He is popping up all over the place but comedian Chris Addison insists his fame is not part of a big career plan. Chris Price had a chat.

Much like London buses, Chris Addison has found out that you wait for ages for a high-profile TV slot to appear – and then they all come at once.

The comedian has not only landed a position as a regular panelist on BBC2 comedy institution Mock the Week but has also clinched the job of presenting E4’s new flagship comedy programme Show and Tell. Oh, and he is also that bloke off the telly who tries to sell insurance for Direct Line.

“It has been a bit full on,” said Chris, who turned 40 earlier this month. “I’ve massively enjoyed Mock The Week. I’ve basically enjoyed whatever I’ve been doing at the time. Taken all together it has been a crazy year.”

Of course it is not as if Chris has burst out of nowhere. He first grabbed the nation’s attention as Ollie Reeder on Bafta-winning BBC2 satirical political comedy The Thick Of It and wrote his own sitcom Lab Rats, which aired in 2008.

A regular on panel shows like Have I Got News For You, Would I Lie To You? and 8 Out Of 10 Cats, he also co-wrote and co-starred in the Radio 4 political satire The Department in 2004 and won a Sony Award in 2006 for his radio adaptation of his 2002 Edinburgh Fringe Festival show The Ape That Got Lucky.

However, there must be something about appearing on a series of ads for one of the nation’s most well known insurance companies which gets you out there.

“I’ve been about for 16 years and its only been in the last 12 to 18 months people have come up to me in the street.

“At the end of Thick Of It was when it started and Mock the Week definitely just solidified it. But like most of my career it just happened.

“If you told me two years ago I would be doing a regular slot on Mock The Week I would have called you a fool.

“I’m very glad it has happened because it is immense fun. It means a lot to be trusted with it. They are a great team.”

You must not lose the plot...

Chris’ new tour The Time Is Now, Again marks the next step in his writing, which is a big deal for a man who has taken five solo shows to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival – two of which saw him nominated for the Perrier Award.

He said: “I used to write shows which were very strictly themed. Now I try to write shows which are a bit more personal.

“It’s a proper up and down job. Sometimes it’s going great. I’m quite nerdy about the structure and I like the way of getting the show to work but it is very chicken and egg.

“The most important thing is the jokes but you have to work out what is funny and why it is funny. Something you think is great can get in the way of everything else so it has to go.

“If you are writing a script it takes at least a week to get the plot. I remember talking to [fellow comedian] Noel Fielding about the Mighty Boosh and I told him I thought the plot to one of the shows was amazing. Noel said, 'I’m really pleased you said that because no one ever mentions them.’

“If someone can see the plot coming then the rest of it is not working.”

Chris Addison is at Folkestone’s Leas Cliff Hall on Thursday, November 24. Tickets £25.50. Box office 0844 847 1776. He also travels to Canterbury’s Gulbenkian Theatre on Saturday and Sunday, December 10 and 11. Tickets £20. Box office 01227 769075. Next year the tour visits Chatham’s Central Theatre on Thursday, March 1. Tickets £20. Box office 01634 338338. He is at Tunbridge Wells’ Assembly Hall on Sunday, March 11. Tickets £20. Box office 01892 530613.