ANY self-respecting young comic would want to give stalwart stand-up Bob Mills a lift home – if only to hear his stories.

“That’s the only thing they ever ask me,” Bob laughs, “what was it like in the old days? What I do find, which is actually quite lovely, is that these young guys are incredibly knowledgeable about the history and of course they want to knowwhat happened back when I first started.

“One time I was leaving a gig to go home and a group of young comedians asked me whether I wanted a lift.

“I didn’t have my car and was going to catch the train but I thought ‘hey why not’ and of course within minutes they’re asking me about the old scene so I told them about these two comedy clubs, one in south London, one in North London, where before you went on you always went up to the compere and said ‘look mate, can you just say my name to introduce me rather than use any of your material because basically it’s rubbish and you’ll lose the audience before I’ve even started’. That’s what you did every time you played there.

“And those comperes were Eddie Izzard and Sacha Baron Cohen (Ali G).”

Which just goes to show you how long Bob Mills has been in the comedy game.

Back in the early Eighties Bob found himself at a gig where, among others, there was a young Mark Thomas and Kevin Day making people laugh in a different way.

He says: “You've got to remember, for our generation the only comedy we ever knewwere blokes on the telly making jokes about their mother-in-laws.

“Before that gig I had never even thought about comedy, let alone being a comedian, but I saw these guys and thought that’s really clever and genuinely funny.”

Like those comics, Bob began to ply his trade on the London comedy circuit. But it wasn’t until the mid- Nineties that he finally made a name for himself, getting offered a number of television jobs, such as In Bed With Me Dinner and Win, Lose or Draw.

He adds: “It was odd because I had got to a point in my life where I was working at LWT and had got to know some really important people without realising it.

“You would be in the pub and just chatting about an idea and they’d say ‘why don’t you do it?’ And I’d reply ‘maybe one day I’ll pitch it to someone’, and then they’d say ‘you’ve just pitched to me, here’s some money, do it’.

“It was an incredibly enjoyable time, but never quite as enjoyable as doing the stand-up. It was better paid but just not as fulfilling.”

Creat ively he was at the top of the game, writing such shows as Stan the Man and Bob Martin for Michael Barrymore.

He even penned an episode of Shameless, as well as the Pierrepoint, a film about Britain’s last hangman.

But for Bob, it was never going to match up to the thrill of a life audience.

Today his broadcasting is now limited to occasional appearances on the radio, including Radio 4’s News Quiz and Radio 5 Live’s Fighting Talk, where he c o u r t e d controversy a few years ago with an item about being able to “turn” openly gay BBC presenter Clare Balding.

“No I didn’t get sacked,” he explains. “It’s just they record it in Salford now which means if the Orient (his beloved football team Leyton Orient) are playing at home I can’t get to the match.

“ T h e w h o l e C l a r e B a l d i n g thing was r e a l l y weird. It’s the first time I’ve really had any dealings with the British press and I can’t say I was really angry about it, I just thought it was all a bit shabby.

“I remember Colin (Murray, the show’s then presenter) taking a call in the pub from another journalist and just repeating all the time ‘the item’s called Defend the Indefensible, no sorry the item’s called Defend the Indefensible, it’s called Defend the Indefensible’.”

While Bob loves the medium, radio doesn’t come close to the thrill of stand-up.

“Now that the kids have grown up,” he says, “I don’t have to do a lot of stuff I don’t want to. I pick and choose the gigs.

“I don’t think I would ever give it up, though. It’s why I love live stand-up – it’s just you and the audience.

“You have to be thinking all the time. Every gig is still hard work but also the biggest buzz you’ll ever get.”

Charter Hall, Leisure World, Cowdray Avenue, Colchester.

Saturday. Doors 7pm, show starts 8pm.

£12, comedy club members £10. 01206 282020.

www.charter-hall.co.uk