JUMPING to conclusions can be a dangerous game, as Jo Caulfield learnt the hard way.

The stand-up comedian, who is Graham Norton's head writer, thought her husband Stuart wanted to leave her when she wrongly convinced herself that she was two steps ahead of the conversation.

But how she managed to wriggle out of that awkward situation has now become the basis of a new show which will be presented for one of the first times in Lymm before Edinburgh Festival.

Jo told Weekend: "I was a bit stressed at the time and I thought my husband wanted to split up so I jumped ahead in the conversation and said: ‘That’s fine’.

"But that wasn’t what he was going to say. I’ll be telling the tale of how I somehow got out of that situation and how he constantly doesn’t let it go.

"So for example the other day I bought a bulk pack of toilet paper and as I picked it up he said: ‘Will we be together long enough to get through 12 toilet rolls?’"

Jo's Awkward Conversations routine will also include segments from her previous Uninformed Opinions tour.

She added: "I’m very opinionated and I don’t bother to see if I know what I’m talking about.

"I love to rash judge people in situations. So if anyone is the kind of person who shouts at the television they will identify with it."

Jo grew up as a fan of Dave Allen, Steve Martin and Richard Pryor but it was her love of rockabilly music that first got her up on stage.

She moved to London when she was 17 Jo to sing and play drums in a band.

"I didn’t even have the sense to know if I should be worried," added Jo.

"The only plan people I knew had was just to join a band or have fun. You would earn enough to get by and would have no thought for the future at all."

That is probably why Jo ended up living in a squat in west London – but she actually quite liked it.

Jo, who has appeared on Never Mind The Buzzcocks, Mock the Week and Have I Got News For You, said: "There was no heating and in my room there was one pane of glass missing so it wasn't the most luxurious place.

"But everyone was quite hippyish there. They had brown sugar which I’d never had before, one of them was a juggler, another made their own bread and they smoked these things called bidis.

"It was good education as there were so many different kinds of people.

"There was one posh man and I was so naive that I didn’t realise that what he did was sell cannabis. I thought it was some sort of tea he was putting into bags and going out with."

Jo first worked as a hotel breakfast waitress and then ran a market stall selling rockabilly music and 50s clothes.

But watching a friend do an open spot at the Comedy Store alongside Jack Dee and Mark Lamarr changed everything.

She added: "Everyone booed at my friend and he had a terrible time. But I couldn’t believe he could get on stage by just phoning up the club."

That inspired Jo to try out stand-up for herself at comedy cafe in Shoreditch about 20 years ago. She won the open-mic competition that night.

"I thought I’d chicken out," said the 49-year-old.

"I had a huge rush of adrenaline on stage and a huge rush afterwards. I remember skipping down the road with my friend who came with me to make sure I stayed in the building and thinking this is what I want to do.

"A lot of comics have a great first gig because they are full of enthusiasm and you’re sort of fearless because you don’t know how bad you are.

"I was more nervous the second time as it began to dawn on me that the first time was a fluke.

"I started to watch what the other comics were doing and realised I didn’t really know what I was doing but I was already hooked on this thing."

On working with Graham

JO Caulfield might not share Graham Norton's star status but it is often her jokes you will hear on the telly.

The 49-year-old is the presenter's head writer and was the consultant for all five series of the BAFTA Award-winning So Graham Norton.

Jo and Graham met on the comedy circuit and when Jo set up her comedy club in Hampstead she would often book Graham as a compere.

"We bonded on a long journey up to Chester from London," said Jo.

"It was shortly after that when Graham got the pilot for his TV show and I got called in to do the warm up for that.

"He didn’t want a man because all the men on the circuit at that time were perceived to be very macho and slightly homophobic 

"Then they had trouble finding the writers because Graham felt the men were making it ‘too gay’. It was sort of gay in a very John Inman way which Graham isn’t.

"I got a trial for a series and then I stayed for eight years."

Jo was also a head writer on Zoe Ball’s Strictly Dance Fever and Ruby Wax’s Waiting Game.

She has written for Joan Rivers, Anne Robinson, Denise Van Outen, Marcus Brigstocke and Ant and Dec among many others.

- Jo Caulfield is at Lymm Hotel for Lymm Festival on Friday, June 26. Visit lymmfestival.org.uk