Sean Hughes contemplates life . . . and death

We take death far too seriously, says Sean Hughes ruefully, as he prepares for an appearance in the West Midlands later this month.

Few people will accuse the former Never Mind the Buzzcocks star of taking death too seriously in his latest show Life Becomes Noises, which begins with him appearing in a hospital bed, wearing a slightly inappropriate costume.

Sean's father died just over a year ago following a battle with cancer, and the comedian tackles the issues of ageing and death in his latest show.

"There is this great taboo about death," he says. "It happens to us all, and it should be like any situation. There's humour in everything."

Age has long been a subject which fascinates Sean. He became the youngester-ever winner of the Perrier Comedy Award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 1990, when he was just 24. He then celebrated his 30th birthday in 1995 with the Thirty Somehow tour, which was broadcast on Channel 4 and established himself as a television performer.

Sean, who celebrates his 47th birthday next month, uses the show to look at how we deal with the loss of a loved one, but adds: "I wouldn't want people to think it is all heavy stuff, its just observational humour. I talk about what happened to my life, what becomes when you become a slightly different person as you get older.

"A lot of my material is based on my experiences, the things I see going on around me, and obviously as you get older you have more experiences to draw on."

Essentially a scripted monologue, it is a big departure for those more familiar with his stand-up routines, which involve a lot of improvisation and audience interaction.

It is perhaps not a subject you would not have expected the London-born Irishman to have tackled in his earlier days, and he does appear to have mellowed a little since he burst onto the scene in the early 1990s.

It is 10 years since he left his role as team captain on the music panel game Never Mind the Buzzcocks, and his latter years have mainly been spent publishing novels, poetry and short-story collections, as well as playing Eileen Grimshaw's love rat boyfriend in Coronation Street.

He decided to return to the stand-up circuit five years ago, and admits to being a bit of a daydreamer, constantly looking around for new material to include in his acts.

"I work very slowly, I work for myself these days," he says. "I have decided I would rather just do a brilliant show every two years."

* Life Becomes Noise, starring Sean Hughes, will be at Birmingham Glee Club on Thursday, Novemner 1, starting at 7.30pm. Tickets, priced £16, are available on 0871 472 0400.