Lock is the key to big laughs

Eight years out of it while he has written for other people, penned a BBC sit com and appeared on everything from QI to Have I Got News For You and it is a very different ball game.

"For a lot of stand ups the only way to be funny is to do stand up," says Sean.

"And you never used to be able to do both on the alternative circuit; you wrote your own gear and did stand up otherwise you'd be taken off and shot for doing other people's stuff. Since then the lines have been a bit muddied so now all sorts goes on and it's not punished."

Sean, aged 44, has done away with one of the other traditions, which is to give the tour a fancy name.

His did have one - Spot The Difference Tour - but he was let down by the artwork. The original idea was to have two photos of himself on a poster and people would puzzle out the differences between the two. But it didn't quite work out that way.

"I love those spot the difference competitions in the papers. And I had this vision of people standing around trying to work out the difference, blocking the public highways. But it didn't really work.

"Actually, I find it slightly naff naming tours. Others do it and stick it on a DVD to show you're buying a different one to last year. Plus I don't really do these themed shows. I like to layer subjects."

This show touches, for instance, on the environment: "I'm quite fascinated how some people care and some don't."

And the smoking ban - he is pro smoking, by the way. "Also I have a terrible phone manner - whenever I'm talking to someone official my personality changes."

The writer of the cult BBC comedy series 15 Storeys High is making up for lost time away from the mic stand by taking the tour he began last month right through to December, including a date in his former hometown.

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By the time it reaches Sheffield University's Octagon on Thursday Sean will be back in the swing.

"With TV studios it is like a gig as most of the shows have an audience – like doing a gig every week.

"Stand up is so broad. If you're doing a topical panel show you look at all the big news stories, but with stand up you can start anywhere which means starting with nothing. I've had a few ideas scribbled down over the last couple of years and they come together really quickly so I went to Edinburgh for 10 nights and really enjoyed it."

Not that returning to the forefront has been plain sailing.

"The only thing I forgot is the audience in Edinburgh is odd – a mix of dour Scots, people who have seen five shows already and people who come because their partners wanted to when they would rather be at some Polish opera. So you have to cheer them up, convince them it's not a millstone to sit through my show.

"You don't get that on tour – it's exciting then because people have bought tickets to see me. Then again, there's pressure because you're the evening's entertainment but it also gives you a lot of power.

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Sean started in stand-up 18 years ago. In 2000 he won The British Comedy Award for Best Stand Up, five years after landing the Time Out Award for comedy in 1995. Since then he’s been a prolific writer for TV, for the likes of Mark Lamarr, for Never Mind The Buzzcocks, and hosted his own Channel 4 show TV Heaven, Telly Hell as well being a team captain on 8 Out Of 10 Cats.

“I’ve not sat around. I stopped doing stand-up on the circuit to concentrate on writing. I found that to be an inspirational shift.

“I’m quite proactive and produce every day. You propel yourself forward. I used to work on a building site so six hours at a desk isn’t bad.

“I always rejected the idea of carrying a notebook around - it would be a sacrifice of every day life, like walking around hunting for stuff. It’s like carrying this big weight around, like these people who go to a beautiful place and take amazing photos but don’t really look at the things around them.

“My theory is, if anything is good it will stick in your head, but you get very little for free, it’s mostly by sitting down and digging. It’s hell - people don’t realise how hard we work. Some days you’ve got nothing.”

When he has it, it usually comprises dry, absurd observations of the human condition and life.

“I cut my teeth in the Comedy Store in London in the ’90s with 40 per cent of the room shouting and heckling,” Sean recalls. “I wouldn’t give up, I’d batter them into submission. It was a battlefield..

“I like hecklers when they contribute to the evening. But they rarely win - I’ve got the mic, I’m sober, and I do this for a living. People get quite emotional and lose clarity sometimes.”