ONE of the most brilliantly unpredictable comics in the country, he’s come all the way from the USA to spout his one-liners.

Reginald D Hunter, who brings his In The Midst of Crackers show to Southampton next week, has been in hot water with the Professional Footballers Association after using racial humour in his show.

It’s not the first time he’s courted controversy, but plays it down.

“In my experience, ‘controversial’ is when you say something which people find difficult to accept,” he said. “It’s not fearless – you have just shocked them. So I’d say to them, ‘Now take a minute. Let the cold wind blow, it will be all right.’ “It feels tired to pretend that anyone in comedy is controversial. The only people who should be allowed to be controversial are politicians. If you find comedians mess up your day in that way, maybe you should get out more. It’s too much for you. Have someone get food for you.”

“It’s hard to tell the difference between people who are genuinely shocked and people who feel they should be shocked and take a platform position on something it would be hard to disagree with.

“I think they’re simply calling attention to themselves – ‘look at me!

I’m disgusted by this. You have to know that I’m a good person.’”

Away from those headlines, the 44-year-old has become one of the best loved guests on Have I Got News For You since crossing the Atlantic a decade ago.

“People here get me – and that’s something I’ve never felt in Georgia.

There my sense of humour always seemed odd. I was always being sent out of the classroom at school. Girls thought I was weird.

There I was the outsider.

“Here my sensibility makes perfect sense. All my neuroses help me fit in here. I have felt right at home in Britain since the very beginning.

This is the place that has given me the biggest opportunity. In America, I’m just another big black guy with dreadlocks.

“The things people like about me over here are the very things that got me beaten up and thrown in jail over there. All my sins over there become virtues over here. When my family saw me on YouTube for the first time recently, they asked, ‘Do British people really pay you for that?’ To them, I’m this guy who lies on the couch watching the game.

The fact that I’m celebrated in London makes them think that the world has gone nuts.”

He continues: “I come from a very Christian, preachy culture.

At some point, you have to answer for what you have said. So I do have those worries.

Sometimes I listen to old routines, flinch and say, ’Why did those white liberal people let me say that? They should have stopped me!’”

But Reginald underlines how content he is to be living in the UK.

“I’m very pleased with where I’m at. I know I love Britain because I’m mad at it, and you can only be mad at something when you love it, like a child or a woman.

“Of all the places I’ve been in the world, Britain makes a real effort when it comes to trying to be fair.

Brits do not just pay lip service to the idea of fairness.

“They give it a real go.”

n See Reginald D Hunter at Southampton Guildhall on Wednesday.