Award-winning comedian Russell Kane tells KATHERINE MACLISTER about writing his first musical.

I catch Russell Kane on the hoof when we speak.

He’s buying a travel card to head up to London and continue his sell out stand-up comedy tour.

“I opened last night and it was terrifying, but it went really well. It’s great to have managed to squeeze out a new hour of material to perform,” he says. “I was really chuffed.”

As this is his fifth stand-up tour, Russell is an old hand.

So does it get harder? “Well the first and fifth shows are totally different,” he says, “because the first show is the material of a lifetime and the stories you tell down the pub to your mates. After that it becomes more of a writing exercise which is a different skill because you have to scratch around a bit more. But once you’re up on stage and the endorphins kick in, you’re happy to go on.”

Yet when Russell arrives in Oxford tomorrow he won’t be up there on stage. Instead he’ll be sitting in the audience watching his own musical The Great British Fete debut at the North Wall, with most of his family.

“Yeah, my mum will be there, and my partner Sadie, everyone actually, because Oxford is so central,” he says. The North Wall may be central, but it also demonstrates what a big deal The Great British Fete is, considering Russell’s current success on both stage and TV.

Because performing is what, until now, Russell does. You might have watched Fakespeare on TV where he played King Nigel or recognise him as the face of digital station Five US.

So why change tack when he’s finally making it big? “I wanted to experience it and see it without being in it,” Russell explains. “And I’ve never done that before. What I do know is that it’s not the easier option. I wanted to be a writer before I wanted to be a performer, it’s just harder to get staged as an unknown, so it’s a Catch 22 situation.”

Now he’s managed both though he’s happy. “My audiences are always a mixed bag. I’m not like Frankie Boyle who gets a certain crowd. I have 13-year-old giggling girls to pensioners coming to the shows, because in a week I might be the presenter on I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here and then work for the Royal Shakespeare Company.”

So what’s The Great British Fete all about. “It’s set in Suffolk and a big, bad supermarket is going to take over and build a wall around the village, the epitomy of capitalist evil,” he grins.

“But the twist is that the whole debate is turned back on the audience and the liberal Oxbridge characters will recognise themselves,” he smiles. So does it have a happy ending? “Of course it does,” he laughs. “It’s a bloody musical.”

The Great British Fete is on at The North Wall Arts Centre in South Parade, Summertown, tomorrow and Saturday. Call the box office on 01865 319450 or see thenorthwall.com