AFTER stealing the show at the Royal Variety Performance last year, a comedian is returning to Cardiff.

Rod Woodward is returning with his new show I’m Not Being Funny, But… which is coming to St David’s Hall, in Cardiff, on March 2.

Assistant marketing manager at St David’s Hall Neil Collins chatted to the comedian, who hails from Cardiff.

Mr Woodward said: “I thought if I’m ever lucky enough to make this a career then St David’s Hall would be a place I’d love to play. It was a thrill last time, and there’s an extra special excitement about playing a hometown gig there.

“A lot of people in Wales use the expression ‘I’m not being funny, but…’ and when you hear it you should brace yourself for an insult or an unsavoury comment. A few mates of mine use that idiom all the time, and as I was fashioning material on a lot of people I know, that had a special meaning.”

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Mr Woodward’s tour will be ‘all him’ this time, rather than being joined by his alter-ego Mario De Niro, and bases characters on real people.

Mr Woodward said: “When I went up to Edinburgh Festival early 2000s, I took the Mario show up and we did a video where the barber was involved in a mock-Godfather set-up, and he loved all that.

“He had a bit of publicity and we had a bit more authenticity. I think basing characters on real people is the best way because the source material is endless, so it’s inexhaustible.”

Tickets are £22.50 (plus an optional £1 postage fee). To book your seats, please visit www.stdavidshallcardiff.co.uk or call the Box Office on 029 2087 8444.

Mr Woodward will also perform at Blackwood Miners’ Institute on April 12.