So this tour has allowed him to factor in visits to a few places he has never been to before - like Inverness.

"It's a bit mad when we get into a town just in time to do the gig and go away again. People ask what a place is like and you go: 'I don't know really.' It's ridiculous really," Spikey said.

Taking some more time over his visit will give him a chance to catch up with the local news in the Highland Capital, so do not be surprised if Spikey appears on stage with a copy of The Inverness Courier in hand.

"I always take the local paper on stage. I find it very interesting just to analyse what's going on and it's a great little ice-breaker," he explained. "There's always something I can pick up on which, as an outsider, I find quite amusing."

Spikey has recently put his collection of odd newspaper stories and quirky headlines together between the covers of his debut book, "He Took My Kidney Then Broke My Heart" (Michael O'Mara Books), but though his show may feed off the newspapers, it also provides a bit of an antidote to them. The papers and television are always full of doom and gloom, he says, but his show offers a chance to forget about that, at least for a couple of hours, and have a look at things closer to home, from trips to the supermarket to overheard snatches of conversation.

"It's all these little things that people notice, but it's my job to exaggerate them," Spikey said.

Best known from our television screens as a team captain on Channel 4's "8 Out of 10 Cats" and as Jerry St. Clair, the hapless compere on Peter Kay's "Phoenix Nights", Spikey puts his past experience as host of the satellite version television darts-quiz show "Bullseye" to good use for his stage appearances.

"I do a little pop quiz on stage because driving around for thousands of miles, I've realised that one in three records you hear on the radio is just complete rubbish," he explained.

"There's a line or a sequence that just doesn't make sense. I play the intro and you get points for that, and then I play the lyrics and people love it."

Initially he turned down the opportunity to host "Bullseye" because as a fan himself, Spikey always regarded original host Jim Bowen as "Mr Bullseye". However, when it was made clear Bowen would not be returning, Spikey took on the job.

"I was just pinching myself because I couldn't believe I was doing it, saying things like: 'If you're going to stew it, you're going to need a cruet.' Giving away a cruet on a 21st century game show - incredible!" he declared.

"The prizes were still laughable some of them - things like inflatable jet-skis!"

Perhaps in part because of his "Phoenix Nights" connection, there is a misconception that Spikey came up through the club circuit. Though he did try a few working men's clubs at the start of his career, he soon found other avenues for his comedy, first the folk club circuit before going on to the comedy clubs of Manchester and Lancashire.

He got his big break when he won the title of North-West Comedian of the Year, putting him in the company of past winners Caroline Aherne, Steve Coogan, Jason Manford and Peter Kaye.

This route to comedy stardom meant that when he and Kaye started work on "Phoenix Nights", they had to do a bit of homework.

"When I was growing up, my dad used to take me into the local Labour Club. Then when I was in my early 20s, it was always the place to go for a cheap drink before a night out," he recalled.

"I knew the people who frequented them, but when Channel 4 wanted us to do a series, we went out armed with a dictaphone in the side pocket and went to clubs. They let us sit in on committee meetings and watch the acts and bingo nights.

"We spent a long time getting the characters right because people identify with them. One of the nicest compliments is that whenever I travel around the country, people say: 'That Jerry St Clair, he's just like our compere.' People just recognise him as being spot on."

Jerry St Clair would certainly be classed as a more traditional style of comedian, but as for Spikey, he sees no great advantage in putting labels on comedians.

"I do admire comedians who can make political points and do social comment, and the purists say comedy should be challenging, but I'm just a bloke who finds ordinary life funny," he said.

"I add in some social comment, but it's not done in an aggressive way. I'm just escapism, really. There's a place for everybody."

* Dave Spikey's "Laughter is the Best Medicine" tour arrives at The Ironworks on Thursday. Doors open 7pm.

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