THEATR Clwyd's Comedy Club returns in June with four more of stand-up's rising stars appearing at the monthly event in association with new sponsor, The Celtic Arms, in Northop.

Headlining the night on Tueasday, June 4 is Nick Page, a former TV presenter turned stand-up comedian, who used to host BBC show, Escape to the Country. Nick, 48, endeared himself to millions last year when he appeared as a contestant on ITV's Britain's Got Talent, and has also won English Comedian of the Year in 2017. But he is far from an overnight success

"I've been to Theatr Clwyd a couple of times before and it's a great venue and always has a good crowd," says Nick. "I've been pretty busy for 17 years now and if you go to watch comedians on the comedy circuit you'll know that probably every comedian who's been on Britain's Got Talent has been on the circuit for at least 10 years and got various amounts of backlash on social media because of it."

Nick got through to the semi-finals of the famous talent show, but came a cropper when he got the dreaded buzzer from Simon Cowell who claimed 'I didn't get the jokes'.

"It was worth a throw of the dice," says Nick when asked about going on the show. "They'd been trying to get me to do it for about five years, so I finally gave in when another comic did well out of it.

"I did OK and as all these things do it raised my profile and it was a good experience in the main.

"I would do it slightly differently if I was ever to do it again, knowing what I know now about the process and about what they want out of the production."

Nick was an estate agent at one time before fully committing himself to comedy, which led him to present BBC's hit property show Escape to the Country in 2002.

"I wasn't a very good estate agent," he says. "I started doing comedy and I think because I was an estate agent doing comedy I got offered the property show. I just wanted to be a comic so I would always muck about and try and lever jokes into what was supposed to be an aspirational house show. It wasn't a good fit."

Nick's website claims his eventual sacking from the programme was something to do with "an incident involving a Russian call girl and an antique rocking horse" but he won't elaborate or his 2005 conviction for mortgage fraud which led to him completing 200 hours of community service.

"If the right opportunity to go back on TV was there I would jump at it because it's all work," he says. "I've got no desire to be famous though. There's a comic called Adam Bloom who says that doing comedy because you want to be famous is like going to a really nice restaurant because you like having a poo."

Nick's comedy has taken him all over the world and he's played to sell-out crowds at the Edinburgh Festival with his life lived "laughing from disaster to disaster" giving him plenty of material.

"As ever I mostly tell stories about how I continually try to better than I am and fail," he laughs. "I am one of those people who continually cocks up his life and then reports back and people seem to go with that. My main frustrations at the moment are planning permissions and lawnmowers."

That all sounds a bit Escape to the Country.

"I'm terrifyingly middle-class," he agrees. "After this interview I'm going to go out to harvest honey from my beehives. I'll bring a jar for you."

Over the past few years Nick has been performing for British troops in Afghanistan and he continues to be a huge supporter of the armed forces, with his gigs taking him to the Falklands, Poland, Estonia and Cyprus. He was even awarded the Operational Service Medal for his work in Afghanistan after completing seven tours of the country and becoming the last comic to play Camp Bastion.

"I've been very busy in this country but I am off to some undisclosed desert locations later in the year," he says. "They look after us very well but sometimes people do shoot at us. They don't seem too concerned by it and I've still felt safer in Afghanistan than I ever have in Watford. Whenever I'm gigging there it feels far more threatening than being in an armoured car.

"They're an amazing audience and we actually feel like we're doing some good when we perform out there - it feels like you're putting something back because they're always a great audience despite being in a difficult position and it's always an honour to be asked."

With plenty more gigs booked for 2019 and more forays into writing for other comedians, Nick is keeping busy, which means plenty more miles on the nation's motorways.

"More writing means less driving," he adds. "Every jobbing comic is doing 800-1,000 miles a week and I know every service station in the country. Gloucester South is the best one although it's slightly better southbound."

Comedy Club can be seen at Theatr Clwyd (Clwyd Room) on Tuesday June 4 at 8pm. Tickets, priced £10 are available from the box office on 01352 701521 or at

www.theatrclwyd.com

. This show may contain some strong language and themes of an adult nature.