HE won one of the biggest awards in comedy last year and now comic Phil Nichol is taking his show on tour. He spoke to us ahead of his gig in Burnley on January 21.

PHIL NICHOL has been described as "a wild ball of energy" onstage and certainly in our interview he barely stopped to draw breath - excitedly telling me all about his show, the Naked Racist, coming to Burnley Mechanics.

"Being energetic is just my personality," said Phil.

"I'm in my 40s now and I'm still full of energy but when I was a teenager I was unstoppable - I was this skinny, spotty boy running around driving everybody absolutely nuts. I've never changed really."

During his show the audience will be taken on a journey through one of the strangest nights of Phil's life during a trip to Amsterdam.

Along the way he meets an ex-Marine mercenary, some heavy metal fans and is beaten up by a group of skinheads in front of a homosexual monument.

"The show tells the true story of a personal experience that I had when I spent a night in Amsterdam drunk and stoned," said Phil.

"It's five hours of my life compacted into one show and I don't want to give away the ending but it finishes off with me being naked.

"It's about pacificism and non-violent struggles but it's not a political or social show. It's not anti-war, it's just my own experience."

Phil was born in Scotland but raised in Canada, a fact that he believes makes him naturally diplomatic.

"I think in Canada we're raised to talk things through," he said.

"Hopefully the show will reach out to people who are sick of the violence on the streets of their towns and sick of different groups blaming each other. Sometimes you need a neutral guy in the middle to go Come on everyone take your clothes off, relax."

Yes, you heard right - members of the audience are also encouraged to strip off their clothes during the show.

"It's not sexual. It's more a show of solidarity," said Phil.

"It's funny because the better the show is received the more likely people are to go with it.

"In Burnley they might just be desperate enough!"

Unlike many comics, Phil doesn't have that prickly edge which makes you feel they might turn their comedy powers against you at any time.

Instead he comes across as friendly and amiable - the type of person you'd like to be sitting next to on a train journey or flight.

And he's looking forward to bringing his show to Burnley.

"Burnley's my favourite place in the world - how coincidental is that," he laughed in his soft, muddled-up accent, a hybrid of Canadian and Scottish.

"I can't wait to visit."

Although Phil appeared to explode onto the mainstream scene last year, winning the if.comeddie award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (formerly the Perrier Award), he has been plugging away since 1987 when he formed comedy band Corky and the Juice Pigs with two fellow students in acting college.

The band achieved some fame and were probably most famous for their song The Only Gay Eskimo (In My Tribe).

But during a move to the UK in 1998 the band split and Phil continued his comedy career alone.

As well as stand-up, he's also carving a niche for himself in straight theatre and has just finished a stint in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest with Christian Slater in London's West End.

"One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest was brilliant," said Phil.

"It sold out from beginning to end and I'm really proud to be able to say I've been in a big West End show.

"My mum and dad flew over from Canada to see me. Mum is 77 and I think she saw it as her son really making it."

Phil Nichol - the Naked Racist, Burnley Mechanics, Sunday, January 21, 7.30pm. Call the box office on 01282 664400.