Comedian Paul Merton tells Katherine MacAlister that he’s taking his wife and friends out on tour too

"This is different,” Paul Merton says when I ask why he’s still touring.

The famous comedian and Have I Got News For You stalwart regularly potters down to The Comedy Store to perform live, but his improv show is just that.

He pitches up with a fabulous team of miscreant comedians, including his wife Suki Webster, and waits to see what the crowd will come up with.

“It’s easy though. We just put some chairs on stage, a few bottles of water and take the audience’s suggestions. It’s much simpler than stand-up.”

But then it’s not a coincidence that Paul Merton is touring the country with his friends and wife, having given up touring alone.

“I got rather bored of listening to the sound of my own voice every night,” the 57 year-old tells me.” I just wanted someone else to talk to. Maybe I should have brought a butler, but honestly? It was quite lonely. And without wanting to sounds like the sad clown, I did spend a lot of time eating alone in my hotel room.

“So this way we all spark off each other on stage and it’s a completely different thing. It means it’s fun and you don’t have to script anything.”

Genius. “As long as you can do it,” he points out, a gentle reminder that only the fastest wits survive night after night of improv. “It’s a bit like saying tightrope walking is easy. And as long as you can do that 50ft up, yes it is easy,” he shrugs, not needing to say anything else.

“But then I’ve been on tour with the improv lot for 10 years now and it’s the audience that changes, not us. Whether they ask about a Dickens novel or a Shakespearian play, it’s always different. You can’t repeat yourself, you can’t be lazy, and you can’t edit it, so it’s really invigorating.”

Does the stage show feed off HIGNFY’s fame? “No, it’s the other way around, because this keeps me match fit. HIGNFY is filmed over four months so this focuses and concentrates the mind, because we have to be enthusiastic and interested on TV.”

I beg to differ, saying he has made a career out of appearing absolutely the opposite.

“Well there is certain element of that” Paul Merton chuckles. “The person on TV is certainly different to the one on stage. But the reason I look so incredulous and bored when they ask me those questions is because I am questioning why I’m there and why they are asking me such silly questions. Why ask me again about the red box? Why?”

Maybe because Paul Merton has headed up the BBC TV show for so long (25 years), that it’s hard to avoid repetition. “Absolutely,” he says bursting to life. “Last Friday’s viewing figures were 4.6 million which is amazing in this day and age – that after all this time we can still pull in half a million people. It is astonishing.

“But I think it’s because it’s an intelligent show and we don’t dumb it down. It’s our duty not to.”

Does he ever rest then? “You can’t be funny constantly; that would be wearisome. My wife would just tell me to shut up. Besides, with improv you need a rest to sharpen your wit. To spark off what people are saying around you, you have to be on top form.

“You can’t talk down to people or just do poo gags every night, but when someone shouts out Nabokov, sometimes we have to bluff it,” he laughs.

SEE IT
Paul and his Impro Chums – Mike McShane, Lee Simpson, Richard Vranch and Suki Webster come to Oxford’s New Theatre tomorrow. Call 0844 871 7615 or see atgtickets.com