Comedy

The result is ‘a right old ding-dong’ between Gilbert, St Peter and the Almighty. There’s no happy ending. ‘I suppose Welsh humour tends to be a bit dark,’ Gilbert suggests. ‘It comes from the grim reality of life in Wales. I am buying a property in the land of my fathers in the forthcoming months. I expect to get huge amounts of material from the inevitable distress that living there causes me.’

Why is it, though, that there are relatively few Welsh comedians compared with those from other Celtic nations? Gilbert responds by citing examples like Max Boyce or, more recently, Rob Brydon, Steve Williams, Chris Corcoran and Bennett Arron. ‘You see, there are four or five of them. And newcomers like Wes Packer and Lloyd Langford are going to be huge. Lloyd is doing some important work about dogs which eat people’s faces off. That’s a brave routine from someone whose own jaw was mauled by a rottweiler.’ Feature continues

Suddenly there’s a visionary gleam in Gilbert’s eyes. ‘If we lag behind the rest of the Western world, there’s a growing comedy industry in Wales, championed by the wonderful Glee Club in Cardiff. Did you know that, officially, we now have more comedy clubs than Lyme Regis? In 20 years, we hope to double the number. The future looks good. The aim is to be as funny as the Scots by 2010 and then to overhaul the Irish by 2050.’

‘Knocking On Heaven’s Door’ is at the Soho Theatre from October 26 to 28. Bookings: 0870 429 6883.