The naked(ish) truth about Michael McIntyre

I went to the Birmingham Hippodrome last night, to the filming of Michael McIntyre's new Comedy Roadshow, which will be screened on Saturday nights on BBC1 in the middle of April.

Then this morning I met the man himself - and almost saw more of him than either of us bargained for.

I arrived at his very plush suite at the Hyatt Hotel before he was quite ready. In fact he was just zipping up his flies as I got there!

Having been out until 2am the night before, he was obviously a little worse for wear, hence his state of near-undress, but he was still entertaining company.

Unlike Sir Alan Sugar, who I met last week and was as grumpy and sarcastic as you might expect.

I had to sign a form to say I wouldn't reveal what he said, or too much about his TV show, until nearer the time it goes out.

I will say it's very funny, though, with lots of jokes about Birmingham and Brummies.

Michael is certainly a comic on the up, having had the biggest-selling DVD debut last year, but another name to look out for is Tom Stade.

This good-looking Canadian lives in Wolverhampton - I thought this was a joke but it turns out to be true, bizarrely - and almost stole the show with his brilliant jokes about Bilston and meat vans.

Keep reading the Sunday Mercury and checking back on the website to read the full interview with Michael.