KEN Dodd is celebrating 50 years in showbusiness and says he is over the moon to be bringing his Happiness Show to Kidderminster.

"By jove missus! ", said Ken in an interview with the Worcester News. "There's nothing quite like a good laugh.

"It's still music to my ears after 50 years, and I'm delighted to be coming back to Kidderminster to dispense liberal doses of my tickle tonic."

Ken says he has witnessed many changes to comedy during his half-century as an entertainer.

"I was spoiled because I was fortunate enough to have grown up with comedy heroes like Arthur Askey, Ted Ray, Rob Wilton, Tommy Handley, Billy Bennett and the great comics of that era," he said.

"They were followed by the likes of Tommy Cooper and Morecambe and Wise.

"All legendary funny men with natural ability and lots of warmth. Comedy should never be over-analysed. It is either funny or it isn't. There is a subtle difference between those who say funny things and those who say things funny.

"I think it was Freud who once described humour as being 'as incongruous as a buckled wheel', but then he never played Glasgow on a wet Monday night after both Rangers and Celtic had lost on Saturday!"

So, how does the comedy of today differ from that of yesterday?

"There was more 'art' to comedy years ago," he explains. "Comics were masters of their craft.

"Today there are precious few places to learn that craft, and far too much emphasis is placed on vulgar material. Sadly, swearing is being passed off as comedy.

"It has always been my belief that audiences expect to be entertained and relieved of the cares and worries of everyday life for a couple of hours, not insulted or embarrassed."

Ken even has his own "Giggle Map" that tells him what makes people laugh in different parts of the country.

"Did you know that I can tell a gag in Kidderminster and get a huge laugh, but it won't raise a titter in Kilmarnock? They just can't hear it!"

But what of his life away from his almost non-stop touring (he clocks up 100,000 miles a year) with his famous Happiness Show?

Ken still lives in the rambling 17th Century Georgian farmhouse in which he was born in Knotty Ash, Liverpool.

"I couldn't live anywhere else but Liverpool. I was lucky to have had an idyllic upbringing filled with love and happiness," he told me.

"Me, my brother Billy and sister, June, loved going to the theatre with mum and dad. The variety shows were our favourites - especially the pantomimes.

"That's when I became stage-struck, or struck by the stage.

"I'll never forget the year when mum and dad bought me my own ventriloquist's doll. It was magical!

"I christened him 'Charlie Brown', learned how to throw my voice, and started doing impromptu shows for all my pals.

"Later I had my own Punch & Judy Show and would entertain at charity shows or garden fetes. Is it any wonder that I eventually entered showbusiness?"

Despite this grounding, Ken was a comparative late starter in entertainment. He and brother Billy helped his father, Arthur, in the family coal business and he also worked as a door-to-door salesman.

But he also entertained on a semi-professional basis - until eventually he turned professional in 1954.

Ten years later, he made his debut at the famous London Palladium - where he enjoyed an unprecedented record-breaking 42-week sell-out season.

In 1965, he knocked The Beatles from the number one spot in the record charts with Tears and stayed there for several weeks.

Today, singing plays a prominent part in his stage act, with his vocal range taking in everything from the classics to pop music and even opera.

So, after 50 years, is he thinking about hanging up his famous tickling stick and taking things easy?

"How dare you, missus!" he says in mock indignation. "I've never even thought about retirement.

"Why should I, when I love every second of doing my job?

"I'm very lucky to be doing what I want to do - and being paid for it at the same time!

"I think I've only had one day off in my entire career - and that was for suspected pneumonia.

"I was back on stage the next night with a mustard patch on my chest.

"The doctor insisted that I wore it, but all the stage hands kept rubbing their ham sandwiches on it, so it had to go!"

Ken Dodd is due to perform at the Glades Arena in Kidderminster tomorrow.