Who’d have thought it eh, Ricky Tomlinson is a morning man. Up bright and early after a big breakfast he’s on a roll about politics, comedy and of course The Royle Family before I can even draw breath, and it’s only 9 o’clock.

“Oh yes kid, I’m old-fashioned in that way. It’s not very rock’n’roll getting up early but otherwise you’d sleep your life away and I love life,” the 71-year-old says. That’s an understatement – Ricky Tomlinson is bursting with life, it oozes out of his pores, his energy and enthusiam blasting you in the face as soon as he opens his mouth.

But even though he’s on tour at the moment and has several films lined up, Ricky is going to be making even bigger waves soon, because cut him in half and he’d have politics running through him to the core. Which is why he’s threatening to stand as an MP for Liverpool, the Labour-nominated candidate being a Londoner.

So was he born angry. “Oh, I still am very, very angry,” Ricky tells me. “I was reading about the House of Lords expenses this morning and I was fuming in my hotel room. There’s kids outside selling The Big Issue ... while they are being paid £170 a day just to attend parliament. I’m always fighting my corner,” he says before moving onto socialism, his mate Arthur Scargill, the gas supply in the Falklands and water desalination plants for Africa.

Yup, Ricky is still the loud-mouthed Northerner we all know and love, and coming to Oxford’s New Theatre with his Laughter Show, which he describes as an old-fashioned variety performance. “The people are fantastic and I’m there in my Jim Royle string vest telling anecdotes and jokes, or talking politics.

“I love having a laugh, but not as much as I love seeing other people laughing.”

Ever since he wandered off the street into an audition for a film bit-part, he’s been busy with some massive roles in Brookside, Cracker, and, of course, The Royle Family.

“I don’t do much film work anymore though because I like being around for my grandson,” he says. “He’s five years old and he’s my whole world. He brightens my day.”

And anyone who’s read his autobiography, Ricky, will know, this grandpa has had a fascinating life. Brought up in Liverpool, he lived in a two-up two-down with an outside toilet.

Ricky became a builder, and his strong left-wing views saw him jailed for two years before taking up acting.

“When I first read The Royle Family script I said to my wife, Rita, ‘It’s either going to be a best-seller or go down the pan’. On the first week me mam phoned me and said, ‘Where did you learn language like that?’ I said, ‘Mam I worked on building sites for years and my friends are dockers and seamen, where do you think I learned it?’ She said, ‘Well, it’s a disgrace’.”

Ricky still lives in Liverpool. “In this business everyone is supposed to live in London. Why? I love Liverpool, it’s where my family and my mates live. For my 70th birthday we had a party for 150 close friends with a buffet, free drinks, a banjo and a ukulele. It was a real old-fashioned knees-up.” Then he remembers an aside.

“Arthur Scargill was round my house and I asked him if he was free because we were having a party. He said he might be and asked where it was being held. ‘In Bispham Conservative Club’. He hit the roof. ‘I’ll only go to the Conservative Club if you buy it’.”

“But as far as the show goes we only have one diva request – a kettle, we bring our own tea-bags and everything and all share the same dressing room. We don’t want to put anyone out.”