A powerful stage presence, Gough can quickly fire a room with energy, which makes him especially useful as a compere.

Material-wise, he's solid, if unspectacular, with the strongest gags directed at his own stature and demeanour - especially how his burly look doesn't match his friendly matter. The wit isn't always so sharp when it comes to other topics, however.

But his USP is the STD - he can, and does, reel off the dialling code for any UK city suggested by the audience, a throwback to his former job as a director enquiries operator.

On stage, he may moan about being pigeonholed as the 'phone code guy' - but it is this that makes him so much more distinctive than his fairly workaday material.