Jasper Carrott’s Stand Up And Rock

Assembly Hall, Stoke Abbott Road, Worthing, Thursday, September 17

Congress Theatre, Carlisle Road, Eastbourne, Friday, September 18

AT the turn of the millennium stand-up Jasper Carrott was in the middle of a four-night run in Johannesburg, South Africa, playing to 1,800 a night, when he was suddenly hit by a thought.

“I was on stage and it suddenly struck me: ‘What am I doing here? This is all bull****,’” he says as he prepares to bring his first tour in more than a decade to Sussex next week.

“It shook me up a bit, so I left playing comedy shows alone for a while – and stayed away for 15 years!”

It was his best friend of 60 years, former ELO drummer Bev Bevan, who provided the inspiration to go on tour with a show combining Carrott’s two loves – comedy and rock music.

“We had never toured before,” says Carrott. “He said we should do a few shows before we can’t do it anymore.”

So the show which was to become Stand Up And Rock was born – with Carrott performing a half-hour set of comedy at the beginning of each half before the rock band takes over.

“It’s really taken off,” he says. “I’m finding myself really enjoying doing the comedy again. All the enthusiasm is back. I was always solo, so it’s nice touring and working with other people on stage. Musos are a bit like goalkeepers though – they’re not of this earth...”

With Carrott a self-confessed closet Status Quo fan the bill includes a few of the denim-clad rock and rollers’ big numbers, as well as a selection of hits from the 1960s to the 1980s.

“I’ve never had reactions like it in my whole career,” he says. “We are appealing to a certain audience that hasn’t been catered for, the ages 45 and upwards who love the brilliantly played music and comedy that isn’t filled with expletives. I don’t know anybody else who is doing this.”

The combination of live music and comedy could also be seen as a nod to Carrott’s origins on the 1970s folk club scene.

“Although I could sing a bit I realised I wasn’t very good,” he says. “I used to sing comedy songs and do comedy chat, and the chat took over.

“I learned all my trade in the folk clubs – there used to be a couple of good ones in Brighton and all along the south coast.

“The intimacy was important – the majority of comedians were one-line jokes and bow ties. When I did one week of cabaret I resolved I would never do it again. In cabaret you talk at people, in folk clubs you talked to them. It’s where I developed my style of talking to the audience.”

One of his big influences in comedy was the US mathematician and humorist Tom Lehrer, probably best known today for his musical rendition of the Periodical Table: The Elements, and for his blackly comic creations Poisoning Pigeons In The Park and The Masochism Tango.

“I based my style on Tom Lehrer, although I used to play guitar rather than piano,” says Carrott. “He was a remarkable performer, way ahead of his time. And he gave it all up to teach maths!”

With this tour Carrott is back to the smaller theatre venues – or as Bevan puts it “eyeball to eyeball” with the audience.

“We’re going back to basics,” says Carrott. “I’ve done the 10,000 seaters where people pay £25 to watch the screens either side of the stage because you’re about the size of an ant onstage.

“I always felt there was something slightly missing from those shows. Getting 10,000 people laughing is a hell of a sound, but your timing has to be different – it takes time for the people at the back to laugh and you have to adjust. It’s exciting getting back to that real connection.”

The short comedy sets suit him too.

“I used to do two and a half hours,” he says. “People can’t laugh out loud for that long, it’s physically impossible. You had to pace the whole evening bringing people up and down, and then the last 20 minutes you could go for broke.

“Now with just half-an-hour each act I can go for the jugular.”

As for his subject matter he is exploring the realities of growing old – something he feels not many comics talk about – as well as his unique take on politics.

“I find Jeremy Corbyn fascinating,” he says. “I say he’s like Michael Foot without the looks. He’s creating all this furore which takes me back to the 1980s when people like Arthur Scargill were running the unions and the Left were very strong.

“I’ve got a routine about the 1960s which I used to do years ago that I’ve dusted down. It’s still really relevant to what is happening today. People who were there in the decade of sexual freedom laugh at their own naivety, and the younger people just laugh at the naivety.

“It works on lots of levels which is a real joy. I call myself a reborn again comedian.”

Worthing: Starts 7.30pm, tickets £26.50. Call 01903 206206.

Eastbourne: Starts 7.30pm, tickets £26. Call 01323 412000.