Michael McIntyre

Brighton Centre, Kings Road, Thursday, August 27, to Sunday, August 30

BACK in October 2007 Michael McIntyre was still a little-known name on the comedy circuit, playing the former Dome Pavilion Theatre to just 200 people as part of Brighton’s Paramount Comedy Festival.

Now it’s easier to describe his career in numbers and records.

The following year his DVD Live And Laughing became the biggest-selling stand-up comedy debut of all time.

Its follow-up, 2009’s Hello Wembley, is still the fastest selling comedy DVD in the UK.

On his last tour, 2012’s Showtime, he performed in front of more than 640,000 people – including a ten-night residency at London’s O2 Arena equalling the record set by Rihanna in 2011.

He is the figurehead of the explosion in arena comedy, which has seen the genre move from pubs and theatres to arenas and stadiums.

Through the two series of his BBC One show Comedy Roadshow he was also responsible for bringing some of the UK’s biggest comedy names early television exposure– including Kevin Bridges, John Bishop, Sarah Millican, Jon Richardson and Micky Flanagan.

But the flipside of this is the former Perrier Award nominee has become something of a whipping boy for what is seen as safe observational comedy.

In character during his 2010 show If You Prefer A Milder Comedian, Please Ask For One Stewart Lee made the since much-repeated reference to Michael McIntyre being on television “spoon-feeding you his warm diarrhoea”.

Onstage in Canterbury Lee Mack was even harsher pointing to McIntyre’s habit of skipping and adding in a well-loved Anglo Saxon epithet.

References to McIntyre’s comedy ubiquitous were still being made at the Brighton Fringe this year, with Paul Kerensa setting up a scenario where he went back in time to copy McIntyre’s act and become a millionaire.

In response to his critics McIntyre has gone on the offensive, saying in GQ: “If you think it’s so easy, then why don’t you do it?”

But as he prepares for Happy And Glorious, his first stand-up tour in three years, McIntyre is looking forward to going back on the road again.

“I really, really love stand-up,” he says. “There is huge excitement about having done the work in lots of warm-up shows and knowing that the jokes are funny.

“I did a comedy gala in Brighton to 2,000 people [last October], and it was so lovely to be out there again. It’s wonderful to be able to share my new jokes with people.

“I’m bringing everything to this show – voices, physical comedy, the works. That way I can really paint pictures on stage.”

As ever the subject of his comedy is what is going on in the married father-of-two’s life.

“Holidays, hotels, motorway services – that’s my life,” he says. “Anything is ripe for comedy.

“I’ll be discussing health stuff and the fact that I’ve lost a lot of weight. And as always, I’ll be talking about my children. They’re in my life, and they’ll always be in my jokes.”

His new life as a millionaire comedian will find its way into the show too though – especially as he has now achieved the rockstar dream and bought a house in the country.

“I used to flick through Country Life magazine – they tend to be in dentists’ waiting rooms,” he says. “Over the years I’d look at page after page of gorgeous country cottages. It was a fantasy of mine to have an idyllic place in the rolling hills, so finally I bought one. But sadly I didn’t realise what I was getting into.

“When I flush the loo in London, I don’t for a moment think about the plumbing. It just happens.

“But it turns out that idyllic houses in the middle of nowhere don’t have plumbing. They have septic tanks that you have to empty once a year. They don’t highlight that in the estate agents’ brochures. People always say, ‘the previous owners left all their crap behind.’ Well, I’m literally in that situation!”

Support from Paul Tonkinson.

Starts 8pm, tickets from £35. Call 08448 471515.