MILTON Jones has until September 30 to work out what his comedy adds up to in that night's show at York Barbican.

"People have said to me, 'On one level it’s quite clever, and on another level it’s not clever at all;" says the 52-year old comic from Kew, London. "I think that’s a compliment. I’m not sure. You could take it either way."

In his new show, Milton Jones Is Out There, the wild-haired, Hawaiian-shirted matador of the one-liner will be questioning the importance of his punning material in these increasingly divided times. Do not, however, expect an end to the puns and daftness in a show where he will talk of "running for prime minister" and having a "manifesto of nonsense".

"As well as me doing loads of trademark jokes and little sketchy pieces, the show sees me thinking: with all that’s going on in the world, maybe I should be doing something more serious rather than talking nonsense?" says Milton. "I seem to have a crisis of confidence in terms of: is nonsense of any value? And of course that results in more nonsense, rather than less."

Firstly, it is difficult to mould a show into having a message and a narrative via a heap of one-liners. "I end up with a massive bag of jokes which probably don't fit, which is really annoying," says Milton.

Secondly, the show is "not really" very political in terms of opinions or content. "It's all fairly jokey. There is one pseudo-political joke, which is as near as I get," he says. "With my stuff, people remember the joke rather than the point. Though my aim with the tour is to add in a couple of moments of pathos, really questioning whether I’m on the right track."

York Press:

"It’s about getting the joke down to the lowest form of words, the minimal effort," says Milton Jones

If Milton Jones were starting out again, he would give his stage persona a name, as opposed to using his own, he reveals. "He evolved as I tried out things; he was working, so I stuck with it. But there are levels to him. I can pull things back and talk about my real life," he says, before assessing the differences between Jones on stage and off.

"I think most comics are accentuated versions of themselves, to some degree. I am, apparently, quite clumsy and I don’t approach things particularly rationally," he says. "I quite often see the other side of things. The differences are, hopefully, I’m not socially obtuse! I’m quite conventional; I’m married, I have three kids, a house. So [the stage persona] is almost an escapism from normality. I don’t have to be responsible. I don’t have to pay car tax."

The on-stage Milton, with his alarmed hair and alarming shirts, has carved out a distinctive look. "I didn’t set out to do it, but it’s been useful 'branding'," he says. "If you don’t remember the name you go, 'Oh that guy with the shirts and the hair'. Originally the whole idea was it was a signpost to say where I was coming from: it was left-field," he says.

The shirts, as much as the one-liners, have become Milton's signature motif on the BBC's Mock The Week, the panel show that provided the inspiration for the new tour through one of his jokes. "It was one about Boris Johnson: 'An idiot with stupid hair running the country?'. Bing! That’s where it started. I feel like I’m destined to play Boris Johnson at some point," he says.

In the meantime, he has a show to prepare, one-liners to spin, rather than a country to run. So, Milton, is there a particular formula to a Milton Jones joke?

"I was never good at maths, but there is a mathematics to it," he says. "It’s like balancing equations. There’s an ideal format, and yes, it can work the other way round, but it’s not quite as elegant. It’s about getting the joke down to the lowest form of words, the minimal effort. That’s what really adds beauty to it."

It looks like Milton Jones has worked out precisely what his comedy adds up to well in advance of his autumn tour after all.

Milton Jones Is Out There visits York Barbican, September 30; Harrogate Theatre, October 22; Leeds Town Hall, November 17; Hull City Hall, December 1. Box office: York, 0844 854 2757 or at yorkbarbican.co.uk; Harrogate, 01423 502116 or harrogatetheatre.co.uk; Leeds, 0113 376 0318 or leeds.gov.uk/townhall; Hull, 01482 300300 or hulltheatres.co.uk