, more musical theatre, and the second part is a bit more Bette, Prince, Peter and Judy. Sort of me-then and me-now. I want the first half of the show to be full of fun and the second half you kinda feel like it's be more of a concert.

Those performers who inspired you are also known for getting up and going on even though the odds were stacked against them – Liza, Judy . . . Heartbreak seems to be integral to a great career as a singer. Have you had heartbreak you needed to get over? Or are you just swimming through life real easy? No! No . . . I wish I could have heartbreak! I wish someone would break my heart! That'd be fabulous! Bring it on!

Oh, you're just giving us a headline, aren't you! [he laughs] Yeah. You can put my phone number under it! [laughs]

Not sure if it will fit but for anyone who’s interested Todd’s phone number is | out of text space