CAN a joke or funny story still make you laugh when you have been given the punchline beforehand?

Bolton stand-up, presenter, actor and comedy writer Dave Spikey believes so, and in his new Punchlines show, he will present evidence to support his premise when he resumes a tour that began in the autumn and will conclude at the Grand Opera House, York, on May 7. Earlier shows this spring will include Leeds City Varieties Music Hall on April 2 and Hull City Hall on April 10.

The Punchlines gigs will follow Spikey’s Phoenix Nights Comic Relief appearances with Peter Kay at the Manchester Arena, where he will reprise his Channel 4 character, cabaret turn Jerry St Clair, from January 31 to February 16.

Formerly a biomedical scientist in the haematology laboratory at Bolton General Hospital, Spikey began his comedy journey almost 25 years ago, pounding the club circuit and supporting Jack Dee, Max Boyce, Cannon & Ball and Eddie Izzard all in the space of one week.

In 1996, he met fellow Boltonian Peter Kay, duly forming a formidable partnership and collaborating on numerous projects, such as the Channel 4 series That Peter Kay Thing, winner of the British Comedy Award for Best New TV Comedy in 2000.

Spikey co-wrote and performed in Phoenix Nights, receiving his second British Comedy Award when scooping the People’s Choice Award, and in 2003 he undertook his debut solo tour, Overnight Sensation, whose accompanying DVD garnered him a gold disc.

He wrote and starred in the BBC1 comedy drama Magnolia and ITV1’s Dead Man Weds, became a team captain on Channel 4’s panel show 8 Out Of 10 Cats and presented the Challenge TV revival of the quiz show Bullseye. His first book, He Took My Kidney, Then Broke My Heart, looked at ambiguous newspaper headlines and his autobiography, My Life – Under the Microscope, followed in 2010.

Among his live shows, he toured The Best Medicine in 2008-2009 and Words Don’t Come Easy from 2011 to 2013 and he co-presented The TV Book Club on Channel 4 and More 4 between 2010 and 2012.

Tickets for York are on sale on 0844 871 3024 or at atgtickets.com/york; Leeds, 0113 243 0808 or cityvarieties.co.uk; Hull, 01482 300300 or hullcc.gov.uk/hullcityhall