Comedian Paul Foot on potato lorry trauma and his latest show touring to Yorkshire

The comedian is set to be in the city with his latest tour Dissolve next month, with Yorkshire dates also scheduled in Sheffield and Pocklington. The show is billed to be his most personal, surprising and inspired stand-up offering yet.

"I’ve never done a show like this before that’s so personal and autobiographical,” he says. “It’s a very revealing show about my life.

"It’s basically about how I had probably 28 years of really quite severe depression, mental illness, mental health crises and how all that just went away in a miraculous incident on March 20 last year. It’s interesting, powerful, quite scary, but it’s also happy and funny.”

He’s tight-lipped about what that incident was, saying only “something unbelievable happened to me, that I still struggle to explain”.

"Years of mental health crises, childhood trauma and life-altering depression dissolved away in an instant.

"The show is also, incidentally, really funny throughout. I am a comedian after all.”

Inevitably, he does get distracted by King Tutankhamun, the House of Lords, Sir Cliff Richard, officious lollipop ladies and what Jesus might have achieved if he’d been a plumber.

"For people familiar with my comedy, there’s plenty of times when my signature comes in – talking about things that really aren’t that relevant. It’s got the signature nonsense in it as well.”

His comedy has been witnessed on TV panel shows Would I Lie To You?, Never Mind the Buzzcocks and 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown and Paul has performed more than a dozen solo stand-up shows.

“In some ways it’s quite brave saying these things about myself. It’s a departure for me…

"In the past I haven’t mentioned it on stage. My shows are quite abstract and I didn’t really reveal anything of me. So in that sense it’s quite scary to reveal things about my inner emotion.

"But of course the reason I’m doing it now is because it’s got a happy ending. I’m in a happy place.

"It’s an uplifting show because it does have a happy ending and a message of hope for the audience."

“I’m hoping people laugh at it primarily,” he adds. “It’s a comedy show so I don’t want it to be too grand and suggest it’s a life changing experience.

"But it is nice that it makes people maybe feel a bit uplifted and that there’s a positive message.”

Dissolve is at Leadmill, Sheffield on October 12 and Bradford Alhambra and Pocklington Arts Centre on October 27 and 28. For tickets, visit www.paulfoot.tv