The truth can be stranger than fiction, Mulder. In September 2006, Alan Carr and Lionel Blair had just finished filming Carr's End-of-the-Pier show in Blackpool's North Pier Sun Lounge when a man rushed into the bar asking them to help someone seen hanging from the pier.

The two entertainers rushed to the end of the pier to find a distraught man clinging to the handrail by his fingertips, evidently contemplating suicide.

Admittedly, it's not quite the stuff of an X Files plot but, if ever an affirmation that life was worth living was required, surely the sight of Lionel Blair and Alan Carr arriving to grab an arm each and wrest you from your lowest ebb is it. The media no doubt lunched out on end-of-the-pier puns, and why not.

There's no suggestion that this intervention was instrumental in Alan Carr's rapid rise but his career does continue to rocket. A weekly Radio 2 show and several series of Channel 4's Chatty Man added to an already impressive CV, Carr continues to tour regularly - almost relentlessly.

Ahead of this his 'Spexy Beast' 2011 tour, which includes dates at Wembley, Liverpool Echo, MEN and London O2 arenas, Carr has announced a series of smaller warm-up gigs through the summer.

Six more have been announced for the De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill-on-Sea on 12th June, the Bristol Hippodrome on 15th and 16th August, Oxford's New Theatre (25th August), the Princess Theatre Torquay (28th August) and York's Grand Opera House on Monday 5th September.

Tickets for all five dates (and the main tour) are available now, starting at £28.50 for the warm-ups and £30 for the full tour.