Having just hit 40, host of BBC Two’s Mock The Week Dara O Briain is focusing on ageing in his first live stand-up tour for two years.

“All stand-up shows are about ageing,” he says. “They are always a snapshot of where you are at that moment.

“There is a long section about whether we genuinely shift to the right as we get older. Once we reach a certain age, are we on the slippery slope of golf club membership and reading other people’s planning applications?”

The inspiration for the piece came from the London riots in the summer of 2011.

“I was watching how quickly Twitter went authoritarian during the riots,” he says. “Midway through the first night, rubber bullets and water cannons were being proposed on Twitter. I thought, ‘Wow! That didn’t take long!’”

Audience interaction

He has spent much of the past two years on television, not just trying to helm Mock The Week, but also tackling hard sums on Dave, staring at the heavens in Stargazing Live, and touring the country’s waterways with Griff Rhys Jones and Rory McGrath.

But his first love is live comedy.

“Nothing beats the buzz of stand-up,” he says. “It’s easy to see why people compare performing live comedy to hardcore drugs – you need more and more!”

A big part of O Briain’s live show is down to the audience, as he takes pains to interact and develop material from what comes back to him.

A previous tour even led to him uncovering a former Milky Bar Kid in the crowd.

“I get such a thrill from my audience,” he says. “They remain a great untapped resource. They go in directions I would never have thought of.

“You don’t want to fall into the corny trap of taking the mickey out of people. You’re not just looking for a victim but someone who will add something to the show.

“The audience can feel the tension when it’s off-the-cuff and can sense that it’s unique.”

He’s not afraid of delving into the old standards of audience interaction though.

“Some of the audience chat is based on my bewilderment with the world of work,” he says. “I’m now institutionalised in my life, so real people who do real work baffle me. Nowadays people very rarely do jobs we learnt about as children, like butchers or bakers. A guy the other night said he was in investment insurance, whatever that is!”

He’s not planning to stop the live work any time soon.

“As long as you’re still getting and giving pleasure from performing, you don’t want to stop,” he says. “The Rolling Stones are still getting and giving pleasure from performing, so what’s the problem?

“I love this as much as ever. I never want to give it up!”

  • Brighton Dome Concert Hall, Church Street, Wednesday, October 17. Starts 8pm, tickets £21. Call 01273 709709