If there is a moral to comedian Holly Walsh’s first solo show, it is this: don’t jump off piers… unless you want to write a comedy show.

Last August, Walsh – whilst making a children’s TV programme – leapt from Worthing’s pier straddling a homemade helicopter construct as part of the annual Birdman contest.

She landed in the water awkwardly, dislocating her shoulder and fracturing her arm – she was carried out of the sea on a spinal board and rushed to hospital.

“I think we jumped about seven metres, so it’s depressing how little we achieved. Seven metres is nothing when you’re talking about jumping off a 40ft-high pier. It was all crosswinds and gravity,” she laughs.

“In terms of my personal welfare and the health of my arm it’s been very bad, but in terms of comedy material, it’s been rich with stuff. You win some you lose some.”

Her show – currently being previewed around the country and aptly named Hollycopter – tells the story of Walsh’s accident, her time in hospital, and her recovery.

“The nature of the show is a story – it’s not a set, or a list of gags. It’s something that wouldn’t fit into a 20-minute set, so it’s nice to have time to develop it and have a bit more space. I can do jokes I wouldn’t normally be able to do in a Saturday stand-up set in a club in front of hen and stag dos,” she says.

Not that the writing itself was done from her hospital bed, per se.

“Anything that I would’ve written then would make no sense whatsoever as I was so high on morphine at the time. It would be the most surreal show you’d ever see,” she laughs.

As a Cambridge University Art History graduate, the comedic path to glory might not necessarily be the obvious choice.

Whilst working in galleries across London, Walsh began to write for other comedians – most notably for Jo Caulfield’s radio show – and soon gave up working with art entirely.

“I am a comedy nerd,” Walsh explains.

“I was brought up on a diet of Radio 4 comedy. I used to be obsessed with Monty Python and Just A Minute – it was completely uncool but I loved them. I started doing stand-up and now I traipse around the country entertaining drunk people for a living, which isn’t a bad job really.”

It is a job she excels in.

Runner-up in the 2006 Amused Moose LaughOff and winner of Chortle’s 2008 Best Newcomer award, Walsh has been spotted on everything from Mock The Week to Never Mind The Buzzcocks, even acting as co-host on C4’s ill-fated topical satire The TNT Show.

From 2008, she has also been in demand as a CBBC presenter.

“I absolutely love doing kids’ TV, and I am so happy and amazed I get the opportunity to do it, but I don’t think of myself as a kids’ TV presenter,” she says.

“I like doing comedy and doing it wherever it suits. I can do comedy for young audiences, stand-up gigs and so on – it’s about finding different jokes and seeing where they fit with different audiences. That’s what’s so fun about it – it’s a very malleable profession.”

* 8pm, £5. Call 01273 624434