SIMON AMSTELL has never been the sort of comedian to play it safe.

Even when he was the host on C4’s Popworld, his acid-tinged comments suggested a man desperate to break out and do bigger things.

After hosting Never Mind The Buzzcocks, he returned to BBC2 in Grandma’s House, a sitcom he co-wrote with Dan Swimer.

The tale of a TV presenter (Amstell) quitting his job so he could do something more meaningful with his life was received favourably enough for a second series that has begun airing this month. Now Amstell brings his latest stand-up tour to the Lighthouse Poole later this month on May 24.

Intensely vulnerable and painfully honest, Amstell attempts again to heal himself in public, with his show Numb.

This very personal show from this most soul-baring of comics, has evolved from a long series of small pre-tour gigs, in which Simon has been trying out new material. “What tends to happen is I go on stage with a few ideas, some scraps of paper, and just see what comes out of me.

“It’s a bit scary I suppose and often not that much fun for the audience. But what is great doing it this way is, there is this almost unconscious discovery of new things about yourself as a direct result of the audience’s reaction and the show develops from that,” said Amstell, 32.

The show is very much comedy, rather than therapy, though. In fact Simon adds that being a comedian isn’t necessarily very therapeutic. “Any artist has to stand outside himself and distrust the normal and refuse to accept that anything is the way it should be. This isn’t ideal when it comes to living with other human beings on this planet.”

Born in Gants Hill, London in a Jewish family, the openly gay comedian has won several awards for his work on Never Mind the Buzzcocks and also scooped the 2006 Royal Television Society Award for Best Entertainment Performance and two British Comedy Awards for Best Comedy Entertainment Personality and Best Comedy Entertainment Series for Never Mind the Buzzcocks.