Count Arthur Strong, York Barbican, Saturday, March 7

Steve Delaney’s old duffer is riding along on a crest of a wave at the moment, touring on the back of his successful BBC sitcom. This was the second series and critics are calling it Count Arthur’s breakthrough moment.

Which is only partly true. Steve created his blissfully pompous and deluded out-of-work thespian in the 1980s, while at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London, performing him at the end-of-term show.

But it wasn’t until 1997 that the character was resurrected for a number of Edinburgh Festivals and later on BBC Radio 4, where it won the 2009 Sony Gold Comedy Award.

Arthur’s appeal is complex. Intensely funny, with self-assured lack of logic and irascibility, mixed with an innate sense of pathos. Something Steve says he always looks for in comedy.

“I think the notion that you can make people laugh and cry, glib as it sounds, is a really interesting thing. Hancock and Steptoe and Son are great examples. It used to be the way things were done, but some people seem to baulk at it these days. I don’t know why.”

Arthur comes from a time when old men were allowed to behave badly. So badly that it is almost excruciating to watch.

“So it should be, that’s what interests me. My approach to doing Arthur was in no way intellectual. I had countless jobs, like working in Leeds market, where I met a lot of bonkers old blokes. There are elements of all those real people in Arthur.”

Steve says he didn’t intend to create a comedy character, it was just an idea for that tiny sketch at drama school. Then it just sort of grew the more he performed it. “I’m interested in things happening organically. Often, experienced producers said you have to map Arthur’s life out and put it all down on paper, but I resisted. I think my instincts not to do that were right.”

Until recently, Count Arthur remained a cult figure. Then in 2013 the decision was made to put him on the telly. “I love working in all three mediums and I’m very fortunate that I can do live, radio and television,” says Steve. “The core of the character remains the same, but there are technical differences.

“On stage, Arthur has to be more animated and larger than life. You have to project in a big theatre, which is very different to television where you can speak more quietly and do small things.

“It’s a natural difference, though, not a let’s make him different for the theatre going audience.”

• Count Arthur Strong, York Barbican, Saturday, March 7 at 8pm. The show is almost sold out, remaining tickets are £17.50. Tel: 0844 8542757 or visit yorkbarbican.co.uk

Five minutes in the company of Count Arthur Strong

What do you consider your greatest achievements as a variety star?

“Still being here plying my trade and meeting the Queen Mother. I stood on her foot actually at a Variety Club of Great Britain do. Oh how we laughed! She had a lovely laugh. It was like…Hahahahahaha..haha. That doesn’t really work very well in print but I do a wonderful impression of it.”

You must have worked with all the greats, what are your fondest memories?

“I do remember slapping Des O’Connor across the face and telling him to pull himself together just before he went on at the Bradford Alhambra. I have very fond memories of doing that. I think it was Des O’Connor. Was he one of the three Ronnies?”

You don’t suffer fools gladly. What annoys you most about people?

“Nothing annoys me about people… apart from young men wearing their trousers halfway down their behinds and elderly people sucking mints behind me on the bus after you’ve told them politely to shut up doing it. I’m known for my high tolerance levels.”

You starred in some very big TV series such as Juliet Bravo, which TV shows do you enjoy today and which do you not?

“Wheeler Dealers is a favourite of mine and Bargain Hunt I like very much, although I do think I should be hosting it. Duck Dynasty I don’t understand at all. I watched one and there wasn’t a single duck in it and all the people looked the same with big stupid beards. Apart from the women.”

What can we look forward to in Somebody Up There Licks Me?

“Well I can’t give too much away because it would spoil it. Rest assured it’ll be the best £2.99, or however much the tickets are, you ever spent in your life. People are saying it’s literally ‘beyond belief’. Which is lovely to hear.”

We don’t hear you sing anywhere near enough. Will there be some musical numbers in the show?

“Yes there will be a couple of songs in the show. I have been blessed with a natural bass baritone like Robert Mitchum the Hollywood star had and it would be churlish of me not to share that with my adoring public.”