Patrick Kielty has become one of the best-known faces on television in recent years and last year he launched his first-ever UK stand-up tour.

It proved such a hit he's added extra dates, one of which is in Leeds this month.

"My TV career has raised my profile but I wanted to show that stand-up is my first love, it's what I started off doing, " says the Belfast funnyman. "I didn't want people thinking of me as some reality TV act cashing in on his telly career."

Patrick was a star in Ireland before making his name over here, hosting shows like Patrick Kielty Almost Live, Fame Academy and Celebrity Love Island.

His comedy career started at Queen's University in Belfast and after graduating with a psychology degree in the early Nineties he co-opened Belfast's first comedy club, The Empire. It played host to some of the biggest names in comedy, including Jo Brand, Ardal O'Hanlon and Dylan Moran.

For Patrick, whose father had been murdered by the IRA, the club provided a platform for political satire.

"My family background gave me licence to say things that other people were thinking, " he says. "People were hungry for satire in Northern Ireland at that time. The club got a name for itself and film crews turned up from around the world; we'd get American reporters standing outside saying, 'Belfast may be burning, but these young people are still managing to have a laugh.' "It was risky though, I'd get men in various coloured jackets having 'little chats' with me after gigs. There were some things you weren't supposed to make fun of in Belfast. But I decided that surely they weren't going to start popping off comedians - it was a case of: 'Go ahead and cut my life short, make me a comic legend. Make me Lennie Bruce.' "I write about what I know, things like being 35 and still single. I talk politics because it's part of my experience."

One of the areas Patrick explores is the bizarre notion of Muslim theme pubs.

"It occurred to me that Muslims are the new Irish, " he says. "When I first started coming over to England I'd get searched at Heathrow because I was Irish, now that's happening with Muslims. The same mistakes that were made with Northern Ireland are being made again. An odd thing about the current wave of terrorism is that people are almost hankering back to the old days, it's as if they're saying, 'Whatever happened to those nice IRA chaps? At least they used to phone up and warn us about their bombs.' "It's like the Muslims are having their 1970s. If they hang on in there, in 30 years time there'll be Muslim theme pubs and everything."

Patrick is friendly, chatty and charming. His combination of easy-going charm, quickfire humour and politically-charged material established him as one of Ireland's hottest talents and he was snapped up for television. He arrived in England seven years ago.

"The BBC didn't know what to do with me. I did some shows I'm not particularly proud of."

One thing he is proud of is Patrick Kielty Almost Live, his hit chat show recorded in Belfast.

"We had some pretty big names on and were offered even bigger names, like Beyonc and Cameron Diaz - but only if we'd move to London. Their schedules didn't allow for a flight to Belfast, we became a victim of the press junket. We didn't want to be watching Jonathan Ross interviewing all the A-listers that we wanted so we quit while the show was a hit.

"The show's strength was that it was in Belfast, there was a feel of the place and the guests loosened up out of London, it was like they were on a little holiday and didn't really think the show would be aired outside Northern Ireland so they said what they liked!"

Patrick hosted two series of Fame Academy, and the Comic Relief celebrity versions, with Cat Deeley.

"Because it was the BBC there had to be a purpose, to justify licence payers' money, so it was set in a school where the kids worked with top names. They had a great learning experience and exposure on national TV but I'd get journalists having a go at me, saying things like 'What's happened to Alex Parks then?' as if I had a moral responsibility!"

This spring sees Patrick hosting a second series of Celebrity Love Island.

"I don't know who's on it yet, " he says. "All I know is I get to spend five weeks in Fiji, it's a great gig!

Celebrity Love Island is like heroin: there are a lot of users but nobody admits it. I've spoken to universityeducated professionals and academics who say things like: 'I dipped in and out of it, ' trying to distance themselves from something they see as TV chewing gum for society's underbelly. It's one of those shows that's a guilty pleasure."

Patrick Kielty is at the City Varieties Music Hall on Wednesday, February 22. For tickets ring 08456 441 881.