THE Gazette will be one of the star attractions when comedian Dave Spikey takes to the stage.

That’s because stories from local newspapers are a key element to his new tour.

It all started with his fascination with newspapers and the various humorous – not always intentional – reports they published.

One of his favourite headlines was Dead Man Weds, which came from his own local paper, the Bolton News. It provided the inspiration for his sitcom set on a local newspaper with the same name.

He followed that up with this year’s Best Medicine stand-up tour, when he decided to incorporate his love of local newspapers into his routine. This led to the publication of his book, He Took My Kidney, Then Broke My Heart.

“I love it,” Dave said, enthusiastically. “Local papers are full of these stories and they’re great precisely because they’re not all filled with doom and gloom.

“It’s real people and real stories and I love all of that stuff. I started to collect them just for my own pleasure really, until someone said I should publish them in a book.”

So we take it the Gazette will be featuring quite heavily when he appears at Charter Hall in Colchester on Saturday?

“When I get into town, the first thing I do is pick up a copy of the local newspaper and trawl through the pages to see what the big stories are,” said Dave.

Although, he could just call up his friend who lives nearby.

He explained: “I’ve got a very good mate who comes from the Colchester area. I did Ipswich in the spring and that doubled up as a chance to catch up with him.

“He lives in Wrabness and we went out in Harwich. It’s an area I didn’t know a lot about, but having visited it a few times, it’s a lovely part of the country.”

Working on the premise that laughter is the best medicine, he first leg of his Best Medicine Tour – Repeat Prescription, kicked off in February and will end at the Bloomsbury Theatre, London, at the end of this month.

A former chief biomedical scientist at the Royal Bolton Hospital, Dave won Celebrity Mastermind, recording the highest ever score, answering questions on human blood.

He is probably best known for co-writing and co-starring in Phoenix Nights with Peter Kay, but has actually been on the comedy circuit for nearly 20 years.

In 1990, he won the North West Comedian of the Year Award, from which he got many gigs all over the country.

Since then Dave has supported the likes of Jack Dee and Eddie Izzard, all in the space of one week.

His sell-out live tours have shown he has lost none of his stand-up skills. He said: “I’ve been touring for years, but if you look at my previous shows most of the dates have been in the north.

“In the past, I never really got big audiences down south but, thankfully, that’s changed now.

“I suppose a lot of that is because of the telly stuff.

“It meant I could decide where I wanted to go and spread out a bit more, going to places I didn’t know a lot about.

“This one has been a proper national tour with 15 to 20 dates in the south, which I have really enjoyed.

“I’m an easy going sort of guy, so I’ll finish this tour, have a little break and then write the new one.”

There are also some bits and pieces of television coming up, but for now Dave appears to be content continuing with what he loves.

Despite being a team captain on four series of Channel 4’s 8 out of 10 Cats and writing and co-starring in the ITV comedy, Dead Man Weds, he enjoys being back on the road.

He said: “I worked as a biomedical scientist for the NHS for 30 years, so if it doesn’t work out I can always go back to that.

“Seriously, not many people get a second chance to do something they really love and I’m having a great time doing it.”

Dave Spikey Repeat Prescription Saturday 7.30pm £17.50-£19.50 Charter Hall, Colchester Leisure World, Cowdray Avenue, Colchester. 01206 282020