HAILED as a ‘comic urban warrior’, top laughtermeister Simon Munnery makes landfall in West Dorset this week.

A comedian since his college days, he has won fans for his live performances, as well as several well-received forays into radio and television.

He remembers: “When I went to college I joined every club going in the hope of meeting girls and I auditioned for every play that was being performed.

“For one club you had to perform a comedy sketch and if they liked you enough they made you perform it in front of an audience. It went well and I ended up doing more and more. It was great fun and seemed like a good way of making a living – and I still love it.”

Munnery's experimental style is reflected in his on-stage appearance: his unfashionable glasses, homemade clothes (or clothes apparently donated to him by comedian Jeff Green), makeshift props, and dramatic facial hair.

He first appeared in The Dum Show at the Edinburgh Festival alongside Steve Coogan, Patrick Marber, Stewart Lee and Richard Herring.

Later performances have included ITV’s flagship stand-up show Saturday Live, he won a Sony Gold Radio Award for his BBC Radio 1 series Alan Parker’s 29 Minutes Of Truth and was nominated for a British Comedy Award for his BBC2 show London Shouting.

He also shot a pilot TV version of Cluub Zarathustra, entitled Club Z for Channel 4 although this was never broadcast. He built upon this breakthrough success with several vehicles for his League Against Tedium character, including a Radio 1 series in 1997.

More recently he has made a raft of TV and radio appearances including BBC3’s Comic Side Of Seven Days, Radio 4’s Genius, ITV2’s Comedy Cuts and, in 2010, BBC2’s Stewart Lee’s Comedy Vehicle.

This year he will be doing a week-long run at London’s Soho Theatre as part of a 40-date UK tour of Simon’s latest live show, Simon Munnery: Self-Employed, which he brings to Bridport on Saturday.

Despite his broadcasting successes, live work remains his first love.

“Yes, I have done television, but a live audience is an amazing thing, it’s just beautiful,” he said. “If you have control and can get a whole audience laughing it’s a wonderful thing, but even if just one person laughs and no one else does, that is very funny too. And making people laugh is addictive. If you do a show and it goes well, it’s like being a gambler – if you win, you keep on going back.”

Simon Munnery: Self Employed is at Bridport Arts centre in South Street on June 4. Tickets are £12 plus concessions from the box office on 01202 424204.