Having earned her stand-up stripes supporting the likes of Romesh Ranganathan, Joe Lycett and Josh Widdicombe on tour, Suzi Ruffell is now in a very good place with her comedy career.

Currently touring Nocturnal, a new show about her inability to stop worrying, she’s taking that fretting across the nation.

“This was the first year at Edinburgh that people were choosing to come and see me, because they’d seen me the previous year, or on TV, or supporting one of the boys on tour, or heard the podcast I do with Tom Allen.

“I felt that there was a little bit more excitement in the room which is something I’ve been trying to get for years. It feels like I’ve carved out my own audience now and it’s a real privilege.”

Not that Suzi’s seemingly unstoppable rise through the ranks of the British comedy circuit will make her worry any less, as she discusses in Nocturnal with a furrowed brow, fretting over everything from North Korea’s nuclear capabilities to the current state of Britney Spears’ mental health, and her nightly 3am cold sweat as her fears rise swiftly to the surface.

“Being a worrier is a trait in my family,” she explains, “and it gets passed on. My mum was terrified of spiders when I was a kid, and I am now terrified of spiders.

In the show, I wonder whether the world is getting better or worse, so I’ve been looking up about plastic and how bad wrapping paper is and worrying about all that.

“And there are smaller things that go around my mind, like making sure I have time at Christmas to do nice stuff with my mum. And then there are the classics, like dying and not having a pension.” In short, she is a top worrier, which she is utilising to the best of her abilities on stage every night.

“Turns out that doing a show about my anxiety has only confirmed that I’m absolutely right to wake up in the middle of the night and worry about things. When I was a teenager I used to think that when I got to 30, I’d have it all worked out. I’d say that I probably know less now.”

“So the material will be pretty much the same as the Fringe version but I like the show to keep growing on tour; it doesn’t have to be locked and loaded. The thing about stand-up comedy is that it’s a live, exciting experience, so I can be a bit looser with some stories and be more playful.”

Suzi’s profile has become bigger over the past year. She now has Mock The Week and Live At The Apollo under her belt, as well as her cruel yet hilarious blows with Tom Allen, one of her best pals in the comedy world.

“My stand-up is so confessional that there was nothing that Tom could say that people didn’t know already,” she says.

And while she has an idea how far she wants to go in the comedy business, she isn’t worrying about whether she will reach the pinnacle. Well, not too much, anyway.

“I have ambitions but having plans doesn’t really work. That’s something I’ve learned from this industry. I’ve done bits of acting and bits of other stuff, but touring and live stand-up are the things I love: that’s still the dream for me.”

Suzi Ruffell: Nocturnal

The North Wall, South Parade, Oxford

Tomorrow (Friday)

01865 319450

thenorthwall.com