Comedian Alan Davies heads to Oxford in his return to stand-up

Alan Davies hated being really famous, getting to the point where he couldn’t leave home without being harassed and followed by the paps.

He got depressed and paranoid, reclusive and angry, so he quit stand-up and waited until the heat died down. It meant that by the time he returned to comedy last year, it was on his own terms and, while his fans are delighted to have him back, the media circus has long since moved on.

What Davies hadn’t envisaged however was how much he enjoyed his comeback tour Life Is Pain, so much in fact that he’s back almost immediately afterwards with the next show Little Victories. “Well I had surplus material and it seemed silly to waste it,” he says in that slightly earnest, Eeyore manner of his. “But lots of people work like that — Jimmy Carr is the same. He’s already written the new show while touring the old one.”

Having bottled his humour up for so long, the jokes are now coming thick and fast and he’s loath to stop them. “Let’s just see how it goes but I don't see why there shouldn’t be a third show,“ Davies chuckles. So what changed? “It was very different back in 2001 when I stopped doing stand up. I was very stressed by all the unwanted press intrusion and the adverts; I was on TV all the time and couldn’t just wander into The Comedy Store and do the odd late show. Those days had gone. Being one of the biggest names on TV and in comedy was stressful.”

And now? “I’m not new. The press aren’t interested in me any more and I’m older and wiser, so cope with it better. When I lived on my own I didn’t even answer the door because it would be the Daily Mail or Mirror but now I don't know what to do with myself when the house is empty. I just wait until they all come back.

“Plus I got married and became a parent so you don’t think about yourself all the time, have different priorities. Besides, it’s not as if I’m filling out arenas like Michael McIntyre.” Not that Davies’ career dried up. A panellist on QI and a lead in hit TV show Jonathan Creek meant he was a big name, but the pressure was off. A charity comedy gig during his hiatus changed that, with Davies feeling at home as soon as he stepped back on stage. “I went though a phase filling in my occupation as anything but comedian; writer, performer, actor. I realise now stand-up is what I do,” he admits.

Launching the tours and loving the shows, it still took Davies a while to find a balance between his professional and private life. “To start with, I was away for 10 nights out of 12. At one point I did 14 shows in 15 days in eight cities. That’s an eternity when you’ve got small children, so now I manage my own diary and make sure I see my family and go home afterwards if possible. It’s a cliche but life is what happens between gigs.

“But my humour hasn’t changed. It might be a bit richer and have more to it but I have the same point of view,” he promises.

With his last tour selling out, ands this one already receiving rave reviews, will it be stadiums next? “I could never do that. I don’t see the point if you can’t see the audience. But I have realised comedy is my thing and that if everything else fails I can still gig. It beats working for a living.”

Little Victories
New Theatre, Oxford
Sunday
Tickets: Call 0844 871 7615 or visit atgtickets.com