THINK of a comedian who defines the Great Yorkshire Fringe and it has to be the German Comedy Ambassador Henning Wehn, whose every show at the York festival has sold out.

Wehn returns for the festival's third summer on July 29, when he graduates from the Parliament Street village green tents to play York Barbican, such is his pulling power. "Oh yes, York is always a good place for me to go," he says.

After his last show tackled the British obsession with home ownership and the self-serving nature of most fundraising efforts, this time Wehn will be taking an unbiased look at immigration in Westphalia Is Not An Option. "Actually, Westphalia is an option...like the failure of York City. I was so disappointed they went down again," he says.

Wehn is performing amid all the uncertainty of the Brexit negotiations and the status of foreign nationals. "You have to make sure you come to this year's show or I might not be here next year...I could be performing in the detention centre," he says, deadpan, after living in Britain for 15 years.

Britain has "definitely changed" since he began working on Westphalia Is Not An Option. "When I first wrote the show, I didn't see the Referendum result coming; even though I'd been performing around the country in the build-up, it still came as a surprise," says Henning. "After what's happened, taking an unbiased look at immigration is more necessary now than ever."

How has Britain changed since the Brexit vote, Henning? "You could argue that Brexit has divided society. Now people who were open-minded are bending over backwards to accommodate the Leave views, while those who voted to leave have hardened their views," he says. "It was a binary vote and the decision you made that day, which way you voted, now makes a big difference in the way people define you."

The jury is still out on whether the Referendum vote to leave was a bad decision, suggests Henning, who presented An Immigrant's Guide To Britain on Channel 4. "If immigration is done on a points basis, some people can come in and some can't, and who's to say that this system will change British society for the worse? The jury's out, though I find it hard to think it will make society better when we want a pan-European society," he says.

"The most common thing I hear after my show is that I really made them think, but think what, as I don't provide answers? I see it from both sides. You have to understand that we do live in a global world, and while we need a strong Europe, a united Europe, we don't want social demographies to change."

One further question, says Wehn, is how much has life altered for immigrants living in Britain since the Brexit decision. "As a German, do I get more insults than I did before? I would say no; I've had the odd comment but that's probably the British sense of humour at play."

York Press:

Henning Wehn: "York is always a good place for me to go"

Ah yes, the British sense of humour, the one that insists that all Germans don't have one. "But that's down to the social importance of humour in the UK, where, whatever happens, the gut reaction is find some humour in it, whereas in Germany it would be the philosophers that would respond," says Henning.

He does not perform in his native Germany, instead carving out his comedy career on stage, radio and television in Britain. "I started doing comedy in the UK after initially coming over to do a marketing job," he recalls. "I was appointed marketing manager at Wycombe Wanderers [football club]; before that I'd worked for Bayer Uerdingen...and I wouldn't have any problem going back into that.

"Performing comedy started as a hobby, then a paid hobby, and I had to make the decision whether to go into it full-time: Wycombe Wanderers or comedy?"

Comedy won out, and now Henning Wehn is the "German comedy ambassador". "It's not an artificial character, like a John Shuttleworth or a Count Arthur Strong," he says. "Everything I've done, everything I've said, I ask myself, 'would I find it funny if someone else said it?'."

The goal of any comedian, he suggests, is to always strive to "get better". "From the word go, I've always looked at how every performance went, and if it didn't go well, I have to think why it didn't, so I'll look at it scientifically, but the key thing, in order to not go crazy, is to detach yourself slightly, as your happiness mustn't be determined by how it goes," says Henning.

There will always be fresh comic material for Henning Wehn drawn from real life, like his encounter with a bed-and-breakfast landlady in South Wales. "She was dressed in that traditional attire of trousers and dressing gown, and I asked her for a vegetarian breakfast. 'Oh no,' she said, 'You have to book that a week in advance'," he recalls.

As the outsider observing British ways from the inside, like the German answer to Bill Bryson, Wehn can point out our quirks with impunity. "You note the difference between those who think £3 for a latte is fine and those who think 60p for a cup of tea is too much," he says. How true.

Great Yorkshire Fringe presents Henning Wehn: Westphalia Is Not An Option, York Barbican, July 29, 7.30pm. Box office: greatyorkshirefringe.ticketsolve.com; yorkbarbican.co.uk or 0844 854 2757.

The Great Yorkshire Fringe runs from July 21 to August 6. Visit greatyorkshirefringe.com for full programme and ticket details.