Sean Lock is bored of TV, infuriated by the internet, and tired of his previous TV appearances being on the Freeview permaloop... so he’s concentrating instead on his first love — stand-up comedy and showing us all where it’s at in the process.

It’s been three years since the brilliant comedian trod the comedy boards, and it took the advent of Sean’s 50th birthday to kick-start him into climbing back on to the proverbial horse where it all started. His plan is working well because he is selling out everywhere he goes, proving that our appetite for real, live comedy is as acute as ever, while demonstrating his point in the process.

He’ll tell you all about it himself on stage when he unleashes himself, resplendent in a papal violet suit, with his new show Purple Van Man in which he promises “to make you laugh like a drunken horse”.

He’s not joking either, for once. The British Comedy Award winner, and very funny team captain of the last 14 series of Channel 4’s hugely popular comedy panel show 8 out of 10 Cats, is flexing his cerebral comedy chambers for real.

So why now? Sean, who has also won the Time Out Comedy Award, says it was the right time to get back on the road: “I haven’t toured for three years. I like to have a break to generate a bank of new ideas that I can then turn into stand-up. So it’s great to hear people laughing at jokes you have constructed. That’s a really good feeling.”

That aside, Purple Van Man is an interesting premise, so is there a story behind the title of the new show? “I was listening to the radio in a white van the other day, and they were talking about what White Van Man believes. I was thinking, ‘I don’t subscribe to those opinions. Maybe I should get a different-coloured van’.

“I don’t actually have a purple van, but it indicates the different section of society that I fall into. Being a Purple Van Man means I have my own perspective on things. How would Purple Van Man be different from other people? I think it’s a way of saying that you won’t get your normal fare with this show. It is a slightly different style of comedy. It’s not just meat and two veg.”

Not that this is any indication of what his show actually entails. “I’ll be talking about China because I have worked out that I am virtually Chinese with everything I own coming from China. I will also be discussing my new-found belief in God. I now believe in God for my own ends. I’m not an altruistic Christian — I’m only doing it in case there is in fact a heaven. “I will also talk about my relationship with alcohol. I’m quite comfortable with it, although some people may think I like it a bit too much.”

However, there is one thing Sean is clear about: “I see myself as a comedian,” he says. “I would sacrifice any agenda if I didn’t think it was funny. I don’t see the show as a platform for my views. If I didn’t think a line was funny, I wouldn’t put it in the show. I don’t have an axe to grind. The show is very silly, but I think it works very well.”

And despite his bug-bears, Sean feels very lucky with the success he has enjoyed in his career, especially with a wife and three children to support. “You sit down every now and again to see where you are. We shouldn’t necessarily be in the now all the time thinking, ‘so-and-so has done better’ so I feel very happy. It’s great.”

How much of this is a result of the over-riding success of 8 out of 10 Cats remains to be seen, but Sean adds: “TV has helped enormously because people are now used to the style of comedy I do. They come to see me knowing what I do. “That way, you build up an audience.”

And anyone who thinks Sean is resting on his laurels by completing 14 series of the same show should think again. “8 out of 10 Cats is still going after all these years later because we work at it. There is hardly any format to the show — we only get asked four questions an episode. We know we have to generate our own material, so we sit down and write stuff beforehand. “You couldn’t be spontaneous without having the confidence of having prepared something to talk about.”

In fact Sean’s only problem is coming down after a live show, because it’s so exciting. “You get an enormous surge of adrenaline on stage. I use part of my persona — let’s call him Larry, as it helps to identify him — to make the show work. I get Larry out of the box to help me on stage. But after the show, Larry doesn’t give a toss about tomorrow. He goes, ‘Right, I’m out now. Let’s have fun!’ And you say, ‘We can’t go out in Leicester on a Tuesday night. Where are we going to go? You have to get back in the box’.

“Sometimes I’ve had to wrestle Larry to the floor as he tries to open the door. I’ve had to punch him a few times. It made the next night hard, as he did want to come out!”

 

Either way, the joy of performing has never left Sean, perhaps because the road to comedy was particularly tough, Sean labouring on building sites until he cracked the circuit. “I’m very pleased with where I am. And as I hear about friends losing jobs, I know I’m lucky I got into this business when I did. I’m very fortunate I found the right job. I don’t know what on earth I’d have done if I hadn’t got into comedy!”

  • Sean Lock: Purple Van Man

  • Saturday, November 23

  • Oxford’s New Theatre

  • For tickets, call 0844 8713020