A regular on the panel show Mock the Week, the Bristol-born comic looks like butter wouldn't melt in his mouth.

But looks can clearly be deceptive as he holds very little back when he is on tour.

He gets political, he swears – a fair bit – and there is no shortage of sex-related jokes in his Dingledodies act.

And it was this brand of humour which tickled the laughter strings of a near-capacity crowd at the Guild Hall in Preston on Saturday night.

Dingledodies …what is that all about? Apparently, it refers to people with quirky habits – Howard likes to joke about the cheering eccentricities of character.

You have to admire him for his boyish enthusiasm and seemingly tireless energy, though if you are a sensitive Christian or just generally easily-offended, then his live performances are probably not for you.

Warm-up act Mark Olver set the tone with his 25-minute stint and he returned in the end-of-show question-and-answer session when he took his shirt off after a female member of the audience offered to swap tops with Howard on stage.

Howard, who regularly goes off on a tangent during his joke-telling but always seems to somehow – eventually – get back to the original point, was at his best in the Q & A – he is clearly in his element interacting with fans.

On the political front, MPs – over the expenses scandal – and the British National Party are victims of his sharp tongue, though these subjects were sadly only briefly touched on.

And what did he think of Saturday's show in Preston? "The oddest gig I have ever done" was his parting shot.

If you missed his humour at the Guild Hall and would like to see him soon, then try Manchester on Thursday or Liverpool next month.