PADDY McGuinness, alias Paddy the Doorman off Phoenix Nights, is taking to the road in the Jumping on the Bandwagon Tour.

On Sunday, Paddy's tour wagon pulls up at the Grand Opera House, York, for a night of quick-fire, stand-up comedy, gags and songs.

In the back will be Phoenix Nights chums Archie Kelly (Kenny Senior), Janice Connolly (Holy Mary) and Steve Edge (Alan from Les Alanos).

Compere Paddy will be introducing them in a variety show billed as "Morecambe & Wise and the Rat Pack on a big night out at the Rover's Return".

"The first tour we did was kind of rushed; where we played was where we could get in, and theatres tend to book up well in advance but we still did about 30 shows," says Paddy. "This time we've had more time to organise the tour."

The show had an impromptu beginning. "We just got together as we were free that weekend and we thought 'Let's do it'. It was just thrown together but it went really well," recalls Paddy.

"We did a couple of nights at the Comedy Store, just as one-off, and on the second night Peter Kay said 'Why not take it on the road?'. So we did, and obviously it's much more polished now."

The success of Phoenix Nights is a strong marketing tool for the Bandwagon tour, and indeed Phoenix Nights has turned Paddy's life on its head.

"When we did Phoenix Nights, we weren't actors. I'd done a couple of stand-up shows, but basically I was a fitness instructor at the time and worked part-time at building sites with my mates to make ends meet."

Stage confidence is all. "I did a couple more gigs when we were doing Phoenix Nights, and at the fourth gig I was playing to 2,000 people, but I found that if you're confident and natural on stage, you will be OK," says Paddy.

He landed the role of doorman Paddy in Phoenix Nights through his schooldays' link with the show's leading light, Peter Kay.

"I used to go to school with Pete at St Joseph's, in Bolton, and we'd loosely kept in touch. I bumped into him in town when he said he was doing this course that included stand-up comedy. He was earning £40 a gig and I thought 'I don't even get that in a week'.

"That would have been about eight years ago, maybe even ten years ago. Anyway, he did a programme called The Services and I had a couple of lines in that, and then there was That Peter Kay Thing, which was the starting point for Phoenix Nights," Paddy says.

"I had to audition. I thought 'Hold on, old school ties', but Pete didn't have much sway at the time, but he pushed and pushed, and I got it after a second audition."

Paddy had no ambitions to be an actor or a stand-up.

"It wasn't until after the second series of Phoenix Nights that Pete said 'Don't you think you should give up your job now?'. I'd always kept the job on because I never expected anything else from the TV work," he says.

"It was just a good experience at the time, and not many people can say they've done two TV series, and I just went back to work... but now I've written a new series with Pete, so I'm doing this full time."

The series in question is Road To Nowhere, a Channel 4 spin-off from Phoenix Nights, featuring the doorman, as played by Paddy and Peter Kay. The six episodes will be screened in November and December.

"We finished filming it three weeks ago, and everyone is really happy with it, Pete's happy with it, and we're editing now," says Paddy. "It's called Road To Nowhere because it's a sort of journey around the country in a camper van... a camper van in a non-gay sense."

The Jumping On The Bandwagon Tour, Grand Opera House, York, Sunday, 7.30pm. Tickets: £13.50; ring 0870 606 3595.

Updated: 15:46 Thursday, September 09, 2004