John Shuttleworth, everyone's favourite failed musician and Northern pedant, is getting on a bit. His latest tour, titled Fawn Again, has him "wearing the subdued shades of late autumn".

His kids have left home and he's retired. All he has to look forward to is his memory failing.

"I retrace my steps, then forget why I've retraced them," John says cheerfully.

Shuttleworth's make-do optimism transforms mundane events into glorious savoured moments.

"I have a cloth over my organ to hide all the cables," says John's creator Graham Fellows. "It's just an old flowery curtain." John asks the audience each night if they like it. "If you keep looking at it long enough," John says, "you will like it, because then you'll be old."

John still dreams of making it as a pop star with his dreary muzak organ compositions, while he views the world through aging eyes with increasing fatalism. Not only is it a nifty trick to discuss the mundane without being boring (see also Alan Partridge and King Of The Hill), Graham uses the generation gap between his character and the audience to provide frisson and humour.

What's almost as funny is talking to Graham, whose psychological DNA is closer to John's than he might care to admit. "I like going to different venues on tour and meeting different technicians," Graham says with a whiff of pedantry. "Last night's dressing room was really depressing. I'm sure I could smell urine, where someone had p***ed on the carpet, but that spurred me on to do a really good performance."

Of course, the main difference between John and Graham is success. Graham has released a hit single (Gordon Is A Moron as Jilted John), appeared on Coronation Street, voiced characters for a Bafta-award-winning Aardman Animation short, has done children's TV dramas, theatre, radio and a couple of West End plays. It's no surprise that Graham's just filmed a feature film, It's Nice Up North, made for "nil budget" over a week in the Shetland Isles.

"I did a gig in Shetland in the summer of 2003 and kind of fell in love with the place. My wife didn't like it because it was barren and there were no trees, but I found that kind of restful."

Graham came across what he describes as "a symbol of niceness", a bus shelter on the most northerly isle, Unst. In the shelter was an old sofa, a broken TV and a stuffed parrot in a cage - all set up like a lounge. It's been there for years and local people and travellers occasionally add new decor.

Life imitated art and Graham created a part-scripted, part-mockumentary movie from this tiniest of observations.

"The film is a quest to see if people are nicer the further north you go," he says.

But John doesn't go through Northumberland and Lancashire, he just goes straight to the Shetland Isles. He thinks that if his theory is correct, they'll be the nicest people in the UK."

John has yet to finish editing the movie but has already entered it for the Edinburgh Film Festival and is showing clips on tour. Graham says he's played more Brighton venues than any other city over John's 15-year life. Why does he think that is?

"Well, you've got a lot of venues," he says deadpan. Perhaps it's because Brighton's huge creative community can relate to John's character as they slog away in Argos, dreaming of success.

"Be grateful to be working there," is John's advice, "and maybe write a song about all the different trampoline sizes on offer."

Starts 8pm, tickets cost £14/£16. Call 01273 685861