JASPER Carrott, who will be at The Courtyard for 'An Evening Shared ... with Alistair McGowan, is no stranger to Hereford and is looking forward to returning to the city where he once spent a week as a sales rep.

"Many many years ago I used to be a rep for Colgate Palmolive," he reveals. "I had to hit Hereford for a week selling Lustredent, a toothpaste for false teeth!"

The two legends of comedy first worked together 18 months ago when fate and the organisers of Henley Festival brought them together: "They approached me, saying they had an hour to fill in this tent - they'd sold all the tickets but nobody knew who they'd be seeing. Somehow or another it was suggested to me that I do the hour. But I didn't have enough solid material and said I'd do half an hour, and apparently Alistair was in a similar situation and they decided to put us on together!"

Alistair went on first to a great reception: "I thought, blimey, I've got to follow that," says Jasper, "So I went on and said "I asked you to warm them up not boil the b******s, and that got a laugh and kicked the whole thing off."

Having enjoyed the experience so much, they decided to do it again. "We did a few shows together and got on like a house on fire."

When they decided to do a few more, Hereford was firmly on top of Jasper's list: "I hadn't been to Hereford for a while and asked Alistair if he was free and fancied a bit of globe-trotting?"

Jasper also once spent 10 days in the county not speaking, something it's to be hoped he won't be repeating on May 3. "I did 10 days at a retreat," he recalls. "It was interesting but I only learned two things - that if you get into a meditative state it's possible to ignore pain, and that I like talking."

The Hereford show will see Jasper and Alistair alternating, doing two half hours apiece: "I'll be doing material I've been doing for about the last two and a half years, with one or two bits I've been writing to try them out."

At 71, he says he has no intention of retiring. "Comics don't retire," he says. "We are very fortunate, but it's a big like a drug, making people laugh."

With a lengthy career that's embraced stand-up, the memorable sitcom The Detectives and the equally unforgettable GoldenBalls, Jasper reveals that, though he did the pilot for the latter, he was less than enthusiastic when asked to do the show: "I got on my high horse, declaring that I was a raconteur, not a quiz show host, then I was told how much they'd pay me!" In the event, he did 300 shows, making eight a week: "It was hard work," he recalls.

The Detectives, though, was the show he loved. "It was a very very enjoyable part of my life and Robert Powell became a very close friend. We had been looking for a vehicle to work on together (unknown to the writers of The detectives, who included Steve Knight who has written Peaky Blinders), so when they said they didn't want another comedian, but a straight actor, someone like Robert Powell, I picked up the phone in front of them and called him. They were gobsmacked."

Hereford, as well as holding fond memories for Jasper, has another irresistible attraction. "I can go home after the show!"

An Evening Shared with Jasper Carrott and Alistair McGowan is at The Courtyard on Tuesday, May 3 at 7.30pm. To book, call the box office on 01432 340555 or visit courtyard.org.uk