THAT Rob Deering is a musical comedian comes as no surprise to anyone but himself, it would seem.

Having played in a number of bands, and being a self confessed “show-off”, he combined them in what is now a successful stand-up career, which brings him to The Theatre in Chipping Norton tomorrow at the Cotswold Comedy Club.

So what took him so long?

“I never considered it until I was quite old, and then it was like an epiphany,” said the 41-year-old, who was educated at Lord Williams’s School in Thame.

“I suppose I was waiting to grow out of my clown phase, because it’s ridiculous how alike my comedian persona is to myself.

“Performance and showing off have always come first. Give me a crowd and I’ll perform.”

And yet he still fought the ‘musical comedy’ label.

“Absolutely, I was infected by the snobbery of musical comedy and I did avoid it,” he said.

“I thought I could take it or leave it until I realised I am the comedian that I am, and my failure to get a band together and find global fame is the ultimate truth about me and is reflected in my act, although it was all good practice for what I do now.

“Actually I think it was karmic retribution really, because we spent far too much time sitting around and discussing band names, like Wax Lyrical, The Jemimah Stepdads, The Glass Needle and Galar – and talking about how famous we would be.

“But I also questioned how much fun I could have on my own.”

Eventually Rob realised resistance was futile, picked up his guitar, and went for it, carving out a nice little niche for himself in the world of comedy and becoming a household name in the process.

He added: “And now it suits me down to the ground. I fought against being a one-man band for a long time but I’ve now accepted that’s what I’ve become and I’m loving it.”

And Rob’s family have got used to him being out on the road, although he found being away from home hard when his children were little.

He said: “They are reconciled to my life on tour now. If my wife was here she would be nodding her head and saying I need to go off and do gigs, otherwise I become tiresome.

“More and more often my family want to come too, so they will be accompanying me to Chipping Norton.”

  • Tomorrow's Cotswold Comedy Club show, featuring Rob Deering, starts at The Theatre, in Spring Street, Chipping Norton, at 7.45pm. For tickets, priced £12, see chippingnortontheatre.co.uk or call the box office on 01608 642350.