PAUL Chowdhry is full of questions as he hacks his way through the jungle of political correctness.

PC may be his initials, but the relentless world wherein this British-Asian Londoner lives definitely isn't. "Why do some people find humorous what others consider highly offensive?" he ponders. "Why has tackling the preconceptions of political correctness become so contentious?"

Paul addresses this subject in PC's World, his hit show that sold out at last summer's Edinburgh Fringe and keeps having its tour extended. Next stop, the Great Yorkshire Fringe in York on Wednesday, where the host of Channel 4's Stand Up For The Week plays the White Rose Rotunda tent on Tykes Green at 7.30pm.

The show also addresses such diverse subjects as the art of attracting women, jokes cut from his television appearances, non-existent customer services and the now unforgettable 1980s, as well as that old favourite, xenophobia.

While on the subject of stereotypes, perceptions and prejudices, on the eve of the Great Yorkshire Fringe opening, what does Paul reckon to Yorkshire humour? "Yeah, the thing about people in Yorkshire is they think they're funnier than the person on stage, so you've got to write funnier jokes than them, and hopefully my stuff is funnier than the stuff they've prepared to shout out."

Paul's PC World is a show with momentum. "I did Edinburgh last summer with a one-hour version and it's now grown to double the length of that show," he says.

How come? "I've just added more pauses," he says. "No, obviously topical situations change, news stories change, and that changes the show." No doubt it will keep changing before Paul records three nights at the Apollo in Hammersmith in September for a DVD release in time for the Christmas market. "If you have a kid you don't like, give them my DVD. They'll never run away after that," he says.

What does not change is the persistent spread of political correctness. "We live in this PC world, where everyone censors themselves, wherever they are, which is a very bad thing," says Paul. "Everyone adapts to their social environment, so you might talk differently down the pub to how you talk to your parents.

"But this left-wing agenda of saying 'you can't say that' goes against what they should be supporting: I think you shouldn't be censored, as you know where you are with people's views with freedom of speech."

Comedians, by the nature of their public profile and their satirist role, can push the boundaries of what they say. "You can go for more, because you're going for the laugh, and you can break down more barriers as a politician than a politician can, though I'm not saying we can change the world," says Paul.

"You say the positive and the negative as a comedian, though you have people saying you can't joke about this or you can't joke about that, but everything has a joke within in it."

In the face of political correctness, outspoken views are "going to go underground", suggests Paul, "but if someone is extremist, I'd rather hear their extremism than have them turn up with a rucksack". "Though today the real extremist would never put their views online," he says.

Now 40, Paul was born in Edgware, "a very gangster area of North London" in 1974. "At the time, racism and homophobia and sexism were considered fine when I was growing up," he recalls. "We still come up against the same prejudices, racism, sexism and homophobia, but what happens when you block it is that will come out in another way.

 

York Press:

Paul Chowdhry: "I have to be the gatekeeper when it gets to boiling point"

"So I think it's pretty healthy that we now have the debate, so we know each other's viewpoint, and if we didn't know what UKIP's views were, it would be worse, even though it's worrying that four million people voted for them in May.

"The reason that so many people did that was that they knew what UKIP stood for and it was pretty black and white, whereas with a lot of Labour and Conservative policies they didn't feel they knew where they were going."

Paul believes more debate all round would be healthy. "That can happen, as the PC's World tour has shown," he says. "It becomes a very interesting show where I have to be the gatekeeper when it gets to boiling point, but I mustn't let it boil over. That can only be done live, when the debate can only be felt in that room, as stand-up is always about being in the room at that moment."

Chowdhry's tour has grown from 27 dates to almost 100, putting him third behind Michael McIntytre and Kevin Bridges on the list of most gigs over the past year, he says. "I'm all about the live act, the live forum; nothing is like live comedy. You can't 'feel' a comic unless you've seen him live," he says.

"I've had more praise and encore calls for this show than I've ever had and I think that's because audiences are understanding the show more than the reviewers. Freedom of speech really should mean freedom of speech."

Paul Chowdhry in PC's World, White Rose Rotunda, Parliament Street, York, Wednesday, 7.30pm. Box office: 01904 500600 or greatyorkshirefringe.com