Patrick Monahan could possibly be one of the nicest comedians on the circuit.

The comedian, who runs three marathons a year for the charity Zoe’s Place Baby Hospice, of which he is a patron, holds the world record for longest hug (25 hours and 25 minutes) and signs off his tweets with the word ‘hugs’ or some kisses, says if people who come to his gigs are expecting aggressive jokes, they’re probably going to the wrong show.

“Every year I do a brand new stand up show with new material but they always have the same theme. It’s always very uplifting; I think that’s my trademark.

“It’s always stories that have happened to me recently. This year it’s all about when I was younger and our obsession with getting healthy. It’s just a mix really.

 “I talk about everyday life. I'm an observational comedian so I talk about anything. Sometimes I talk about what’s going on in the world or the UK every now and then.

“In Britain we’re lucky to have loads of different types of comedy, like one-liners. I'm more of an observational comedian. I wouldn’t say it’s family friendly but it’s not aggressive humour.”

Being a half Iranian, half Irish comedian who grew up in Teesside, Patrick always has an interesting story to talk about. 

 “I talk about my background and the audience seem to enjoy that. They’re just fascinated by my background.

“If you look at my audiences, it’s so varied, they can be 14 or 15 or 95 years old. It’s nice to know everyone can come along and relax and enjoy the show.

“Some people just want to go and see a controversial comic but that’s not really me or my style. I think some people just want to come to a show and have a laugh and be entertained.”

And if you needed anymore proof that aggression isn’t his style, his 2014 tour featured cake, and lots of it.

“My tour was about my vices. One of my vices is cake and you don’t find many people who don’t like cake. If you put cake in the title they turn up with cake. I must have put on about a stone with that show. People would come up to me with a Victoria sponge or cupcakes during the interval.

“One night someone gave me 25 cupcakes which is great because it shows that I've made a connection with the audience and that they were looking forward to the show. You’ve got to find something that appeals to people and make sure that you make them laugh.”

Despite his soft exterior, he admits that you have to have a thick skin if you’re going to go into comedy.

“With new jokes there’s that danger that it won’t work. You just got to let it fly on stage and see what works and what doesn’t and yes, sometimes people don’t laugh but it keeps you on your toes.

“You’ve got to keep going. If you can’t take the fact that some people aren’t going to laugh then you can’t go on as a stand up comedian. You just can’t make every single person laugh.”

The comedian, who has performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe a staggering ten times, has seen huge success since winning comedy reality show ‘Show Me The Funny’ in 2011. He went on to release his debut DVD Patrick Monahan live, won various comedy awards and appeared on television countless times.

Despite his massive success, which has seen him perform at the Hammersmith Apollo (“that was amazing. I was buzzing. It goes so quickly and it’s only afterwards you think how amazing it was”), Patrick admits he finds performing at smaller clubs and pubs more appealing, which is good news for the audiences at The Potters Arms when he plays a gig there next week.

“Pub venues are brilliant; it’s very different to touring big theatres. Theatres can be easier because the audience are in darkness but with smaller gigs you can see the audience and their reactions.

“You usually find that everyone knows each other which is nice and it makes it feel more intimate. “I'm really looking forward to the show.”

The 38-year-old, who started out on the comedy scene as an opening act in comedy clubs, can’t honestly say he always wanted to do stand up, because he admits he didn’t know it existed.

“I didn’t know stand up was a job, even as a teenager. I knew there was a certain type of comedy where people wore dicky bows and told jokes but I never wanted to do that. Realising I could make a living from telling people about myself only came around when I was in my early twenties.

“It was great that I could tell audiences about my life and get paid to do it.”

Patrick lists one of his favourite comedians, the late Robin Williams as his inspiration.  

“His stuff just doesn’t age. I can still watch videos of it now and it’s like they only just did that show last night, except for their 70s disco shirts.

“It’s so funny every time you listen you hear something different that you didn’t notice before. It’s great because you never get bored.”

So what does the future hold for Patrick?

“I’d love to be like Ken Dodd, touring until I'm 80. I’d love to be a stand up forever and in between do a couple of game shows or something. I'm also writing a couple of plays, so we’ll see what happens.”

Patrick Monahan will be performing at The Potters Arms on March 26. Tickets are £15, available online at www.pottersarms.co.uk or call Richard on 01494 726 222.