IN a showbusiness world where gossip, conjecture, rumour and tittle-tattle can often reign supreme, Paul Merton may feel himself lucky to have got off relatively lightly.

The most savage bit of whispermongering he has encountered in recent years was the scandalous claims from one tabloid that he and Noel Edmonds were going head-to-head for the Countdown chair.

"It's true that I was asked if I wanted to audition for it but I said no and then this piece appeared. I was amused by the notion and flattered by it, but the reality of that show is that they record five a day for three weeks and then you have a whole series for six months or whatever it is. The people who watch and play the game take it very seriously. Even if you could think of gags in the course of three weeks for six months of programming, you couldn't think of enough and the people who watch it don't want gags, they just want the quiz."

Paul and I have gathered together in his management company's office in central London to chat about his latest venture as he goes back on the road with his Impro Chums.

So, what is the main appeal of improvisational comedy to Merton?

"I compare it to the years when I did stand-up in the early to mid-80s. Bits of it were fun, the bits on stage, but when I'm sitting in some dressing room backstage at half-time and hearing the buzz of hopefully excited people and I'm here on my own, I think why am I here on my own?' "Compared to that there are five people on this tour and we travel around on a coach with each show being different every night; that's a key thing. If you get an idea that you think is a funny idea, you don't have to pitch it, you just do it and find out there and then if it's funny. Normally it is, but if it isn't, then this person on stage with you will have a better idea and if they don't, then this other person will and it'll happen given time. This freedom to just come up with stuff and not have to take it to anybody or get a show of hands can be liberating."

The improvised stage act of course brings with it the potentially dreaded audience suggestion'.

Merton must have heard a few crackers in his time?

"The things that people write down in the dark under the cloak of anonymity can sometimes be quite scary.

"If you ever see someone pick up a card and say I can't do that one', it's almost always on the grounds of taste. They might be homophobic, say, or there was the one where within a month of the London Underground attacks, we had a card that said: travel on the Underground with a rucksack stuffed with explosives'. Now, that's just not going to work and if we tried it we'd end up being booed for someone else's suggestion."

Having passed his 50th birthday last year and with a successful travel series currently enjoying TV airtime, Merton is showing little sign of slowing down. Once the Impro Chums tour cranks out its final ad lib at the end of June, he'll be getting ready to direct and appear in a documentary for BBC4 about the British movies made by Alfred Hitchcock - and of course there's always more Have I Got News For You.

"Maybe I've changed physically, but I don't feel any different. I feel 30. But there were people I went to school with who when they were 16 were really 40 while there were people I worked with in the Tooting employment office like this 60-year-old guy who had the spirit of a 20-year-old, so it's just how you feel really.

"There's a Dave Allen line that says it's better than the alternative. I'm still pleased to be working and doing it."

And while he has his last laugh of the interview, the nation prepares to chuckle at the improvisational genius of Paul Merton and his fantastic foursome.

Paul Merton and his Impro Chums appear at the Pavilion Theatre, Bournemouth, on Friday, May 9. For tickets visit bic.co.uk or call 0844 576 3000.