Jack Dee has said he jumped at the chance to get back on the road.

The comedian is back touring after a six-year hiatus.

During the break he worked on Lead Balloon, a sitcom which he wrote and starred in as a grumpy comedian.

Jack, 51, said: "As much as I really enjoyed making Lead Balloon, it was an incredibly intense process, an awful lot of writing and rewriting and filming and editing.

"By the end of that process I was actually quite keen to get back to something more immediate and rediscover the freedoms of doing stand-up, which is great fun."

He said of touring again: "You realise you're described in programmes as 'veteran of the circuit'.

"I never thought of myself as a veteran. God! But it's something you try to use to your advantage and turn it into something funny."

The comedian also has a new TV show, Don't Sit In The Front Row, in which the likes of Frank Skinner, Josh Widdecombe, Phill Jupitus and Sue Perkins compete for laughs by interrogating four willing front-rowers.

:: Don't Sit In The Front Row begins on Sky Atlantic on Monday, October 29. Jack Dee's Live Stand-Up Collection 2012 is out on DVD on November 19.