Lenny Henry is returning to his first love - performing in the live arena. And the prospect is making him beam with delight.

"Nothing beats the buzz of live comedy," says the comic. "It gives you the instant feedback of approval. Comedians crave that - it's the mummy, look at me' syndrome.

"There's nothing like a wave of laughter to affirm you. For a comedian, the audience is the ultimate test of whether or not the material is working. I just love live comedy.

"When you're on stage, you have this wonderfully exciting knowledge that you've got something up your sleeve that will have the audience on the floor," he adds.

"They don't know it yet, but in the next minute you're going to say something that will make them squirt milk out of their nose. In that weird part of the brain where cabbies store The Knowledge', comedians keep stuff that will make audiences behave in a very strange way and start falling over."

Lenny, 48, who shot to fame winning New Faces as a 16-year-old in 1975, reckons the communal feeling of being huddled together in a darkened auditorium encourages audiences to enjoy themselves.

"Eric Idle called the experience of laughing at live comedy barking at the darkness.' I like that," he says. "People laugh with such abandon in a theatre because they feel protected by the darkness. When directors suggest putting the lights on the audience, I always say, don't!' People never laugh as much when the lights are on."

Lenny, who has been married to Dawn French for 22 years and is the father of daughter Billie, adds that "your happiness is bound up in your family and friends and what you do. This is what I do - and it couldn't make me happier."

His new live show, Where You From? sees Lenny talking about his teenage jobs as a paper-boy and a beer-glass collector at Dudley Zoo. He'll also recall his time on the Black and White Minstrel Show - "I was a fish out of water - a black fish in fake water!" - as well as revisiting characters from the original Lenny Henry Show, such as Mr Lister, The Wolfman and Delbert Wilkins.

The comedian will also reflect on the downside of making his new TV series, Lenny's Britain, which sees him touring the country in an attempt to construct a "comedy map" of the UK.

Along the way, he tries out various jobs to see how work affects our humour. "I worked on the South Pier at Blackpool, selling doughnuts and operating the Waltzer. A lot of people will be saying these are the jobs that I should be doing!"

Lenny also worked in an Indian restaurant in Glasgow, a Blackpool hotel and a Dudley nursing home called Henry Court. "It's named after my mum," he says. "I spent a day there with the elderly residents, chopping vegetables and getting the old people to their prayer meetings and embroidery classes. It was a joyful and moving experience. I also witnessed a birth - at the Russell's Hall Hospital, not the nursing home!"

He says making the show has been a profound experience. "The idea was to meet people in the way that John Peel used to meet them on Home Truths. Often they tell you something really personal with a very compassionate sense of humour.

"Throughout the series, I've got to do lots of life-affirming things and learned loads. Once you do well in a job, you can get isolated from where you come from but I feel I've really connected with people on this show."

There was a downside though. "I had to go caravanning, and I promise you, I'll never spend a night in a caravan again! They're so tiny," he says. "The only way I'd do it again would be in Snoop Dogg or P Diddy's caravans, which are 50ft wide and 90ft long, with a Jacuzzi inside and a helipad on the roof!"

Lenny Henry is at St George's Hall on Friday, February 9, at 7.30pm. Ring (01274) 432000.