FOR the past couple of years, comedian Simon Amstell has been shut away in a TV studio making two series of his deeply personal BBC2 sitcom, the painfully funny Grandma's House.

Now he is back in stand-up mode at the Lighthouse Poole on Thursday.

Numb, will be Amstell's first national tour in three years, not that the Essex-born comedian wants to make too much fuss about it.

Unlike most motor-mouth comedians, he is notoriously reluctant to be interviewed.

“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,” says Amstell, 32.

For three years he was the presenter of the BBC2 comedy panel show Never Mind the Buzzcocks, for which he won a BAFTA and a Royal Television Society Award for Best Comedy Entertainment Personality.

Despite the golden career in TV, Amstell still felt obliged to bare his soul on stage.

"I really do love doing stand-up. It's the most amazing feeling when it's going well, you're free, you're flying. This ‘thing’ is happening beyond your control. Something is powering you, something that isn't you."

Amstell may be currently better known for his TV work, but he actually started doing stand-up when he was only 14.

At 17, he was the youngest ever finalist in the BBC New Comedy Award. He offers a unique combination of original, thought-provoking material and outright laughter.

So what can Poole audiences expect from the shy comedian?

"The theme seemed to be disconnection and detachment and the inability to feel things fully. It's about not being able to feel things in the moment and being incapable of expressing yourself emotionally and the fact that that leads to disconnectedness and depression. And it’s very funny!’” he adds with an embarrassed hoot of laughter.

"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."

The comedian has struggled with feelings of alienation in the past, however, audiences can relate to his material.

"I think it's actually also quite healing eventually. When you reveal something personal and perhaps shameful, people acknowledge that it's part of the human condition and they don't feel so alone. They don't feel stuck with an horrific secret."

In the past, some critics have suggested that Amstell’s comedy can veer towards the cruel.

His acid-tongued comments famously caused several musicians to storm off the set of Never Mind The Buzzocks.

But as a stand-up, his vulnerability and openness creates the opposite impression.

"It always ends up that I'm the fool in any story. If I'm criticising people or making a judgement, it’s always clearly by the end that it was definitely my problem.”

Interview ordeal over, a relieved Amstell gratefully says his goodbyes on the phone. No doubt off to figure some more stuff out and turn it into material for his stand-up show.