Russell Kane has signed a book deal for his first novel – about a comedy critic who ‘lacks any kind of human empathy’.

The book, The Humourist, will be published in April after Simon & Schuster acquired world rights to the title from Kane’s agents, Avalon Management.

The Humorist revolves around Benjamin White, a reviewer ‘blessed with an extraordinary gift – to understand humour at its deepest level’, yet unable to laugh or smile.

Kane said: ‘I love my comedy, but writing has always come first with me. Indeed, the writing of all my comedy is my favourite part of that process.

‘As for the novel - getting inside the soul of Benjamin White, an altogether uncomic character, has been a dark, dark pleasure.’

Simon & Schuster’s Maxine Hitchcock added: ‘In The Humorist, Russell Kane explores the ‘sense’ of humour much as Patrick Suskind examined the sense of smell in Perfume, also presenting us with a deeply flawed but utterly compelling hero.

‘Russell Kane brings to his writing the same high standards he achieves with his comedy and the result is a dark, funny, complex and obsessive novel whose publication will launch a brilliant new voice in literature.’

The news comes on the same day as it was announced that Kane – last year’s Edinburgh Comedy Award winner - was to pilot a new comedy showcase for BBC Three.

The Humorist is available to pre-order from Amazon here.