OVER the last couple of months I've written about many subjects in the comedy world from favourite comedians who have influenced me to great people I have worked with on the circuit.

But many people ask me where I get my material from and how I go about writing a joke.

I'll be honest with you the performance – the result of all that hard work – is always the best bit.

Many people think comedians just walk on stage grab a microphone and make it up off the top of the head.

Don't get me wrong, there are instances when you can ad-lib and go off on one and improvise but that comes after many years of experience.

I always try to keep my writing personal by talking about the things that either matter to me or things that have happened to me recently.

So whenever I'm in public and someone says something slightly awkward I just write it down and repeat the experience to the audience.

For example, I was standing at a bus stop on a late evening in Edinburgh and there was a guy stood next to me smoking a cigarette.

We were both waiting for the same bus and two lads walked past and barged into the old man.

The old guy stood up for himself and one of the young guys threatened him.

He started to laugh, took a drag from his cigarette and put these two young lads down with the best put-down I've ever heard in my life.

He said: "Do one boys, I've seen harder crosswords than you."

They both disappeared in a hurry. It was like he was Clint Eastwood.

Sometimes it is just the little things you see.

I was in a bar in Warrington on match day. The bar was packed but the barman wasn't receiving any tips.

So he placed a pint glass on the bar and put a yellow post-it-note on it saying: 'Every time you tip me Justin Bieber dies a little' .

Ten minutes later the glass was completely full.

I am not kidding, people were making paper aeroplanes with five pound notes and gliding them into the glass.

I tend to put a lot of my jokes straight into my phone if I'm sat on the bus or in a cafe.

Other ideas come to me generally when I am in the shower. I still don't know why that is.

Sometimes little puns will go off in my head like this one: A friend of mine called Mercedes doesn't like deep sea diving because she is frightened she will get the 'Benz'...I enjoy writing silly little jokes like that.

But there is one thing you really need as a comedian when you're working on new material – a safe haven.

You need a 'work in progress' gig where the audience accept you may be working off a notepad and playing around with partly formed ideas.

It is a scary prospect because what works in your head will not necessarily work when it comes out your mouth, down a microphone and through three 500-watt speakers.

The silence can be very awkward, it's all part of the process of finding a little bit of gold.

Speaking of which I shall be performing some new material at the Comedy Store in Manchester on Sunday, August 23rd at 7.30pm.

Thanks again for reading this month's Comedy Corner and hope you can catch the show.