STEPHEN K Amos is struggling with the onset of a sore throat – not the greatest news for a stand-up comedian coming to the end of a mammoth 72-date tour that arrives at the Pavilion theatre, Bournemouth, today.

“It’s been through the driver, the support act, everyone . . .

and now it’s getting me,” he croaks.

“But don’t worry, it’ll be gone by the time I get down south!”

The massive tour has taken Stephen to the furthest corners of the UK, places he had not even seen on the map, much less set foot in.

“It has been amazing, incredibly educational, and a never-ending source of material.

“I swear I have increased the black population of some towns by like a million per cent – I think word goes round the village that there’s a newcomer in town and they come out to have a look.

Nothing too scary though.

“It’s more scary when you get the drunk heckler who thinks his mission is to disrupt the show, but so far I’ve been able to keep them in their place – with the help of the rest of the audience of course.

“You just have to plough on and keep batting those balls back as they fly in thick and fast.”

Stephen’s face is becoming increasingly familiar through television appearances on Live At The Apollo, Mock The Week, The One Show and Have I Got News For You.

Yet being on tour has brought him back in touch with what he loves most – performing in front of a live audience.

“Generally, people come to theatres and they tend to behave themselves, but you have to keep going back to where you started, in strange little comedy clubs where you’re on with two or three other comics who are at the top of their game and you’re fighting for every laugh.

“You have to know you can still cut the mustard in that environment, then when people play up you can handle it.

“The best nights, though, are when you get a theatre audience really on your side, and you start a big rolling laugh and bring them up, then pull the rug from under them and build it again.

“It’s like being a master conductor with an orchestra.

“What a great job to have – to come out and make people feel better.” Such is Stephen’s confidence in his latest show, The Feelgood Factor, that he’s offering a money-back guarantee.

“We’ve been having such a horrible time lately with disasters, tragedies, political scandals, terrible weather, that I wanted to provide an antidote to the misery.

“So if you come to the show, and you don’t leave feeling better than when you came in, I will give you your money back.

“In the past I’ve done shows where I’ve had something to say and issues to address – and I may do again – but now I’m in a place where I just want to make people laugh first and foremost.”