THERE'S one thing that many people say about stand-up Joe Lycett: he really makes it look easy.

As the Birmingham-born comic goes on tour with the puntastically titled That’s The Way, A-Ha A-Ha, Joe Lycett, audiences across Britain will be able to see his seemingly effortless stage manner and performance style up close.

“When it’s flowing, it feels glorious," he tells Your Entertainment.

"I think it’s all about the work I’ve put into this over the last eight years that allows it to happen and it then becomes about instinct and second nature for what you do next. Being told that it’s being made to look easy is the greatest compliment I could be paid.

"I’ve always wanted to create this persona on stage that people watch and don’t feel as though they’re watching a show; I’m at ease so they’re at ease. I watch a lot of stand-up and much of it is about the comic saying, ‘aren’t I clever?’ Well yeah, you are, but I’m not feeling especially chilled-out in this room and I’m feeling on edge for you; the best stand-ups have this control and take me away to where they want to take me.”

With his new touring show, Joe Lycett will be taking audiences to various different places with his material. He’ll be sharing his recollections of the campaign he launched to get himself on a high spot in Attitude magazine’s Hot 100. It clearly worked, as he made the number ten position in the company of such luminaries as Tom Daley, David Beckham and Zac Efron. “I was 57 last year and they were all a bit ‘who?’ But after a few tweets saying that it would be a travesty if I didn’t win this year, they sent a private message saying ‘are you available on this day to come along?’ Next year, I’ll canvass someone really inappropriate like Vladimir Putin. It’s such a silly event, but that issue of the magazine sells really well and gets people talking.”

Also part of the show is his by-now trademark online campaigns to prank and shame individuals and organisations who have wronged either Lycett or others. In the past he earned some comedy miles with his campaign to have a ridiculous parking fine challenged and in this show, he manages to brilliantly turn the tables on an email spammer. He does admit, though, to taking the foot off the pedal off his own internet usage.

“These days I do less, but I used to run a few fake Facebook accounts and it became too difficult to juggle it all. There are a few people I want to challenge and mess with and I have a skillset now so I know how best to waste people’s time. I emailed the guy I’d had the correspondence with over the parking fine and said ‘consider the case closed, but just to let you know that there’s this comedian with the same name as me who’s talking on 8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown about a very similar situation’. I sent that clip on to him and he said he was looking forward to seeing it. I do like the follow-ups which might turn out to be a routine.”

Having established himself as a fixture on the circuit and with three strong solo shows at the Edinburgh Fringe under his belt, Lycett is also a familiar face on TV for comedy-watchers. As well as 8 Out Of 10 Cats, he’s appeared on Sunday Night At The Palladium, Celebrity Squares, Never Mind The Buzzcocks and Live At The Apollo, while on Comedy Central’s Drunk History, he chatted about Dick Turpin and the Kray Twins with some choice Prosecco and Sambuca running through his veins.

But in the past 12 months, he’s put extra focus on the scripts he performs on stage in order to make his live shows as good as they can possibly be. “This year I’ve found my rhythm with writing. It’s been a long time to find it though; I’ve really struggled in the past. But now I’ve done a month of the show in Edinburgh, I’m really excited about refreshing, adding and honing material for the tour. This is the second time I’ve gone on tour with my own show and I’m excited about it in the same way I was terrified about the first one.”

Joe appears at The Railway on Sunday in a sold out show as part of Winchester Comedy Festival.