William Crossley talks to Jo Caulfield – about poor service, surprising guests and her fondness for... Didcot!

Jo Caulfield knows comedy. She knows it comes from the heart - and, fairly obviously, it needs to be funny.

After winning an open mic competition while drunk and without any preparation, she was inspired to set up and compere her own comedy club.

It seems like great advise for aspiring comedians.

"The only way to learn stand-up is to do it in public – in front of an angry, disappointed crowd," she says. "Get on stage as much as possible, that's the only way to get better.

"I would advise being funnier than I was though, so people book you and you don't have to run your own club!"

And, she insists, it's a great life.

"You never know what will happen – what fun is in that audience waiting to be unlocked," she says.

"I had a row of what I thought were older gay men in recently. It turned out they were all clergy. They were brilliant and brought me gin. I now believe in God."

She describes herself as a comedian, comedy writer and crime fighter. Which crimes in particular?

"All the big ones," she says. "People wearing flip flops anywhere but the beach, holding your knife like a pen and putting up meaningless posts on Facebook about how much you love your partner; tell them, not me!"

On Friday she brings her new show to the Cornerstone in Didcot. It is called The Customer is Always Wrong, and takes a wry look at life’s pitfalls – from the potential minefields of dating, relationships and divorce, to the simple things, like booking a holiday, or joining a pub-quiz team.

Was there, I ask, something in particular or a specific incident that inspired it?

"A general frustration with all customer service," she answers. "Their job seems to be seen to provide customer service but not to actually give customer service. And can everyone stop asking for feedback? I recently sent a feedback form back to British Gas – 'My feedback is...stop asking for feedback!'

"I moved house last year so I have many, many people on my list."

Before becoming a comedian, Jo worked as a waitress and in retailing. Were her customers always wrong?

"I was a real Maverick waitress, I took orders from no one," she says.

"When I was waitressing, I think I was very good and very efficient. But if people were mean to me I would touch their food."

It's just as well the show is coming to The Cornerstone. Describing towns you have appeared in around Oxfordshire, she said that Didcot was the first normal place she had played – certainly not Chipping Norton – and that you could have bought a house in Didcot. So would she consider a move from her home in Edinburgh?

"I think I meant that I could afford a house in Didcot," she says. "Chipping Norton was all a bit too 'Range Rovers and inherited wealth' for me. I moved from London to Edinburgh on a whim four years ago and I love it. We moved to a different area of Edinburgh this year. I never thought I'd ever leave London but it seems I have."

Does she take a special survival kit with her when out on tour

"I love being in hotels," she says. "You're sleeping above alcohol and someone else cleans your room. What's not to like?

"With iPads and iPods there is so much to keep you entertained. It's mainly when I catch up watching box sets. Peaky Blinders fro this tour, watch out for my Brummie accent!"

Jo Caulfield is at the Cornerstone, Didcot on Friday. Tickets are £15 (£13.50 Concs £13.50) from cornerstone-arts.org