Reginald D Hunter, The Man Who Attempted To Do As Much As Such, York Barbican, May 9

Before he presents The Man Who Attempted To Do As Much As Such, however, you can see the results of his 2014 travels around the United States in a three-part series on BBC2 that opens on Saturday at 9pm.

Reginald D Hunter’s Songs Of The South takes Reginald on an epic road trip from North Carolina to New Orleans to explore the American South both past and present through 150 years of American popular song.

In part one, Georgia-born Reginald begins in Kentucky and Tennessee, where he looks at the disturbing tradition of blackface minstrelsy and visits Dolly Parton’s Dollywood, a slave plantation in Bardstown; Nashville, the home of country music; a moonshine distillery in Gatlinburg and a string band festival in Mount Airy.

Parts two and three, Alabama – Georgia and Mississippi – Louisiana, will follow over the next two weekends. In the second episode, he encounters the red-neck world of a Lynyryd Skynyrd festival in Alabama, before sampling the racially integrated country soul of Muscle Shoals and visiting Georgia to look at the interconnected nature of gospel, soul and hip hop.

In his third film, Reginald’s journey evokes a classic Huck Finn Mississippi adventure, taking him from Memphis to New Orleans. In Memphis, he meets soul icons Steve Cropper and Eddie Floyd at Stax Records, then heads back in time to the juke joints. His final port of call is post-Katrina New Orleans, where he is given a spectacular musical send-off by Dr John, Irma Thomas, Allen Toussaint and the Soul Rebels.

When interviewing Dr John, the veteran blues musician asked him, “What do you do?”.

“I told him I was a stand-up, and he replied, ‘So you’re a kicks man. It’s a very important job, providing kicks for people’,” recalls Reginald. “Is ‘kicks man’ how I’d describe myself? It is now! I am hereby christened A Man of Kicks.”

The Man of Kicks will be taking to the road from April 29 with his combination of social commentary, provocative thoughts on issues such as race and sexuality and off-the-cuff remarks.

“I love stand-up,” says the 45-year-old comic. “Every time something new works on stage, it’s definitely a great high. It’s really satisfying.” What’s more, stand-up sharpens him up. “It makes me smarter. I spend a lot of time alone in hotels and airports. When you’re locked away, you do a lot of thinking and come back smarter.”

As ever, his new live show will push the boundaries. “I remember as a boy watching Richard Pryor and thinking, ‘That’s brilliant, but don’t stop there. Go further’. Now I try to create the sort of stand-up show I’d like to see and then take it further.”

In the past, such a philosophy has led to accusations of Reginald courting controversy, a charge he dismisses. “I mostly work in front of over-privileged white people, and they’re easily shocked by things they don’t already believe – ‘how dare he espouse that view’,” he says.

“I get a sense of contrived outrage from them. It’s amazing how many people go out of their way to be offended by what you’re saying. There is also a group of people who believe that misrepresenting what you say is a weapon of debate. I hate wilful misconstruction generally, but I’m even less of a fan of it when it’s done to me. There are loads of people, too, who are intellectually vain and want to regurgitate what they’ve just read. It’s not evil, but it’s not for me. “ Reginald still has his provocative moments – his ill-received after-dinner entertainment at the 2013 Professional Footballers’ Association awards ceremony springs to mind – but he believes he is mellowing.

“I’m not as ferociously angry as I was. I’ve now figured out the stuff that was making me angry. For example, political debate doesn’t make me mad any more because I’ve seen through it,” he says.

“It’s bad to be angry. Anger is very powerful, but it’s toxic. It’ll burn you out if you fly on it for too long. All your emotions are your children. If you leave them in the basement, eventually they’re going to grow up and hate you.”

Reginald’s sharpness and candour make him a favourite on the television panel-show circuit, from QI and 8 Out Of 10 Cats to Would I Lie to You? and Never Mind The Buzzcocks.

He has a highly effective technique when in the company of Ian Hislop and Paul Merton on Have I Got News For You.

“I don’t say much on that show! People say to me, ‘I know what you’re doing. I admire your technique. You sit there looking totally uninterested and then you pounce! It’s absolutely brilliant. I’ve never seen such a technique before on a panel show. It’s unprecedented’.”

As he prepares for his April to June tour, Reginald looks forward to playing once more to British audiences, for whom he has a particular affection. “That’s why I’m here,” he says. “Britain is both my real home and my comedy home.

“British audiences like being surprised comedically. The problem with Americans is that they just want you to get to the funny part.

“British people will come up to you afterwards and say, ‘I wasn’t sure about the punchline, but the bits before that were extraordinary’. There should be an organisation called the British Anoraks of Comedy. It’s very nice to get that response.

“In my head, the person I’m writing my shows for is British. If you make it as a comedian in Britain, then you can branch out to the colonies.”

Having lived here for close on 20 years now, Reginald defines the divide across the Big Pond. “Unlike people in the US, Brits won’t say, ‘You’re too deep’ or ‘You think too much’. I’m not a social outcast in Britain because I use words of more than five letters,” he says. “That’s one of the many things I love about Britain.”

• Reginald D Hunter, The Man Who Attempted To Do As Much As Such, York Barbican, May 9, 8pm; Hull City Hall, June 20, 8pm. Box office: York, 0844 854 2757 or yorkbarbican.co.uk; Hull, 01482 300300 or hullcc.gov.uk/hullcityhall