He expends more kinetic energy and sweats more buckets than any other comedian. He is also, if 12 years of sell-out tours are anything to go by, one of the best at making us laugh.

And yet, when you leave the theatre after a Lee Evans show, all you're likely to remember of his award-winning material is a monkey impression and a line about why we all sing a little song when we stub a toe.

Well served by the bendiest body and the most sticky-out ears in showbusiness, Evans' gift seems to be for turning apparently mindless twaddle into the ultimate distraction.

"A bloke came up to me after a show and said, 'I've just watched you for two hours and laughed my socks off but now I can't remember a single word of it'," says Evans.

"I replied, 'neither can I!' My show is pure escapism. People have worked hard to pay for the tickets and come to see me talk crap for two hours to forget about work. Otherwise, I'd hold a political rally or sell baked beans off the back of a truck."

There's certainly nothing radical about the subjects under discussion in Evans' new show XL - the first half will focus on the manifold annoyances of corporate Britain, the second on the manifold annoyances he's caused his wife over 21 years of marriage.

But, announcing he will end the show with "a song, played on a mandolin entitled Three Second Memory and based on our fish, Micky", Evans has clearly never been more adept at playing the fool.

"Obviously, that idiotic persona is exaggerated," he says, "but it comes out on stage because of nerves. For years, my dad and my brother have been desperately trying to get me to be more tough or more cool but unfortunately I remain an idiot.

"For instance, if something is wrong with a meal in a restaurant, I can never complain about it. I just suffer in silence, eating rotten meat and getting the shits the next day."

In the past few years, Evans' CV has swelled to encompass the gravitas of theatre (Endgame, The Producers) and the big bucks of film (There's Something About Mary, Mouse Hunt, Funny Bones).

But, living in Essex with his teenage sweetheart Heather and daughter Mollie, the 41-year-old reckons the key to his continued success as a comedian is his insistence on keeping it real.

"If you start isolating yourself from people, you lose all sense of yourself and all your material," he observes. "If you start saying, 'I was driving around in my Rolls-Royce the other day...' how can people relate to that?

It's vital to be in contact with what's going on and how ordinary people lead their lives.

"My wife doesn't say, 'The Artist has arrived home - quickly, fetch a cognac and a cigarette holder'. It's more like, 'Take the rubbish out, Lee'."

Lee Evans will also be appearing at Brighton's Theatre Royal on November 23, 24 and 25 (0870 9009100). A DVD, Lee Evans: XL, will be released on November 28.

Starts at 7.30pm. Tickets cost £15 - £24.50, call 01323 412000.