He's the silly man off the TV with well-worn catchphrases and the unmistakeable appearance who has become the undisputed king of Saturday tea-time telly on ITV. He should be everything that's wrong with the UK comedy scene. But he's not. He's Harry Hill and he's as daft as a brush and you can't help but laugh.

For 11 years, Harry Hill's TV Burp has been the show-stealing prelude to the unremittingly bleak populist drivel that is Saturday night on ITV. In fact, coupled with Hill's sarcastic and gently caustic voiceovers on You've Been Framed, 'Burp' completed a golden hour of early evening family entertainment that no edition of Wipeout could compete with. It was hardly appointment telly but, nonetheless, ITV had unearthed a sparkling gem in Hill. Just enough silliness to keep the kids laughing and more than sufficient nods and winks to hold the attention of the grown-ups in the room. With a solid writing team, Burp saw out 11 award-winning years from 2001 until 2012 when it belched its last.

Hill, himself a Perrier award-winning stand-up, announced his intention to return to the live circuit with a long term aspiration to balance his two spectacularly successful careers on telly and at the mic. The new show, encouragingly entitled Sausage Time, will be Harry's first tour since 2006 and is no half-measure with 40 dates planned in around seven weeks early next year.

The bustling theatre tour kicks off in Canterbury on 7th February 2013 followed by dates in Oxford, Newcastle, Salford, Leeds and many more, including two nights in many locations, until the final of the 40 shows announced so far at the Edinburgh Playhouse on 30th March 2013 (the second of two nights in the Scottish capital). There is a London show at the Hammersmith Apollo on Tuesday 26th March.

We will have tickets available from 9am on Thursday 23rd August, priced from around £30.