In the year of Eighteen Hundred And Frozen To Ecky Thump, two worlds collide in The Chuckle Brothers’ new live show, A Christmas Chuckle, at the Grand Opera House, York. The oh-so-mean Ebenezer Sneezer (Paul Chuckle) and his kind-hearted sibling Bob Scratchit (Barry Chuckle) are visited by the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future, who duly turn their whole world upside down…

This looks to be good timing for your variation on Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, what with that new Jim Carrey film being released this autumn, Barry?

“When we decided to do this show we didn’t realise the film was coming out, so it’s been quite useful.”

When do you start working on a new show?

“We know what we’re doing with the scenery and props about six months in advance, though with the script we don’t do anything until about two months before, sometimes even later. We only rehearse for a week and get the show on in a week.”

How will A Christmas Chuckle differ from your past live shows?

“The whole script is different from what we’ve done before because there are so many ghosts… and they are massive ghosts, nearly the size of the stage, done for us by QDOS in Scarborough.”

What makes the Chuckle Brothers such a distinctive double act?

“I think it’s probably because we’re not the traditional straight man/funny turn. Paul started out as the straight man with me doing the comic stuff, but Paul’s role has changed. It was something he was keen to do as off stage he was always coming out with the gags and I’m the quiet one, and yet it was completely the opposite on stage.

“But since we’ve been on telly, we’ve developed Paul’s character more, playing on him thinking he’s always right when he’s always wrong.”

What will the Chuckle Brothers be doing next? Maybe a pantomime?

“No, we’re doing this instead of panto, and as the tour finishes on December 22, we can have Christmas off, and then we start a new show in February, An Audience With…

“We thought we’d do that as so far we’ve always done shows on a theme, but now we can do sketches from the past, show clips from past DVDS and have questions and answers in the second half.”

• The Chuckle Brothers in A Christmas Chuckle, Grand Opera House, York, Tuesday, 4.15pm and 7.15pm. Tickets update: still available for both shows at £16 on 0844 847 2322 or grandoperahouseyork.org