F rank Skinner is a regular on our TV screens but it's been seven years since his last major UK tour. However, he's hit the road again and is coming to Fairfield Halls with Man In A Suit.
His lengthy and successful broadcasting career has made Frank a household name. But it is as a stand-up comedian that he feels most at home.
Frank, who won the prestigious Perrier Award for his stand-up in 1991, says: "It's so different from other stuff. I like the sense that it's not being recorded. Even when you come to record your DVD, no matter how much you fight it, you feel you're wearing a slightly smaller suit. It feels a lot more restrained."
Frank revels in his rapport with audiences. "I love interacting with the audience," he says. "When it goes well, suddenly I feel like I'm part of the audience as well. That's very exhilarating."
As Frank tackles subjects such as relationships, religion, filth, salty popcorn, Prince Charles, long black leather coats, the yard of ale, giving to the homeless, the Tube and taste, he delivers his material with an admirable sense of honesty.
This makes sense from a comedian whose first autobiography was simply entitled Frank. "Honesty is vital," he says. "Everything I do is autobiographical. When I've strayed from that and tried to write a novel in the third person or sitcoms, they have not been great. I'm essentially an autobiographical writer."
So just how much of Frank's material in Man In A Suit is lifted directly from his own life?
"You'd be amazed. I embroider very little. I never completely invent anything. I think it would lack conviction if I did. It feels more real when it is true."
One thing that has changed about Frank's act over the years is that it now features far less sexually explicit material than it did in the past. Frank explains that Man In A Suit is merely an account of who he now is. "There's a bit of filth, but not much. When I do Room 101 or my radio show, I'm very me. I don't feel phoney. I'm very clean because it's 8am."
It's also down to changes in comedy, he says. "In the past, people would always laugh at the rude stuff because they were getting something they couldn't get elsewhere. When I did my first tour in 1991, that was certainly true.
"But now 8 out of 10 Cats is much ruder than my stuff was in 1991. So people don't have to go to live comedy to get that anymore. That means I'm able to do more stuff that I like. It's great because it keeps my show fresh. When I've done the live show 40 times, I don't feel, 'Oh God, here we go again'. Maybe that's because I'm doing stuff that is not so much on the button anymore."
He adds: "I'm enjoying this tour more than I did in 2007. Then, I was still feeling a strong obligation to be who I was in 1997. I'm never good at playing a version of myself. I like being me and reflecting where I am at that time. That's why I don't like greatest hits albums. I like to hear a particular slice of time and know where a band were when they recorded an album – 'This is where The Kinks were when they brought out Village Green Preservation Society'."
Another thing that has changed since his last tour is that Frank is now dad to two-year-old son Buzz. "I've always had the showing off gene. I see it now in my son. The other day he did an impression of me doing the impression of Louis Armstrong, and I don't think I've ever been prouder!
"So on stage I want to show off. If the audience are laughing, I want to make them laugh even more. I care about the audience having a very good time indeed."
