Rob Rouse and CityLife are contemplating the cycle of life.

“I didn’t work out what I wanted to do until quite late,” says Rob, who trained to become a geography teacher before heading into comedy 15 years ago. “You’re being asked at 13 or 14 what you want to be, and I was thinking, ‘Good God, I’ve not even kissed a girl yet’.

“It’s so weird this world; we were never designed to work nine hours and eat three meals a day. We were designed to pootle around eating a few berries, having a snooze in a cave. But we don’t question any of it, we just fall into the whole thing of buying a house, paying the bank until we die... My lad’s five now and going to school, and he’s just starting on that cycle. It’s really made me think about it.”

It’s not exactly an anxiety, but these troubling quandaries about life’s purpose are about to make an appearance in his latest show – one he’s testing at XS Malarkey ahead of a national tour.

A father of two (he also has an 18-month old girl), Rob has seen his comic style evolve hugely since he picked up the So You Think You’re Funny gong at the Edinburgh Festival in 1998. It’s little wonder, of course, when you consider what he did next: live tours, TV panel shows and acting (from anarchic comedy shows The Friday Night Project and Mad Mad World to Beeb sitcoms Coupling and Grownups) and radio – most recently, on Manchester’s Xfm.

He has deliberately built in that variety to keep him focused and interested. “For me, ‘work in progress’ is more a summary of my shows in general. I never lock a show down because I’d probably end up eating a gun,” he laughs.

“I do this because I couldn’t do a teaching job that required me to do the same thing every day. I’d never think, ‘I’m just performing this now’.

“I used to hide behind bells and whistles, and having a family has focused me. I have less time for me – that’s the reality – and it gives me a sense of perspective. I’m less worried about what other people think.

“You shouldn’t be worrying about whether your comedy is something an audience wants to hear, if anything the stuff that you think they might not want to hear is the stuff you should be talking about – comedy gets really exciting and interesting when it’s not the most comfortable ride in the world.”

XS Malarkey, Jabez Clegg, Tuesday, £3/£5