Irish comedian Sean Hughes is unrepentant about a controversial joke relating to Madeleine McCann, he tells Brian Boyd

BACK in May at the Hay on Wye literary festival in the UK, Sean Hughes told a joke that was based on that day's visit by Kate and Gerry McCann (the parents of missing child Madeleine) to see the Pope in the Vatican.

"I know the Pope was in the Nazi youth, but I really don't think he has anything to do with the child's abduction," joked Hughes. The next day RTÉ's Liveline ran a number of complaints about the "sick" comedian.

"It was absolute nonsense," says Hughes, 41, back on the stand-up circuit after a nine-year break. "It was an attempt to create a story on a non-news day. I really thought that old 'shock, horror' Ireland was gone, but apparently not. The joke was about the Pope and his links with Nazi youth. I stand by it. I heard there were people calling for me never to be allowed work again. It's idiotic."

According to Hughes, the problem people have with the joke might stem from the fact that his last few TV appearances - on Coronation Street, ITV's The Last Detective or even his role on the music quiz Never Mind the Buzzcocks - have portrayed an amiable sort of chappy but that his live solo work still very much has an edge.

"To give you an example, the other night I was playing a gig in Ipswich and all the place is really famous for is that story a few years ago where a guy murdered lots of the town's prostitutes. A group of people came into the show late and I said 'What kept you? Have you been out murdering prostitutes?' It got a big laugh but the next day I was front page news in the local Ipswich newspaper.

"It seems like I can't leave anywhere these days without 'shock and horror' stories appearing the next day in the press. The other night I played Birmingham and it was a Monday night and not a full house, but I noticed that one of the shows on after me in the same venue which was sold out was by Jim Davidson. I told the audience that I'd rather tell the truth to a half-full house than be a total c**t like Jim Davidson."

This current UK/Irish tour comes after a long break from live work, which saw Hughes work in theatre and TV. "It was everything, really, from playing Shakespeare in the West End, to doing the play Art and then earlier this year having a six-week part in Coronation Street. That choice even surprised me but I only did it because it was so short. I wouldn't have signed up for a year or anything like that. I did it because I don't like being typecast; I like doing these very different things."

Thrilled to be back touring again, Hughes describes his show as very much the reflections of a "41-year-old man who still thinks he's 18".

"I go through most things from A to Z, but it's how I get there which is the interesting part for me. I'm still doing what basically every stand-up out there is doing: talking about the big events. But there's also stuff about being Irish, about terrorism and about what happened when a woman had an epileptic fit in my house once.

"The show is very story-based and one of the main stories is about how I got caught in the 2004 tsunami. It was a near-death experience in that I missed it by about 15 minutes. I sort of thought that having a near-death experience would radically change my life and how I approached it, but that feeling only lasted for about two days, which was very disappointing."

In a two-hour show Hughes frequently gets very close to the knuckle, though not in a contrived way. "It really is a free-form show in that I say what I want to say. If people get up in arms about something I say, I really can't help that. But it's not something I set out to do.

"I'm really enjoying it this time around, and the audiences are a real mix of everyone from 18 to 60 years of age. I'm looking forward to the Irish gigs - I'll be using them as a warm-up for my show in Aberystwyth later the same week."

Sean Hughes is at Elmwood Hall, Belfast, tonight; Vicar St, Dublin, tomorrow night; and Cuba Comedy Club, Galway on Sunday