I do genuinely like going out, travelling around and playing all over Britain,” said Griff Rhys Jones.

As far as audiences are concerned, the feeling seems to be mutual.

The veteran comedy star’s latest one-man tour, All Over the Place follows previous sell-out shows Where Was I? and Jones and Smith, and a tour of Australia and New Zealand where the welcome was just as warm.

It comes to the Wyvern Theatre on Saturday, November 9 at 8pm.

The new offering is an evening of true stories, insights into everything from parenthood to celebrity and assorted diversions into whichever territories the anecdotes lead.

He said: “I tend to start with one story and then talk about a man buying Christmas presents for ten minutes!

“It’s gone all over the place and I still enjoy the sense that there are other stories to tell. The audience likes that.”

The simple but hugely successful idea of going on the road armed with nothing but stories stemmed from a festival in Bristol about four years ago. He found that interest in his work, especially with comedy partner and friend Mel Smith -who died, aged 60, in 2013 - was undimmed.

“They wanted to talk about some old Smith and Jones stuff, so I did, and I thought I would take it on tour.

“I started talking about Mel and it ended up being about various things.”

The 11 comedy sketch series the two made together were very successful, as were various one-off sketches and two Christmas specials including The Home Made Xmas Video from 1987, which has become a cult classic.

Both Griff and Mel were nationally famous long before they began making their first two-handed series, Alas Smith and Jones, in 1984.

Between 1979 and 1982 they appeared alongside Rowan Atkinson and Pamela Stephenson in Not the Nine O’Clock News, a satirical comedy sketch series which was groundbreaking for its time and occasionally generated headlines thanks to its merciless portrayal of Establishment figures.

Griff has also taken acting roles and presented many successful documentaries covering subjects as diverse as rivers, lost routes and a mammoth railway journey through Africa.

It was shortly after beginning to appear on Not the Nine O’Clock News that Griff, formerly a BBC radio producer, found himself becoming famous.

“It happened gradually,” he recalled.

“I remember after I was first in Not the Nine O’Clock News, being shouted at from bus stops.

“That’s what Mel used to say - you realised it was becoming more than just wallpaper when kids at bus stops started shouting at you!

“You see people who have just walked past you a minute ago, and they’ve walked round the block so they can walk past you again.”

Not every encounter was as enjoyable, amusing or friendly; Griff times in pubs with friends when he was pestered by drunk people who wanted to be his best friend at first, but then turned into sworn enemies when he declined their invitations to come home with them for a visit.

“As you get older,” he added with a laugh, “all that fades away.

“It’s much rarer now; I don’t cause a stir - but I do meet some very nice people. They come up and they remember me.

“’My children think you’re very funny’ has gradually changed to, ‘My grandmother is your biggest fan...’”

Tickets for the Wyvern date cost £22 with concessions available, and the box office can be contacted on 01793 524481 and via swindontheatres.co.uk