The Yorkshire-born standups’s surreal take on a working men’s club has bagged him comedy awards and a BBC radio pilot. But even as he dreams of a Mrs Merton-style talkshow, he’s still insistent on keeping things surreal

The last time I saw Frankie Monroe, the impish, slightly grubby proprietor of Rotherham’s premier fictional working men’s club, The Misty Moon, he was in an Edinburgh basement, delighting festivalgoers with tricks, songs and cheeky characters. Unfortunately, we discovered as the show unfolded, the club was also a portal to hell. The night ended with Frankie – white-faced, in a shiny shirt and ludicrous shoulder pads – sucked into the fiery depths.

It hasn’t done him much harm. Tonight, we’re at Manchester’s Fairfield Social Club, and Frankie is hosting a pub quiz with all the swaggering charm that saw his creator, 26-year-old Joe Kent-Walters, named best newcomer at this year’s Edinburgh comedy awards .