TICKETS for your Man With The Flaming Battenberg Tattoo tour are selling like hot cakes. What can fans expect from the show?

You can expect the usual ranting and raving about stuff that winds me up. There’s stuff in the show that makes me laugh and more laidback stand-up as well. Something for everyone, they’d say.

Are you a more mellow person these days?

Yes, that’s what the show is about. It’s me mellowing out a bit, and that is partly thanks to a course of anger management, partly thanks to this flaming Battenberg tattoo, and that’s what the story is about. It’s how the tattoo is having a wonderful, mellowing effect on me. Are you analytical about your comedy, and do you try and find a universal truth to touch a chord with everyone?

I’m very analytical in terms of I’ll analyse why something isn’t working and how it can be changed, but I certainly wouldn’t approach it in that way of saying, ‘I need to find a universal truth that people recognise’. I just talk about what I want to talk about. If I can make that funny, I’ll analyse it and make that funny, and if can’t, then I get rid of it. Basically, I do what I do and hope enough people find that funny rather than think, ‘What would people find funny?’ The starting point is me and what I want to say; what I want to get off my chest, and hopefully, there’s enough people out there that resonates with.

Was it always a dream to be a comedian?

No, it was never something I thought I was born to do.

Making people laugh is something I’ve always loved doing, but doing it for a living or doing it on a stage in some kind of formal environment was never part of my plan.

Do you have any quirky things you do before going on stage?

I have rituals before I do any gig.

Ironing my shirt is common sense, not a ritual. I do my vocal exercises to get my voice ready. They’re all practical, logistical things.

Arenas or smaller gigs – which do you prefer?

This was the first tour really where I had to choose between doing arenas and theatres. I thought about it and the only thing drawing me to arenas is the fact that I could probably have finished this tour in two or three weeks – ten or 15 nights away in a hotel doing an arena each time and I’d probably have made the same money and played to the same number of people. As it was, I decided to go to theatres; for the intimacy, for the rewarding experience – for me and the audience. But it does mean I have 122 nights and eight months on the road instead of being away for just two to three weeks.

n Rhod is at Southampton Guildhall on Monday.

Limited tickets are still available.