HE calls himself a “gigster”

– perpetually touring and continually dispensing his “tickle-tonic” on theatre audiences across the UK.

And it is no mean feat for the unashamedly stage-struck Ken Dodd who at 84-years-of-age has over 100 one-nighters booked at theatres this year along with almost a hundred more talks, lectures and fund-raising appearances.

“The travelling is slightly ‘disknockerating’ (Doddy-talk for ‘exhausting!’) but it’s lovely to do the shows and I’m enjoying every minute of it. As you advance in years you realise how important it is to have people around you. Meeting people and talking to people, it’s lovely to share the gossip and banter. By that I mean family, friends, acquaintances and even people who get on your nerves. I find people fascinating; everyone has a story to tell. On tour I just love meeting people. I wouldn’t swap this lifestyle for the world: I would be devastated if I had to live in one place all of the time.”

He is relaxing, marvelling over the money to be made from Chinese brica- brac on The Antiques Road Show, but still had pen and paper in hand scribbling down some new ideas for gags. Even after 58 years as a professional entertainer, he is still honing his craft!

“I’m just thinking of new stuff to try out. I just love the creative process of making people laugh. Every minute I’m inspired by the news, what’s on television, what people say: a sense of humour is looking at things from a different angle.

“People’s humour is still the same but the expectations of audiences are different. All the taboos have gone and with that freedom comes responsibility.

Any skilled writer would know there’s a borderline between a little spice and going too far.”

Ken is never short of material – he made it into the Guinness Book of Records for the world’s longest-ever joke telling session: 1,500 jokes in three-and-a-half-hours. That is 7.14 jokes per minute! Even so, he insists on trying out at least six new gags every night.

“Nobody can be 100 per cent certain what you say is going to be funny. You practise on yourself and you are only going to say jokes that make you laugh, but 25-30 per cent of what I say has at one time been an ad-lib. When you have been doing this for a while the jokes just come to you from the back of your mind. I have actually stood on stage and told jokes I’ve never heard before: sometimes you get a good reaction, and sometimes you get a eureka moment and that’s when I do a hand signal to my drummer to tell him to write it down.”

Does Ken have any ambitions yet to fulfil?

“Only to live to be 150 and shot by a jealous husband! Or be the last man on earth so I can find out if all the things those girls say are true!”

And can we expect Ken to perform his legendary extraordinarily long shows this Easter?

“It’s all an ugly rumour!” he laughs.” People say you have to take sandwiches and a flask to a Ken Dodd show – but how hurtful.

The Pavilion does a lovely breakfast!”

Ken Dodd’s H a p p i n e s s Show was at Salisbury City Hall last night and goes to Bourne-mouth P a v i l i o n tonight.