Paul L Martin

Paul L Martin performs as Paulus, an entertainer often described as the Queen of Cabaret and a crowd-pleasing clown. He has been performing since the age of seven and has taken shows to Paris, Berlin and Melbourne.

He is known to television audiences as one of the judges on BBC One's All Together Now (Series 1 in 2018, returning for Series 2 in early 2019), and appeared in the All Together Now Celebrities Christmas Eve 2018 special. Earlier screen work includes Sky's Bigger Than… and Channel 4's Mary Portas.

This site gathers his cabaret work, his teaching and 1-2-1 consultations, and a way to get in touch.

Paulus has been performing since the age of seven, a journey that began in childhood and has since taken him to stages across the globe. From those earliest appearances to the polished, commanding presence audiences know today, decades of live performance have shaped an entertainer with an instinctive understanding of what makes a crowd respond. There is a rare quality in someone who can read a room so completely, adjusting tone and tempo with an almost musical precision that keeps an audience leaning forward, waiting for the next moment.

Cabaret remains at the heart of everything Paulus does. It is a form that demands versatility, charm, and the kind of quick wit that cannot be rehearsed in advance. A cabaret artist must sing, joke, and hold a room together, often all within the same breath. Paulus has long been celebrated as a queen of this world, bringing a particular blend of glamour and mischief to every appearance. The costumes sparkle, the voice lands, and the patter between songs builds a connection that feels personal even in a packed house.

Television audiences came to know Paulus through BBC One’s All Together Now, where he served as a judge across two series and appeared in the celebrity Christmas special. Sitting among the hundred, his reactions became a memorable part of the show’s fabric: sharp, warm, and never shy of an honest verdict. The format placed him alongside host Rob Beckett and a rotating cast of famous faces, but his own presence stood out, bringing a cabaret sensibility to Saturday-night entertainment and introducing his persona to viewers who might never have set foot in a theatre.

Beyond the BBC, Paulus has appeared in a variety of screen projects that speak to his range as a performer. Earlier television work includes Sky’s Bigger Than… and Channel 4’s Mary Portas, programmes quite different in tone from the glittering world of cabaret. These appearances reveal an entertainer comfortable in multiple registers, someone who can adapt to the demands of documentary, reality, and entertainment formats without losing the essential character that makes him recognisable. Each screen credit adds another layer to a career built on versatility.

Live performance has taken Paulus far beyond British shores. Shows in Paris, Berlin, and Melbourne represent only a handful of the international stages he has played. There is something remarkable about an act that can translate across cultures, and cabaret of this calibre travels well. The humour may shift slightly, the musical selections may adapt, but the core of the performance—the interplay between singer and audience, the shared recognition of a moment well crafted—remains constant wherever the venue happens to be.

Teaching and one-to-one consultation form a quieter but equally significant strand of Paulus’s work. After years of shaping performances for his own shows, he now helps others find their voice and stage presence. These sessions draw on a lifetime of practical experience: how to hold a microphone, how to read a lyric, how to walk into a room and command it before a single word is spoken. The consultations are tailored and personal, shaped around the individual rather than any fixed syllabus.

The stage persona of Paulus is often described as a crowd-pleasing clown, a phrase that captures something essential about the act. There is comedy here, and a willingness to be foolish, but it is comedy of a knowing kind. The clowning never undermines the singing; the glamour never smothers the joke. This balance is difficult to achieve and harder to sustain, yet it has become a signature. Audiences laugh, but they also listen, and the combination keeps them returning to see what will happen next.

Behind the wigs and the sequins lies decades of disciplined craft. Paulus studied and shaped his approach through years of live work, learning not just how to perform but how to structure an evening so that it breathes. Pacing is an art in itself, and his shows demonstrate an understanding of rhythm that extends beyond the musical numbers into the spaces between them. The resting moments matter as much as the climaxes, and knowing when to let silence do the work is a skill acquired only through experience.