Comedian Tom Wrigglesworth found old tapes which suggest he is a chip off the grandfatherly block, as he tells CHARLES HUTCHINSONTHROUGHOUT his childhood, Tom Wrigglesworth and his grandfather would record themselves interviewing each other.

The tapes of these early conversations were stored in a “weird box” for years. On rediscovering them, Yorkshire comedian Tom came to understand the influence his maternal grandfather, Cecil Bradley, had on his life.

In turn, this has led to his exploration of the fantasy of being able to make “one final interview” in his latest live show, Utterly At Odds With The Universe.

Broken in at the Edinburgh Fringe last summer, the show is now on tour, playing York, Hull, Leeds, Helmsley and Selby over the next six weeks.

“After my grandad died, my granny moved from her house into the basement of my parents’ house and we found these TDK tapes of my grandfather and me when I was six or seven,” says Tom.

“Though they weren’t poignant at the time we recorded them, I look back and realise that the person I am now is very much influenced by him, and so the show is about me wondering about what sort of legacy and philosophies I will be passing down.”

Utterly At Odds With The Universe turns into an emotional ride for Tom and his audience alike as he travels from childhood to adulthood with his gift for twisted logic and whimsical storytelling.

“A lot of people cry at the end,” he warns. “And it’s tiring for me to do too. When I did it in Edinburgh, I ended up needing to sleep for a week.

“But if you go to something that makes you laugh and cry, that’s surely the perfect night. It’s only a short sideways step from laughter to tears.”

Tom doesn’t wish to give too much away about the show’s content, but says: “What I felt, listening to those tapes, was this realisation that my grandad had such a massive effect on me. I’m 37 now, and he must have been about 60 when he did those interviews; if I were to do a tape now with a nephew, it would sound remarkably similar. I sound just like him.

“For example, I can’t buy anything new until I’ve tried to mend the old one, which of course was born out of my grandad having to do that, whereas now in our consumer society, we’re encouraged just to throw things away. I always have the back off something – and I darn my socks.”

Tom admits to making use of discarded goods. “To be honest with you, I’ve found things; I wouldn’t call it rummaging, but I live in a block of flats with a bin area by the car park, and I spotted this coffee machine. I thought, ‘I bet it’s not really knackered’, so I cleaned it up. Inadvertently I was like Steptoe And Son, because I couldn’t stand the idea that it would become land-fill.”

Tom admits there might be a link between his behaviour and his show’s subject matter. “I wouldn’t disagree with the thinking that there’s a connection between my love of repairing things and going through old things to make sense of what’s happening now,” he says. “I just like old people; they’re always worth listening to.”

He notes how attitudes to photographs – and their significance – have changed too in our disposable age. “Perversely, there are more photos being taken every year than ever before, but even though we’re recording more, we’re actually capturing less,” says Tom.

The show takes its title from how grandad Cecil challenged life head on and saw similarities in his grandson. “He was a really little fellow but loved boxing, and he used to try things that he’d never get anywhere with,” says Tom.

“It was something that he used to say to me, that he felt I was utterly at odds with the universe, so I’ve held it in mind for a few years as a potential title.”

In addition to his grandad inspiring his third national touring show, Tom has drawn on his family for his BBC Radio 4 series, Tom Wrigglesworth’s Hang-ups, in which he conducts imaginary phone conversations with sundry family members.

He has been commissioned to write a second series after the success of last year’s programmes, along with a one-off special of Utterly At Odds With The Universe.

Tom, one of five children in a hectic house, recalls the contrast between his parents and his grandmother. “When my granny moved from her house into the basement, she tried to replicate her own home as much as possible.

“Whenever I went home, I’d find it calm downstairs in her basement, but my parents were in a quite high octane panic; everything was done at breakneck speed and they’d find themselves running around and constantly changing things,” he says.

“It would take a very good therapist to work out why it’s like this, but it’s carnage. Craziness with my parents but this peaceful oasis in my grandma’s, so I wrote the radio series of imaginary phone calls based around chaos versus calm.”

Now hear Tom make sense of family, life and the universe as the odd one out in the weeks ahead.

• Tom Wrigglesworth presents Utterly At Odds With The Universe at Hyena Lounge Comedy Club, The Basement, City Screen, York, February 17; Fruit, Hull, February 18; Warehouse, Leeds, February 19; Selby Town Hall, March 14; Helmsley Arts Centre, March 22. Box office: York, 0871 902 5726; Hull, 01482 221 113; Selby, 01757 708449; Helmsley, 01439 771700.