THE inexhaustible Rhod Gilbert will let off steam at Harrogate Royal Hall on April 15 next year in his latest touring show, Rhod Gilbert And The Cat That Looked Like Nicholas Lyndhurst.

Last year, the firebrand Welsh comedian punched a shop assistant over the duvet tog-rating system and went berserk over a mince pie; he was even advised by doctors that he should take a course in anger control.

Stung by accusations that he overreacts, Rhod has set out to discover the truth. Is he, as he believes, a visionary in a sea of closed minds; or has he, as everyone else believes, got anger-management problems? Tickets cost £16.50 on 0845 130 8840.

Meanwhile, you can relive Gilbert’s earlier temper tantrums in his debut DVD, Rhod Gilbert And The Award-Winning Mince Pie (4DVD).

Haunted by critics describing him as a “serial fantasist of ex-prime ministerial proportions” since his debut show Rhod Gilbert’s 1984, he decided to abandon his fictional tales of Llanbobl and try living in the real world with alarming consequences… well, alarming for those who came within range.

Rhod’s unfortunate mince-pie experience starts at the Knutsford service station at around 2.40am, where he finds himself aggressively demanding to know more about an “award-winning mince pie” on solitary display in the corner. Suddenly aware of what he is doing, Rhod is forced to acknowledge that he may be having a very mild nervous breakdown. And he doesn’t even like mince pies.

Filmed earlier this year over two splenetic nights at the Bloomsbury Theatre in London, this DVD tells the slightly ridiculous story of how one mince pie broke the camel’s back.

Since winning the York Comedy Festival’s National Talent Hunt in 2003, Gilbert had favoured fanciful escapism, but Mince Pie has him seeking a more desperate escape from reality at 40 as he fulminates against counter staff and his sexually demanding ex-girlfriend.

The DVD comes with a glut of Gilbert extras, notably a feature on Llanbobl, his beloved fictional Welsh town, plus his Luggage Rant, a You Tube favourite.