“I just want people to know I don’t talk to the puppets offstage. They go back into the bag which goes into the boot of the car, and they don’t talk again after the show.”

So says ventriloquism king Paul Zerdin, dispelling any fears he might follow in the footsteps of Anthony Hopkins’ character Corky Withers in Richard Attenborough’s classic horror Magic, and go on a murder spree under the influence of his dummy.

Anyone expecting a tired old “don’t put me in the box”-style routine when they go and see Paul as part of the Brighton Comedy Festival will get a surprise.

“I would describe the show as a one-man Muppet sitcom,” says Paul.

“We’ve got Sam, who is like the Bart Simpson character, Albert his grandad who is senile, chasing women but can’t remember why, and the baby who wants to be breast-fed by the women in the front row.

“The other part of the show is me using my ventriloquism to describe what audience members are thinking, and turning them into human puppets. I’m doing stuff that hasn’t been done before, and deconstructing the old routines.

“All the time I’m saying it’s me doing this, but I love playing with it – it’s a great art to play about with.”

He is hoping to escape that idea of ventriloquism as a light entertainment form, forever associated with the memories of Keith Harris’s toe-curling 1982 Christmas single Orville’s Song.

“A lot of people have pre- conceived ideas of some old guy with an animal puppet, maybe a duck or a bear,” says Paul.

“But Nina Conti has been doing ventriloquism that is different with a modern feel to it, and there’s a whole new alternative group going around, people like Jeff Dunham [famous for Achmed The Dead Terrorist with his catchphrase ‘Silence – I kill you’] and David Strassman [who combines ventriloquism and robotics].”

Paul himself got into ventriloquism through his early career as a magician.

“I was always interested in showing off and doing comedy,” he says. “I decided a puppet character would be fun, and I had always done silly voices as a kid.

“The true character of the puppet evolves over time, it’s a gradual process. I’m working on a couple of new characters, but I don’t want to be one of those ventriloquists with lots of puppets. It looks a bit embarrassing when you’re pictured standing by this weird selection of puppets and animals.”

Although this Brighton Comedy Festival show is strictly adults only, Paul is equally at home with family audiences, spending years on the circuit of holiday camps, and performing a show-stealing slot on the Royal Variety Performance last December.

His roots can also be found in children’s television, as presenter of Rise And Shine on ITV’s breakfast programme GMTV – until a certain foam puppet got in the way.

“We were on so early I don’t know if anyone was watching,” he says. “It was a great training ground.

“I did it for about two years – until I got ousted for Barney The Dinosaur.”

* 8pm, tickets £12/£10, call 01273 709709