In the middle of his first national tour, Welsh comic Steve Williams has just returned from his early morning jog. Admitting to carrying a little excess baggage from the festive period, there may well be another more comedy-based reason why he has been taking to the streets. ‘I try and write every day but I do more thinking rather than physically sitting down and writing. You’ll walk down the street and see someone letting their dog go toilet in someone’s garden and you think, “Why is that happening?” and then you fantasise about different scenarios and generating ideas from that. When I was at school, they called it daydreaming. Everyone has their own system, and I’m quite sensory and inspired by things I see and hear: I’m really just a daydreamer/fantasist.’

With a whimsical, observational wit, Williams has been making his stand-up dreams come true for almost a decade, from appearing at the Edinburgh Fringe as part of the Comedy Zone in 2004 to touring with Lee Mack in 2006. Williams describes Mack as a ‘master’, but on that jaunt learned just as much about sticky toffee pudding: ‘We were in the Lake District for five days and had it every night.’

Having performed solo Fringe shows such as Binge Thinking and The Ultimate Worrier, Williams has been away from the August madness for a couple of years, having earned a scripting gig on Russell Howard’s Good News which immediately writes off four months of his calendar.

This first UK-wide tour, Stand-Up Storyteller Man, has brought him back to these parts (‘I love Scotland. It’s like geographical angina: once you’ve been there it never leaves you’) as well as allowing him heartfelt trips back to the valleys. ‘They have massive significance for me, but not necessarily so for the audience. I love going home and performing in Wales, but to them it’s just another guy on stage. I’ll get all emotional and they’re thinking, “Well, this beats going to the cinema.”’

The Stand, Glasgow, Mon 21 Feb
The Stand, Edinburgh, Tue 22 Feb