If there’s one thing that he abhors he says it’s mean-mindedness

If there’s one thing that he abhors, he says, it’s mean-mindedness. He holds little truck with comics who put down their audiences. There seems a genuine respect for all the people who get involved in his shows, even the ones who changed their name by deed poll.”I think one bloke just wanted to change his life in some way,”he ponders. “He didn’t like the way things were going and it signified a different attitude to life The others just thought it would be a funny thing to do.

I wouldn’t have gone along with it if I thought they were just trying to get on the telly.”Gorman has only just turned 30 but he already has an impressive comic pedigree. Alongside Craig Cash, Caroline Aherne and Henry Normal, he co-wrote the first three series of The Mrs Merton Show and won Baftas two years running. He has written for Steve Coogan, The Fast Show and The League Against Tedium’s Simon Munnery.He also has a habit of appearing in the most unlikely places. He is currently working on a small part in 24 Hour Party People, Michael Winterbottom’s new film about the rise and fall of Factory Records. He is playing one of the label’s lesser-known acts, John the Postman. But one of the highlights of his career so far, he says, was an appearance on the television game show Call My Bluff.”It was a joyous experience,” he cries. “I’ve been on shows like Never Mind The Buzzcocks and They Think It’s All Over and I’ve left them feeling depressed.

They are competitive in the wrong way – there’s a constant race to be top dog. On Call My Bluff you are trying to win the game but you laugh at each other’s jokes. There’s a professional respect across the table.”Gorman grew up in Stafford. At 18, he moved to Manchester to study maths, and though he never finished the course he still has a fondness for the subject. “I like when you get off the arithmetic and into the philosophy level of maths I like it when it turns out right,” he says. As his show proves, if there is one thing Gorman took from his education, it is the tenacity of seeing something through to the bitter end.It was a couple of college friends who first bullied Gorman into going to a comedy workshop that was touring the country in aid of Amnesty International.”We all got to do our thing than then talk about each other’s work One afternoon, Frank Skinner came down and offered advice.

He said he liked what I’d done and offered me 10 minutes at a benefit gig. Two weeks later I saw him again and he offered me a paid gig in Birmingham. It’s the most blessed start in comedy that you could ever hope for.”His first gig was “a joy”; his second and third weren’t bad either. It was his fourth that was an out-and-out disaster.”I got set up with this gig in Nottingham and the guy who was booking said ‘Look, do you need the money? Because you’re going to die.’ I had the stupidity of youth and I wouldn’t have turned down any gig anywhere. So I went to the gig and the compere says, ‘We’ve got two acts tonight.