Tell Us about:

Your latest stand up show:

My tour is called King of Crumbs. Times may be hard for a travelling whimsy merchant such as myself, but that won’t stop me roving the land with hard-hitting comedy about Pop Tarts and the 17th century mask of the preacher Alexander Peden (made of real human hair).

Your favourite joke you have created:

I’m quite proud of a bit where I read William Blake’s Proverbs of Hell (1790) – plus a few that I wrote that are equally good

Your favourite venue to perform at:

There are a few tiny historic theatres and converted music halls which are absolutely beautiful and always full of weird stuff. Like, you can sit in the David Garrick green room making a cup of tea with the Sir Ian McKellen kettle and then sit down on the Dame Judy Dench sofa. Delightful.

 The joke  that was the longest to write and why?

There’s a joke in King of Crumbs about telephones that I wrote when I was 12 years old. But I never told it to anyone between then and now. I have to travel with a vintage landline phone to be able to do the joke, but it’s nice when people laugh at such an old gag.

Comedy hero:

I’ll have to choose someone dead, because all my living comedy heroes keep going mad on social media. How about the medieval jester Roland the Farter?

Dream venue to play at:

I don’t know what your dreams are like, but in my dreams I’m always trying to find the loo. So, I guess – a toilet?

Describe the feeling you get when you walk on stage to do a show:

I’m usually struck by the thought that my flies are open, even though they (usually) aren’t.

The hardest joke to perform and why:

I do an extended impersonation of a vacuum cleaner in this show. (Yes, I’m an artist, OK?) And that was fine at the start of the tour, but now I need to do vocal warm ups and drink loads of ginger tea. (Which is special tea for redheads.)

Essential items you always take on tour with you?

Apart from a bakelite telephone?

Describe your fans in three words:

Non-binary dungeon masters.

What we can look forward to from you this year:

I just published my fifth Montgomery Bonbon murder mystery for kids. And this tour ends in November. So, honestly, I’m just planning to have a little sit down after that.

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