Brutally honest American comic Reginald D. Hunter has found that being a success in the UK can have a detrimental effect back home in the US. He got over it though.

In a little over a decade, Reginald D. Hunter has become the nation’s favourite stand-up from across the pond.

Yet the swaggering man from Georgia has a few problems whenever he returns to his native land for a stand-up show.

“In America, people have a need to identify you quickly, work out what you are and what you represent,” said Reginald.

“They try it most quickly through what you look like or what your accent is or what your clothing is; they need to figure out your type.

A friend of mine said 'you look and sound weird to them’. So after a few bad gigs, I walked back on stage and said 'I’m told that I look and sound weird’. And after I said that, the audience were like, 'that’s plausible; OK, go’ and I was in there.

“I have American friends who tell me that I’m now a British comic because of my manner and my sensibility. Yet my British fans point out how American I am. People hear what they want to hear, man.”

This autumn sees him on the last lap of his Sometimes Even The Devil Tells The Truth tour. Reginald is renowned for his challenging tour titles and this one is no different.

“Since September 11, there’s been a lack of elegance about government deception. When you listen to politicians or entertainers talking about profitability or collateral damage, they’re telling you nakedly that whatever their interests are it is not for a collective good. Sometimes even the devil tells the truth.

“My sister got mad at me about the title as she’s a born-again Christian. But to tell the best lies you have to have a basic understanding of the truth; blueprint-wise you have to know how that works.

“So as we move away further from the collective good and public discourse and more towards personal interest, people are losing any sense of the need to even use euphemisms any more: 'we’re doing this; we’re drilling here’. Sometimes even the devil tells the truth.”

For a decade now, British comedy fans have heard a lot from Hunter and they seem to like what’s been reaching their ears.

Having decided that careers in the States as either a teacher or preacher were not his destiny, Hunter came over to the UK with a place at RADA in his back pocket. That didn’t work out, but by then he had well and truly caught the stage bug and decided to try a bit of stand-up.

Since then he has become one of an elite group of comedians to have had Perrier Award nominations in three consecutive years.

It was after appearing on shows like Have I Got News For You and 8 Out Of 10 Cats that he cemented his place in the hearts of the British public.

Hunter added: “British audiences reward cleverness. And not everything that is clever is necessarily funny.

“American audiences do something different with cleverness.

“It took me about five years to find any kind of stroke in the UK. It’s a very confusing place.

“I came over with my research limited to having watched a handful of British films like The Long Good Friday, My Fair Lady and Salaam Bombay!”

Reginald D. Hunter’s Sometimes Even The Devil Tells The Truth tour comes to Tunbridge Wells’ Assembly Hall Theatre on Sunday, October 30. Tickets £20. Box office 01892 530613. He then travels to Chatham’s Central Theatre on Saturday, November 12. Tickets £20, £18. Box office 01634 338338.