The last time comedian Gina Yashere was in Watford was when she was 16 and a boy brought her here for a date. They caught the train from Wood Green, where she lived, and walked around the Harlequin shopping centre.

“It was a crappy date,“ Gina admits. “I remember the buses in Watford were all green – the boy I don’t remember. Maybe I’ll go and hang around Primark when I’m back there, relive some old memories.“

Gina will be returning to the town to the slightly more auspicious surroundings of Watford Colosseum as part of her biggest tour to date, Laugh Riot.

The former lift engineer will be exploring it all, from her move from London to the States, her fear of cats, and how she found herself in a brothel in Singapore.

“You’ll have to come along and find out for yourself how I spent the night surrounded by prostitutes,“ laughs the 40-year-old who has appeared on Mock the Week, Live at the Apollo, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and The Lenny Henry Show, and who moved to the States in 2007 to further her career.

“I’m on the road for at least nine months out of the year, pretty much non-stop, and all the places I’ve been to end up in the show. Anything that’s been happening in my life, anything I’ve read about, seen, done, it all goes in the show – it’s constantly moving. I’m always writing right up to the second that I go on stage – it makes it more exciting for me. What I talk about will probably change during the course of the tour too.“

So will that involve some frantic rewriting to incorporate all the amazing experiences she’s bound to have in Watford (hopefully better than the first time round)?

“Exactly! Watford, step your game up, I want to see what you’re coming with!“