TO emphasise just how much they are into his new show, Rich Hall’s Hoedown, the American comedian’s legion of growing fans are turning up at venues dressed in a full cowboy hat and cowboy boot ensemble.

They are truly entering into Rich’s Wild West spirit. Yee haw!

His new stand-up music show, which of course culminates in an infectious celebration of Americana and a hilarious, foot-stomping hoedown, has already been pulling in the punters up and down the country.

And now he’s moseying into Colchester next week.

Despite his laconic on-screen persona, Rich is fiercely intelligent and possesses a razor-sharp wit, and even though he is widely loved by British audiences, the modest US comic can scarcely believe how well this tour has gone.

“The response has been astounding,” reveals Rich, who won the Perrier Award at the 2000 Edinburgh Festival as his bourbon-soaked, country and western-singing Tennessean alter ego, Otis Lee Crenshaw.

“I’m enjoying doing this particular show so much. The reaction has been very rousing. People come up to me afterwards and say, ‘I’d seen you on TV, but I didn’t realise you were this funny’. That’s the most satisfying response. At the risk of turning into the Willie Nelson of comedy, I don’t want to stop doing this show.”

Rich has had an enormously successful TV career, shining in such comedy panel shows as QI, Have I Got News For You and Never Mind the Buzzcocks, plus stand-up showcases like Live at the Apollo, as well as producing such lauded documentaries as Rich Hall’s Countrier Than You, Rich Hall’s Presidential Grudge Match, Rich Hall’s Cattle Drive, Rich Hall’s Gone Fishing and Otis Lee Crenshaw – London Not Tennessee.

For all that, stand-up remains his first love.

Rich, whose latest audio CD, Working Dog, is out now, affirms that: “I just love the live experience. On stage, you get much longer than you do on TV to do a completely thorough performance piece. A panel show is a commodity, and people have forgotten it half an hour later. If you have gone out of your way to go to a live show and spent two and a half hours in the theatre, chances are you’ll be talking about it on the way home. You have more of an artistic and emotional investment in the live performance. That’s what I love about it.”

So what can audiences expect from Rich Hall’s Hoedown?

T As Rich tells me, the first half of the show is an examination of the catastrophe President Trump is wreaking on the world on a daily basis.

“I love the fact that Trump is President,” he says. “It’s great for comedy, even though it’s dreadful for the rest of the world and humankind.

“People expect me to talk about it. You can’t avoid talking about Trump because he infiltrates every part of our world like a weevil. He’s like an egg sac which has bored into every aspect of our lives.”

But Rich does say he has to be fleet of foot when tackling the subject of Trump.

“My material keeps changing,” he continues, “because the guy changes every day on a whim. No Trump joke has any shelf life at all. It’s good for three hours – then it’s out the window. Jokes about the wall, for instance, are so last year. But at least it keeps you on your toes.”

The second half of Hoedown is a riotous tribute to the delights of Americana. With his accomplished band, the comedian performs ten to 12 songs, many of which he improvises, using material he has gleaned from the audience in the first half.

“The people in the front row realise that they will be targets,” he adds, “but they will also be serenaded. I like to find a couple who have been married for a long time and write a song about how they first met.”

Although Rich admits he messes up sometimes.

He says: “But that can be funnier than when you nail it. It’s very disposable material. It’s funny in the moment, but you can’t do it tomorrow.”

What makes Rich’s music so compelling is that he performs traditional, American country and western songs with a distinctly British tinge.

“I can write a song about any car now,” he says. “It’s much better if it’s a terrible car. It’s funny to romanticise in a Springsteen-esque way a rubbish car that doesn’t deserve it.”

One of Rich’s most memorable songs is called Eritrean Trucking Buddy.

“It’s about the habits of British truck drivers,” he explains. “In America, a song about truck driving would be very romantic and all about women in halter tops hitchhiking. But in Britain, it’s far less romantic. The drivers have to get out and look underneath their truck for human cargo. This song is about a British driver who finds a refugee from Eritrea under his truck and gives him a lift. It works quite well – unless you’re from Croydon. It doesn’t show Croydon in a good light.”

l Rich Hall’s Hoedown is at the Mercury Theatre on Wednesday at 7.30pm. Tickets are available from 01206 573948.