Freddie Starr is set to take his final bow – on stage.
The comic’s funeral is being planned at a theatre in front of an audience of fans.
Celebrity pals are expected to do turns and two of his wives have been invited.
“It would be a fitting tribute,” said our source.
Freddie’s send-off is said to be just what he wanted – on a stage with comic pals cracking jokes.
We can reveal that plans are afoot to hold his funeral in a theatre in his home town of Liverpool.
There the audience will be packed with fans for his farewell gig.
Comedian pals are expected to perform star turns, including best mate Jim Davidson.
Starr’s funeral director Michael Fogg is to meet venue bosses in Liverpool on Tuesday to agree a date and time.
Two of Freddie’s four ex-wives – Donna and Sophie – are set to attend, along with some of his six children.
All will travel in a single limousine behind the hearse.
Afterwards the 76-year-old comic, who died of a heart attack at his Costa del Sol home last month, will be buried next to his mum and dad.
And poppy seeds will be scattered on his grave as a mark of respect.
Michael told the Sunday Mirror: “We are talking to a theatre. They’ve said, ‘He was on stage here, you can use this’. They worked closely with him. It’s a good possibility, but I need to meet them first. Hopefully we will be able to make this happen.
“It would be a fitting tribute to Freddie if we could. He spent most of his life on stage and his family have said he wouldn’t want it to be in a church. So they’d love it to be in another venue.”
Freddie’s Bulgarian carer Nelly Georgieva, 46 – who found him dead in his home in Mijas, southern Spain – is also planning to attend.
Freddie’s relatives had initially considered holding a small secret service outside Liverpool with no public or press invited.
But they have now shelved the idea after being persuaded fans should be allowed to say goodbye.
Freddie burst on to the comedy scene after appearing in Opportunity Knocks and the 1970 Royal Variety Performance, and went on to become one of the biggest names on British TV, earning an estimated £2million a year.
He owned yachts, a fleet of fast cars, a helicopter, and a Grand National winning racehorse.
But he was living as a penniless recluse when he died in his Spanish one-bed townhouse.
Michael, who is organising and paying for the funeral, stepped in and paid more than £8,000 to repatriate Freddie’s body after the Sunday Mirror revealed Freddie was estranged from his four ex-wives and six children, and faced a Spanish pauper’s grave.
Michael said: “It’s thanks to you he’s going to be laid to rest in this country. If you hadn’t printed it I wouldn’t have seen it.
“This was his home and it was the right thing to do to bring him back.”
Michael is now preparing to formally register Freddie’s death at Liverpool City Hall on Tuesday before holding meetings with the police, a Church of England official and theatre bosses.
He had been in talks with church officials about holding the funeral at Liverpool Cathedral, where Freddie’s fellow comic Ken Dodd was laid to rest last March.
But the idea is now unlikely.
Michael said: “It probably would have been at the Cathedral if it had been practical, but it’s not ideal because of how it would have to be done. I can’t say Freddie’s going to have a send-off like Ken Dodd.
“But I’m going to do him a service fitting for someone of his character.
"And it will be well attended.”
Michael, who is keeping Freddie’s body at his firm’s chapel of rest in Sheffield, added: “The funeral will be held in June or July.
“What is 100 per cent certain is it will be in Liverpool and he’s going to be buried alongside his mum and dad, which he wanted.”
