INTERVIEWING comedian Lee Mack rather aptly got off to a comical start. Calling him on the mobile phone number given to me by his PR agent, Mack couldn't be quicker to get me off the line - telling me, in all seriousness, he was convinced God wouldn't give him a brain tumour if he used the technology as little as possible. (The first comment of many that left me convinced the man is a hypochondriac).

He rattled off the landline number of his London home, at the same time mumbling his disgust at his builders' bad finish to the varnish work of his new windows, then hung up.

Rather dazed I punched in the numbers and was shocked to be greeted by a mad oriental woman shouting down the phone. Convinced it was part of some kind of "hilarious" gag by Mack, I wasn't sure whether to laugh or give up.

After another short-lived mobile phone call the BAFTA award-winning comedian ended up ringing me back, apologising profusely amid stifled yawns.

And it's no wonder he was exhausted. He's just over half way through his 38-date, 2005 tour that started in Exeter in the New Year and will see him performing at Worcester's Huntingdon Hall tonight..

"I'm really looking forward to coming to Worcester," said the 36-year-old, from Southport near Liverpool. But I was less than convinced of his honesty when he went on to ask me where exactly Worcester is.

The Perrier Award nominee is the only remaining member of the original British cast of The Sketch Show, which ran for two series on ITV1, and has recently had sell-outs in Edinburgh, Melbourne, New Zealand, Aspen and Montreal.

He is currently writing The Lee Mack Show for BBC Radio 2, which will air in spring and includes guests such as singers Tony Hadley and Sophie Ellis-Baxter.

And Mack hopes to crack America, where he is about to star alongside the star of Frasier, Kelsey Grammer in a US version of The Sketch Show, which will air this spring in a primetime TV slot following The Simpsons on the FOX network.

But Mack hasn't always been such a hit.

"I always wanted to be a comedian - since the age of 11 when I stood on top of a mobile classroom at school doing an impression of Bobby Ball but the idea of doing it for real scared me to death," he said.

So his fear saw him doing "every job that pays you less than £100 a week", including "official bum wiper" of top racehorse Red Rum (he toyed at being a jockey then discovered he was scared of horses), a bingo caller and fruit picker.

It wasn't until he was 26 that he braved the stage at a London comedy club - but was booed off before completing his first gag.

"It crushed me at the time but I've come to realise that jokes and being funny isn't the be-all and end-all," he said.

"In fact, I don't think I'll be a comedian forever as too many of them reach 60 and drop dead of a heart attack, it's not worth risking my health over."

So, if he's not a comedian what will he be?

"Well, when I first saw a careers adviser at school I said I wanted to be a professional golfer but I'm no good at golf, so perhaps I'll try being a caddy?" he said.

Well, if he sees success in America, I'm not too sure he'll be so convinced to quit the day job.