CHATTY man Alan Carr will be yap, yap,yapping for more than 120 shows on his first stand-up tour in three years, only one of them in York, where his July 11 gig has sold out already.

This Barbican show by the son of former York City player Graham Carr will be book-ended by Yorkshire dates at the Scarborough Spa on July 10 and Leeds Grand Theatre on July 12, preceded by an earlier Leeds Grand night on June 28. A third Leeds gig is booked for September 6 and Hull City Hall awaits on November 14 and 15.

“I love live comedy,” says Carr, the host of 13 series of Channel 4's Chatty Man, who incidentally celebrates his 39th birthday on Sunday. “Sometimes the politics of doing the chat show and booking guests can be frustrating, and occasionally you’ll have a dud guest with nothing to say, but when it’s just you on stage with a mic in front of lots of people who have come specifically to see you, it’s fantastic.

"You’re the boss. I get such a buzz on stage. It’s a complete adrenalin rush. When you dream up new material and think, ‘Great, I can add that to the set,’ it’s a wonderful feeling. If it works, a new joke always brings a smile to my face. It’s such a thrill.”

The hiatus since Carr's last tour show, Spexy Beast, has led to a stampede for tickets. “Some venues have sold out within five minutes. People have apparently been sleeping outside to get tickets. Oh please, stop it. That’s sweet, but unnecessary," he says.

“I always leave it three years between tours. I don’t know how Jimmy Carr does it, touring all the time. But I’m lucky enough to have the chat show to keep me busy in between. And it means that if I haven’t been touring for three years, it’s more of an event when I do.”

The response of his fans has delighted Carr. "A lot of them want to mother me. I’ve got one of those faces that makes women want to put me on their chest and stroke my hair. Blokes do the same – they always want to nestle me on their chests," he says.

The world of Twitter, however, does not fill him with such warmth. "It can be a nasty, spiteful place; it makes you think the British public are awful, but Twitter isn’t real," he says. "It encourages a certain type of person. The real British public are lovely. People are really warm; they feel they know me, and they’re always bringing me presents."

His rapport with his fans has prompted Carr to eschew the arena circuit in favour of theatres and halls for the Yap, Yap, Yap! tour. “I could have played arenas and done the tour within a month, but in those big places you can’t talk to the audience," he says. "If you mention the jumper of someone in the front row, 11,999 other people say, ‘What’s he on about?’ “With arena shows, the material doesn’t evolve. You don’t want to take the gamble of trying out new stuff in front of 12,000 people. And if you lose the room at an arena, you can’t get it back because it’s so big. Putting a show on in a theatre, everyone there feels they've had a unique night that won’t happen anywhere else.”

Carr describes his 2015 live show as "very personal". "It’s a gamble including so much personal stuff, but it pays dividends. The more personal stuff you put in, the more people go ‘Aaah’," he says. "The audience can smell if you start lying in your act. There's an honesty in this show that people will appreciate.”

Among the personal stuff will be Carr's thoughts on "co-habiting and how it affects you". "I talk about my partner. The show is about my life, so he has to be in it. I didn’t want to start lying and saying I still live on my own in Stretford," he says. "My partner doesn’t necessarily like being part of the show, but I said to him, ‘Look, it’s paying the bills. See those shoes you’re wearing? Comedy bought them, so stop moaning'. The show is about manning up.”

One last question is burning away: why has Carr called the tour show Yap, Yap, Yap!? "Because there’s a lot of waffle out there; with blogs and Twitter, everyone has an opinion nowadays," he says. "I can’t believe I’ll be waffling on stage for two hours. I’m adding to it. It’s my own fault."

Alan Carr plays York Barbican on July 11 at 8pm; sold out.

Did you know?

Alan Carr will record his September 25 gig at Hammersmith Apollo for DVD release in the autumn.