CHRIS Addison is going back to his roots touring the country with his latest stand-up.

After filming In the Loop, starring in Skins and co-hosting a Radio Five show how does he find the time to write a tour?

Addison said: “People think that it is standing in front of people talking that seems terrifying but that is the easy bit. We are show offs. It is the beginning of the writing process that seems terrifying.

“I have my head in my hands thinking this is terrible and two weeks later it is fine.”

Addison said it takes about two to three months to write the show and he works to deadlines otherwise he won't get it done.

He is an old hand at stand up and started in his early 20s. But the experience has made him more critical than ever before.

He said: “Some of them I have come off stage saying that was good- others I haven't. You become hugely critical.

“There is a thing that happens particularly on a tour if you have a show at an early part of the tour then that is the high point you have got to make that from then on.

“It is funny. You can drive yourself mad. You used to notice a lot at the Edinburgh festival- audiences will be different on different days of the week. You would see it is much harder on a Wednesday to get people laughing whereas on a Saturday they would be much more relaxed tipping into drunkenness. For the most part now it is good gigs.”

With 43 dates it must be easy to get blasé, I ask. Addison said: “The danger is the point where you can do it on autopilot. The real key thing is to say it properly every time.

“You will be saying the words and could very well be thinking 'Chips for dinner'. There is a couple of times I have suddenly realised I have completely forgotten to say a joke.”

After High Wycombe Chris is off to Newcastle, then to Derby and then Bath. Is there a method to this madness?

Addison said: “To try and explain to my son we have a map which explains to him where we are going. It is a terribly depressing exercise. It is a lunatic idea.

“In the very old days in the tours of music halls there was an actual circuit and they would make their way around the country slowly. It doesn't happen now. We fit in where the theatres can book it.”

“The travel bit I am less keen on than I used to be. When I was younger it was brilliant- a big adventure. I am an older man in my late 30s now and I have a family. Any time I am away from my kids I find it hard. But the shows are terrific.”

He currently stars in Skins as headteacher David Blood. He said: “I loved it. There are about four scenes in the whole filming. It was great fun.”

“I didn't expect it to happen.”

He bumped into writer Jamie Brittain at a comedy awards who offered to write a part for Addison.

He also co-hosts 7 Day Sunday on Radio 5 at 11am on a Sunday morning which he said is brilliant fun- “When I was about 16 what I most wanted in the world was to do a Radio show- to have a opportunity is great.”

But what next for the Manchester born comedian- another film after the massively successful In the Loop?

“There are no plans at the moment but it is something I would like to do again.”

Catch Addison at the Town Hall on March 20 at 8pm. Tickets cost £15.00 from the Swan's box office on 01494512000 or from www.wycombeswan.co.uk.