ONE of the many joys of going to an Adam Hills gig is that you never know quite what is going to happen.

Take the exuberant comedian’s show in Barnstaple on his last tour.

“I had a pre-show ritual of going tenpin bowling every night,” says the Australian comic. “But in Barnstaple, I didn’t have time before the show, so I decided to take the audience bowling afterwards. I told them I was going to do it, but they thought it was a joke. I had to keep telling them I was serious.

“So at the end of the show, I took 240 people – about half the audience – along to the bowling alley. As well as bowling, we did karaoke, the arcades and air hockey. We stayed there until one in the morning. One lovely sixty something couple told me that was the first time they had been bowling for 20 years. As I left, another couple in their late 40s were still playing air hockey and just giggling. The only problem was that word got out, and when I didn’t take the audience bowling the next night in Exeter, the audience got grumpy. But Barnstaple was a one-off.”

“When you’re touring, you can trudge through stuff,” continues Adam, who has a prosthetic leg. “So it’s great to have a moment of pure spontaneity like that. You forget you’re on stage. You feel that you’re just in a room full of people celebrating. It’s absolutely wonderful. Each show should be an event rather than a guy just talking for an hour.”

It is exactly this sort of joyous spontaneity that makes Adam such a memorable live act. The good news is, you won’t have to wait long to see him perform – he is headed to the Wyvern with his new show Clown Heart, featuring his signature blend of uplifting comedy and improv, on February 22.

“It’s about what’s going on in my life, having kids and losing parents,” says the award-winning host of Channel 4’s The Last Leg. “It is sometimes a tough area to go into, but the crux of the show is a story about when my daughter was four and asking about death because my father had just passed away.

“She asked, ‘Am I going to die?’ I replied, ‘Yes, but how about we have as much fun as we can because we’re here?’ At one of my shows, I met a guy with cancer. He did this thing called Naked Tuesday, so I did it with him. We recreated the famous naked photo of John and Yoko. He became an inspiration for me.

“Clown Heart is a show about laughing in the face of death. We all know that death is going to have the last laugh, so we have to get in there first. A lot of palliative care nurses have said to me that my message strikes a chord with them – and that’s lovely to hear.”

So whatever subject he is addressing, Adam possesses the rare gift of leaving us feeling uplifted.

“When I did my first Edinburgh in 1997 one reviewer said I performed ‘sun-drenched, celebratory comedy’,” he recalls. “Sometimes you get a review and think, ‘Oh, so that’s what I do!’ I always have to find a balance between being funny and positive, but I want people to feel good for an hour and a half. They may have just had a fight with their partner or a terrible day at work, but when they come along to my show I want them to forget all about that. I want them to have a real laugh and go back to their normal lives with a spring in their step.”

Adam Hills will perform at the Wyvern Theatre on February 22 at 8pm. To book call 01793 524481 or visit swindontheatres.co.uk.