Ludlow date for Alan Carr

Chatty Man comedy star Alan Carr will be in south Shropshire next month as part of a warm-up for his first tour in more than four years.

He will be performing a two-hour show at Ludlow Assembly Rooms on March 6 ahead of his Spexy Beast tour which kicks off in September in Brighton.

The comedian, who presents the Saturday evening BBC Radio 2 show Going Out With Alan Carr as well as his Channel 4 show Alan Carr: Chatty Man, will be trying out new material ahead of his main tour.

Chatty Man won Best Entertainment Show at the 2010 TV Choice Awards and Mr Carr won the Royal Television Society Entertainment Performance of the Year in 2009. His first award was the BBC Best New Stand Up in 2001.

Dido Blench, press officer for Ludlow Assembly Rooms, said: "It is a warm up tour, the same thing as when Eddie Izzard came here.

"We've only just put it up but tickets are already selling. He is trying out new material."

She said comics often looked for small venues so they could tell what sort of reaction they were getting.