MARION SAUVEBOIS talks to Marcus Brigstocke about his ‘charmed’ straight white man lifeOF late, people have been asking Marcus Brigstocke, “Why the Long Face?”

It is true he has been rather glum; what with the whole Brexit malarkey, such troubling matters as austerity, Donald Trump, ISIS, tax avoiders - and don't get him started on cheese strings and the inexplicable popularity of nail bars.

Thankfully the comic has found a way to turn his frown upside down by airing his frustration, and exorcising some demons in a new show, aptly named, Why the Long Face?

While he spends most of the gig actually thanking his lucky star for his (all in all) good fortune, with some heavy ranting thrown in, the show was inspired by a "messy breakup", he explains.

“It started as I was recovering from a big low," he says. "I’d had a messy breakup, and the show came about when I began to feel better. The show is all about gratitude. I’m a straight white man – life doesn’t get much better than that. It’s awesome. Everything is set up for me to be comfortable – very much at the cost of everyone else! So I’m enormously grateful to women, gay people and people from ethnic minorities! Being a comedian is a great job. My kids are happy and healthy. I own a house, for Christ’s sake. I’m blissfully happy in a new relationship. I really have nothing I should not be grateful for, and yet I spend a lot of time gnashing my teeth and railing against the system. So the show is about saying, ‘Hang on a minute. I actually have a very charmed life, and I should be very grateful for it’.”

He add: “I’m very cautious about claiming that I can provide moral lessons or teach people anything.

"All I would say is that this show actively encourages people to remember the things for which we should all be grateful. As hard as some people’s lives are, there is still a huge amount to be grateful for.”

That being said, he admits he found the outcome of the EU referendum particularly trying.

“My stock in trade as always been to ask why I am unhappy. A big part of that recently has been Brexit. It’s an absolute passion for me. As far as I can see, it was just a big campaign of lies. However, there are still people saying, ‘It’s all for the best’. But we’re going to have to line up in the queue with non-EU passports, for goodness sake! That’s a practical issue that no one has thought about. I don’t want to have to go down that aisle. And how much will we have when we do actually travel? I’m going to Canada soon, and everything there will now cost 11% more than it did on 23 June. Grrrr!”

Marcus’s shows always end with a bang, and Why the Long Face? will be no exception. But the comedian is reluctant to spoil the surprise of it.

“I can’t say what the ending will be, but it’s something that I’m both enormously excited about and enormously ashamed of," he says. "People will not be disappointed. Afterwards, they will have an image that they won’t be able to get out of their heads, no matter what!”

The other hallmark of his tours is the connection he enjoys with his audience.

For his part, the stand-up asserts that nothing beats the buzz of performing live.

“It is a straightforward deal," he adds. "You come to my show, and I make you laugh. If I don’t, I haven’t done my job. I act, write and make radio shows, but stand-up is a much more direct form of interaction. The audience helps me shape the show.

“If you laugh, I’ve been understood. I love how honest that is. In this country, the idea of free speech is very pure. As a stand-up, you’re never stifled. I’m very proud to say that I have never ended a tour thinking, ‘Oh dear, I’ve let them down’.”

Marcus Brigstocke will be at the Wyvern Theatre on December 1. To book go to swindontheatres.co.uk or call 01793 524 481.