Tell us about your new show, ‘Colin’?

“It’s my first ever stand up show as myself. Its an observational journey through 1980s Nottingham, specifically my childhood. I become all my family members as I recreate the loopy world I came from and how that affects me now as a 45 year old Dad. Also I explore why my late Dad ‘Big Col’ chose to call me by his own name. Its fun, warm, silly, authentic and honest, told with love, joy and understanding!”

What prompted you to move away from the characters you are so known for and perform as yourself for the first time?

“I love a challenge. I never felt I could really be myself on stage – never thought I was particularly interesting to be honest! But I’d always tinkered with the idea of telling old family stories which went down great when I did them. Finally a few things aligned – my ADHD diagnosis, becoming a father and getting encouragement from friends to pursue it as myself. I never wanted to get stuck being the one character forever and I felt the final chapter of Anna Mann seemed so complete I wanted to move on.”

How has it felt performing as yourself, without the safety blanket of performing as a character?

“It was terrifying at first to be honest. Its taken a while to find who I really am on stage. At first I tried to make is as unlike the characters as possible but eventually I came to accept they are aspects of me so I let them come out if they want to! But felt exposed and raw at first but gradually really wonderful to feel accepted as myself.”

What do you hope audiences take away from the show?

“I hope firstly they come away feeling like they’ve laughed themselves silly and had tons of fun. But alongside that I explore how much we didn’t understand back when I was growing up and how, to me, the beauty of understanding your own mind, especially if you are neurodiverse, is so important. It helps to mean you aren’t left feeling lost and alone or like there’s something inherently wrong with you.”

We hear you have just returned from a rather successful run at The Edinburgh Fringe – tell us about that.

“It was this show, which went great. The audience response has been phenomenal and its been lovely to try and reach a broader, bigger audience.”

How have audiences so far reacted to seeing you performing as yourself, and revealing more about yourself for the first time?

“It’s funny how much I worried about a lot of my past seeming too weird for anyone to relate to but so many people connected with a lot of the observations I made about the world I grew up in. It was remarkable to feel that connection. Also fans of the old characters seemed to happily embrace me as Colin.”

Your show reveals some insights into your growing up. If you could describe your family in one word, what would it be?

“Whack-a-mole.”

What was it like growing up in Nottingham?

“I mean it was all I knew. I never understood there was an outside world really. I remember as a kid saying I was going to run away and the only place I could think of was Derby. Which I had no idea where that was either. It was an incredibly vibrant city with loads going on. I think it’s different now as lots of people have done well and put it on the map, but it always felt there was a lot of untapped artistic ability.

“I don’t feel personally like it ever had a strong identity in the same way as Liverpool or Newcastle and I think a lot of people were frustrated, not really knowing how to get out of their situation. But there was so much life and warmth and unexplored culture underneath it all.”

In what ways has your family life growing up informed your own family life now that you have a family of your own?

“My mum was always making up songs and weird jokes when we were kids. I’ve definitely passed that on. I feel like there was a lot of fear of doing something wrong or getting it wrong or being looked down on somehow that I try a lot to avoid passing on but its not easy. There’s a lot of pessimism and lack of confidence that can get stuck in your head when you’re not from money and security and I try not to pass that on. As I say in the show I try to say to my kids ‘If they can do it, you can do it’ because we learnt ‘If they can do it, we probably shouldn’t’.

“I think the most important thing I’ve tried to learn, which I really struggle to maintain, is just to breathe, slow down and think and don’t get sucked into panic and fear.”

You have done some rather exciting TV work alongside your live comedy career. What are the main differences for you between performing on stage and for TV?

“On stage I can be as big and silly as I want to. On TV that can be absolutely disastrous! Unless I’m doing a character In Ricky Gervais’ shows, which i seem to get away with. You have to be broader and more expressive on stage but you have the joy of leading people on a journey and seeing them respond to it in real time.”

And finally, what are you most looking forward to about coming to Birmingham?

“A big breakfast at the delightful Cherry Reds and going to the little independent cinema whose name escapes me, sorry!”