Following a sold-out and critically-acclaimed run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, comedian Phil Wang is preparing to embark on his first nationwide tour. He tells JOSH WALTON what to expect during his stand-up show at Komedia, Brighton.

How did you first break in to comedy and performing stand-up routines?

I was at school and the school comedy show advertised for people to apply. I turned up as a very nervous Asian boy and asked if there were any spaces left for the show. I got my first stand-up and I went up on stage and did a set of largely stolen or borrowed material. I did quite well and actually got a lot of laughs. I carried on with it from there with my own stuff, mainly about other students and teachers to begin with. I later went to the University of Cambridge to study for an MA in engineering and it had really good comedy shows there so I had to get involved.

You seem to focus quite a lot on being an ‘outsider’ due to your heritage. Is that a theme we can expect in your upcoming tour?

The show is broadly about race, Britishness and what it means to most people to be British. It also focuses on my British pride and how that interacts with my Asian pride as I am British Malaysian. I hope to appeal to an internationalist audience. My stand-up won’t just be about race though. I just think people are interested in talking about this subject and they can feel relief when they hear anecdotes and jokes that break down barriers. My new material has taken a lot of research. Some people get nervous about race when its dealt with cack-handedly.

Do you aim to make your stand-up comedy quite political and where does this interest come from?

I have no explicit interest in making my shows political. I always seem to talk about race but not necessarily politics or specific political issues. I think it just seems political as a result of race and immigration being a hot topic in politics currently. There has been a huge political shift that has made this so. In my show I won’t be mentioning the word Brexit once. People tend to let emotions attached to the subject take over.

What else can audiences expect from your new tour?

Well it is probably the first time I have been completely honest about my heritage, where I come from and how that makes me who I am. It is all about making the audience understand that. Talking about my family is always fun.

How would you describe your main influences as a comedian?

A big influence for me has been The Simpsons. As a show it has the perfect mix of smart and silly. It is almost like the comedic holy grail to be able to be clever but not to take it too seriously.

How do you think your first solo shows have prepared you for this tour?

Well this is my third proper stand-up show. They just extract material out of you and force you to come up with your own. It is important to be honest with who you are and I am proud of my past shows.