THE man responsible for one of the funniest, and perhaps lewdest, comics in Britain is bringing his new stand-up show to Essex.

Simon Donald, co-founder of Viz, will be performing the show he is taking to the Edinburgh Festival this year, the Oxford English Dictionary-friendly, Simon Donald is Completely Hatstand.

He explains: “There was a strip in Viz called Roger Irrelevant and the strap line was ‘He’s completely hatstand’.

“We always thought if we were lucky, we might get a word in the Oxford English Dictionary and the first thing we got mentioned was hatstand – meaning mad.”

Simon started producing Viz with his brother Chris from his bedroom in 1979, and in its heyday the comic sold more than a million copies.

Viz is now firmly entrenched into British culture, with characters’ catchphrases passing into common speech and with T-shirts of its notorious characters, including Johnny Fartpants, Fat Slags and Roger Melly on sale in supermarkets.

Simon says: “Viz was so hugely successful. It’s nothing I can completely shy away from. I worked on Viz for 24 years, so I couldn’t escape it even if I wanted to.

“I meet people on the street and they ask who I base the characters on. I had one friend who thought Johnny Fartpants was based on him.”

Simon started performing stand-up comedy in 2005, initially working the north east circuit. After taking a break to care for his terminally-ill brother, he returned, beginning to appear on stage as the characters he had previously talked about in his routine.

He soon picked up representation by Off the Kerb, one of the largest producers and managers of comedy in the UK.

In the summer of 2009 he moved to London to work the comedy circuit in the capital, as well as gigs around the UK, which included a three-week run at the Edinburgh Fringe. This year will be the first time he has taken a solo show to the Edinburgh Festival, a prospect he is greatly looking forward to.

He adds: “I didn’t have a direct plan. Whatever happens that works is the way these things develop. Something comes along, you get a laugh out of it.”

The show follows in the fine tradition of British comedy sketch outfits with Simon coming on stage as a variety of different characters.

He says: “There are five or six different parts to the show so it’s almost a bit like a cartoon strip.”

Coming from Newcastle, many of his characters are based on different people he has come across on his home turf. But how will the Geordie characters go down in Essex?

"I did worry about that," Simon says nervously. "With Bingo from Benton [a Geordie man who carrys out surveys], I thought that could be a problem.

"I did it in Southend at a charity gig and they didn’t understand it so I changed it so that he goes to great lengths to explain what he means.

"I have discovered though that if you don’t understand the language it’s almost as funny."

With so many comedians and shows heading to Edinburgh for the festival later this year, Simon believes as well as a great chance to get back on stage to hone his craft, it is the perfect opportunity to do as much, or as little, networking as he likes.

He says: "It’s three weeks of quite severe networking. It’s not forced, it’s just great to get up there and see so many shows."

• Simon Donald is at the High Barn in Great Bardfield tomorrow at 7.30pm as part of the venue's new series of stand-up events.

As well as Simon, also on the bill will be Ava Vidal, who recently featured on Michael McIntyre's comedy roadshow and regularly appears on Radio 4's News Quiz. She will be performing her new show Lessons I Should Have Learnt, which will also be going up to Edinburgh later this year.

For more details or to book tickets, priced £10, call High Barn's box office on 01371 811 291.