Norman Pace knew that taking Russian O-Level would come in useful. Now he's able to give full reign to his best Eastern European accent nightly in the comedy musical Eurobeat - Almost Eurovsion.

He doesn't actually play a Russian in the show, an affectionate spoof of the Eurovision Song Contest, at the Mayflower Southampton until Saturday.

His character, Sergei, is a washed-up children's TV presenter from Sarajevo but, as he says: "All you have to do is talk in a vaguely East European way and everyone finds it funny."

Pace is the latest in a series of comedy actors, including former stand-up partner Gareth Hale, to have guested as Sergei.

It is, he says, enormous fun playing the hapless but harmless buffoon, co-host of the fictional but strangely recognisable Eurobeat contest.

His partner in pretend TV crime is former Olympic pole-vault champion turned cabaret performer and lifestyle hostess, Boyka, played by Sally Lindsay.

Pace loves the show which includes interactive voting from the audience and pokes gentle fun at Eurovision.

He admits he has a certain amount of insider knowledge about the contest which attracts millions of viewers every year.

"About 10 years ago Gareth and I did a programme called Jobs for the Boys in which we took on various tasks and one of them was to write a song for Eurovision.

"So we actually had to go to the live night. Of course I was cynical thinking it was going to be terrible but it was actually wonderful, we had a ball."

He admits that now he has encyclopaedic knowledge of Eurovision. "It's terrible I know these things. I trot out fascinating snippets at the dinner table. I call it Euro-babble.

"I can't help it even though it must be immensely boring for other people, particularly anyone under the age of 40."

He describes Eurobeat as "very funny, as camp as a row of tents and over the top in every way," adding "it works because it's superbly professional and polished.

"It's a privilege to be in it. It really is worth seeing."

Although still good friends with Gareth Pace, they rarely work together these days because they decided their double act had effectively had its day.

"We had 16 or 17 years on mainstream TV but we felt it would be a shame to end up looking like a pair of silly old boys trying to recreate their former glory.

"We had a pretty good run but got the feeling that the writing was on the wall, so we chose to quit."

Not that their relative lack of recent telly exposure has kept the reality TV vultures at bay. Pace says that both he and Hale have been asked to asked to do several programmes. It's an idea they have so far greeted with a determined no.

"To go out to a jungle to try and reinvent yourself, I don't think that's really us," explains Pace.

"It works for some people. Joe Pasquale is such a nice bloke it was dead right for him, he came across really well. I'm afraid I think I'd end up eating somebody's leg or something.

"I mean, look at Les Dennis on Celebrity Big Brother and Vanessa Feltz. Why would I want to put myself through that kind of thing? The power of the edit is a massive thing in television. You have cameras on you 24 hours a day at your peril because you can be represented in any way the producers choose."

  • Eurovision - Almost Eurobeat Mayflower Theatre, Southampton until Saturday.