COMEDIAN Rob Newman shot to fame in the early 90s, as one half of Newman and Baddiel.

The pair starred in BBC comedy sketch show The Mary Whitehouse Experience and had huge success with cult TV series Newman and Baddiel In Pieces.

Rob found himself becoming an unlikely pin-up for this new wave of comedy. In 1993, Newman and his then comedy partner David Baddiel became the first comedians to play and sell out the 12,000-seat Wembley Arena in London.

The price of fame caused tensions between the two, and a breakup led to the two men taking wildly differing career paths.

While David Baddiel became part of the new lad phenomenon of the mid- 1990s, fronting shows like Fantasy Football League, Newman largely disappeared from public life, reappearing with solo work marked by social conscience and antiestablishment views.

Now Rob, or rather Robert, arrives on the south coast with his latest show at the Forest Arts centre in New Milton tomorrow night.

“The show is called Robert Newman’s New Theory of Evolution, the theory being that cooperation drives evolution more than competition,” says Rob, 49.

This will be Rob’s first show in seven years, as he’s been kept busy with health issues, writing and parenthood.

“Researching and writing The Trade Secret from 2006 to 2013. I had a couple of operations on my back, then spent a year learning how to walk again by way of calliper and walking stick. Happy to say, I need neither now.

Then I became someone’s dad.

“Then I spent nine months researching, writing and workshop-ing this new stand up show, a process which has involved lots of work in progress gigs and lots of rehearsal.”

The complex subject matter of the show is not traditionally a fertile ground for comedy, but Rob is happy with the results.

“It being my belief that the job of the comedian is to cheer people up. It therefore follows that I try to dispel the gloom caused by the narrow, pessimistic idea that genes are us, or that we are born selfish.

“The Neo Darwinists have reintroduced the demoralising idea of Original Sin, and by doing so, have given people what I call ‘Anthropophobia’ - a fear of our own humanity, a depressing sense that deep down we are rotten.

“So I want to tear a few holes in this gloomy canvas.

The show tells the story of a 150-year struggle to save Darwin and Wallace’s original theory from being hijacked by ideologues.”

The years of research have given Rob a unique perspective on life. “The new show is more focused on science. I’m finding it tremendous fun to talk about the new science of epigenetics, as well as breakthrough discoveries in brain imaging such as mirror neurons, for example.

“I love exploring the extraordinary behaviour of red harvester ants, flatworm nematodes, Antarctic penguins, vampire bats, rats and – star of the show – the amoebae Dictyostelium Discoideum, known as Dicty Disco for short.”

Having pioneered stand-up comedy on a stadium scale that is now commonplace for comedians like Michael McIntyre, how does Rob feel comedy has changed since he first started out?

“When I started out there were lots of weird and wonderful cabaret acts doing silly, inspired, original and inventive 20 minute sets.

Lately a new crop of, if you like, ‘indy comics’ has blossomed.

“I like their turn towards soulful comedy, their storytelling bent and their quest for meaning. There are also a lot more excellent and very funny female comics now than ever before.”

Despite shunning the limelight, Rob Newman is still breaking new ground with his comedy.

Where he goes, others are sure to follow.