Kai Humphries on UK tour

Geordie comedian on Ross Noble's mum and touring with Daniel Sloss

Heckling is a comedian’s occupational hazard. Still, it’s an unfortunate stand-up that suffers verbal from an ex-teacher, even if, in mitigating circumstances, it’s Ross Noble’s mum. ‘Always the mischievous one at school,’ Kai Humphries explains that ‘I’m good friends with Anne Noble; she came to my last gig and we had a lively bit of banter. It’s nice she’s stayed in touch.’

The Geordie opens our conversation confessing to ‘feeling rough’ due to the previous night’s excess. Relatively new, with less than four years on stage but two Edinburgh Fringes under his belt, compering his own club night is central to a rapid turnover of material. ‘You end up spawning it by accident, just ad-libbing, getting off stage and writing it down.’ Humphries is now familiar to Scottish audiences, having supported Daniel Sloss on tour. ‘Even with marriage, you wouldn’t spend that much time with someone. For three months we were getting up every morning in the same hotel room, getting into the same car, driving to the same city, same gig, same night out. To not fall out demonstrates the strength of our friendship. It was odd though.’

Notwithstanding the exodus of Sarah Millican, Jason Cook, Chris Ramsey and Dave Johns, Humphries is convinced that the arrival of The Stand in Newcastle and a handful of other new gigs mean the north-east is becoming ‘a bit of a comedy hotbed.’ He’s already laid down a marker of sorts by defeating Adam Bloom’s legendary Rubik’s Cube skills. ‘His best time is better than my best. But when we were head to head, he lost his shit and messed it up a little.’ The interview concludes and he laments that, ‘I’m going rock climbing now. That should be good with a hangover.’

Jongleurs, Glasgow, Sat 28 Jul