Harry Hill was here in November, surreptitiously practising for his new tour at the North Wall, making sure he still had what it takes as a stand-up before unleashing himself nationally. He didn’t want to do interviews then, the finished product not being ready. But with two nights at the New Theatre in front of him, he’s now on full beam. It does beg the question why, with such a prominent and all-consuming TV career, he felt the need to get on the road again. “People were asking when I was next touring, but others didn’t even know I was a comedian, they just thought I was a TV presenter which was always the danger, and that’s when the alarm bells started ringing,” he says. In short, Harry Hill had been so busy with TV Burp and You’ve been Framed, his stand-up career had all but disappeared, until now. Because Harry has cast off his 11-year TV Burp shackles and booked a 40-night tour in its place. “TV is all well and good, and it’s fun, well paid and high profile, but the problem is that all your humour has to be filtered through producers, directors and cameras. Stand-up, on the other hand, is so immediate and you are in charge, you know, that Brucey thing: ‘I’m in charge’,” he mimics perfectly. Harry loves Bruce Forsyth and Morecambe & Wise, proving what a family entertainer he is, his show remaining blatantly and unashamedly absurd, silly and slapstick, which no one else does. “Just me and Ken Dodd,” he laughs. And yet Harry’s new show has a 16+ rating, so are we about to see his adult-only side? “No, it’s no different from what you see on TV and I’ve never needed to censor myself, it’s just that a lot of my fans are nine years old. So no dark side — I save that for home,” he smiles. So is he enjoying it? “I loved the North Wall, what a great venue, and what a great bunch of people. It all came together for that gig which makes the rest a bit easier. And the process of trying the new material out is also a lot of fun, because the audience are in on it and like that. “But because I haven’t done it for so long, just retaining that amount of information was daunting, even though I’ve always played it by ear rather than learning endless jokes. So while the first half of the new show is stand-up, the second half is just mucking about.” Surely his medic’s brain would help there, because as all you pub quiz fanatics will know, Harry Hill was a full-blown doctor (real name Dr Matthew Hall) when he jacked it all in to become a comedian, famously faxing jokes to Radio 4 from the hospital’s emergency transplant fax machine. “Yes, it [stand-up] has always been on my mind, as Elvis might say.” Funny then that he didn’t consider a career in comedy before that? “I didn’t know how. My heroes like Spike Milligan and Tommy Cooper got into comedy through the forces. I needed a war and there wasn’t one long enough,” he laughs out loud. “And I was too middle-class to come across working men’s clubs, so I went to medical school. I suppose I just didn’t have the nerve. “And yet I did feel a certain amount of guilt about giving up my medical career, and people are still funny about it. One man rang a phone-in radio show I was on to rant about all that training being wasted. But being a doctor did help with my fart joke in the new show,” he grins. Another reason for Harry’s delayed return to stand-up is his family, because touring means leaving his wife alone with their three children at home in Whitstable for months on end. “It’s very boring for her when I’m away because I’m never there in the evenings or when the kids get home from school or to help wrangle the arguments, and she’s not used to it anymore,” he says, before admitting there is already talk of extending the tour until November. Known as a family man through and through, Harry says they manage to exist largely unhindered by his fame. “We keep our heads down and try to keep out of the spotlight — it’s easy if you want to, although I have to turn up to things like the BAFTAs if I’m nominated.” But surely he’s the most recognisable man on the planet? “You’d be surprised, because without the outfit on, wearing a hat and different glasses, no one spots me. I go on the Tube all the time and never get spotted.” True, take away the trademark collar and specs, and you probably wouldn’t notice him. “That’s why I had to go on tour, rather than book the clubs, because I needed somewhere to change,” he jokes. “But I also wanted to flex my muscles a bit and show people I can still do it and that I’m different to a lot of other comedians. And I’m not into slagging anyone else off or their style of comedy because I’m not a prude. And comedians don’t have a choice about their voice. Frankie Boyle is who he is and he wouldn’t muck about like I do on stage, just as I couldn’t go on effing and blinding — it’s just not what I do, even though I can still enjoy other people’s comedy. “It’s just good to get back out there. And it has surprised me because I had forgotten the feeling you get at the end of a show and the thrill of it.” Harry Hill’s Sausage TimeTour New Theatre, Oxford Friday, February 8, and Saturday, February 9 Box office on 0844 871 3020 or www.atgtickets.com/oxford