ONCE he was the drummer in a heavy-metal band; now Aussie Steve Hughes drums home his caustic anti-establishment views on the stand-up circuit.

And he is doing it, in the words of his latest show title, “while it’s still legal”, as can be enjoyed on Sunday and Monday at City Screen’s Basement bar in York.

“Of course, it depends on what stand-up you do, and the attitude towards what’s ‘legal’ varies from country to country and comedian to comedian,” says Steve, who is making his annual trip to the Hyena Lounge Comedy Club on the back of sell-out shows at the Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and New Zealand Comedy Festivals.

“If you’re doing comedy with any social critique in it, then the thought arises of the possibility of comedy thought police where nobody is allowed to be upset. But going back to our childhood days, what I say is, sticks and stones won’t break my bones’.”Steve reckons comedians have a licence to speak their mind.

“It’s there for the taking; if you’re a comedian, you can take that opportunity, and stand-up is a great format to do it as you can still make a profound point and be biting, and as Oscar Wilde said, ‘If you want to tell the truth, make them laugh, or they will kill you’.”

Steve does not, however, believe that stand-up comedy will change the world. “When people say they want to change the world, I think, ‘Really? To what?’. Ultimately, to change the world is to change yourself,” he says.

Without pausing, Steve suddenly starts talking of a world that will become “just basically a huge shop”. “That’s another reason why congestion charges exist; they’re being used to destroy small businesses. Where are the big businesses? They’re all out of town.

“So in fact all these things that are supposedly designed for our protection can be used instead for the centralisation of power.”

The cynic in Steve Hughes finds him dismissing the notion of the best protest vote being not to vote. “If you said, ‘No one should vote’, I believe someone would still be in power, because if they won’t let you open a window in a hotel room as it’s ‘too dangerous’, they’re not going to let you decide on how to run the country.”

Steve notes how his latest tour is “selling quite well” without the aid of television exposure. “A few years ago, people might have thought I was a conspiracy nut, but they’re listening now,” he says. “Just like whether you believe in David Icke’s ideas, he went from playing to 16 people in a town hall to playing to thousands in an arena.”

David Icke? He of the turquoise shell suits and a cornucopia conspiracy theories? “I don’t think everything he says is ridiculous, but being open-minded doesn’t mean you believe in something. Mind you, the more rubbish there is on TV, the more it’s helping me.”

• Steve Hughes, While It’s Still Legal, Hyena Lounge Comedy Club, City Screen Basement, York, Sunday, 8pm, sold out; Monday, 8pm, tickets still available at hyenalounge.com and on the door from 7pm.