With Edinburgh Festival less than two months away the preview shows begin in earnest at Wimbledon Studio this week. One of the funny men trying out their material will be Dan Atkinson with his new show Death By A Thousand Pricks. Here, he answers our questions...

Where do you live? Where do all comedians live? Crouch End of course. Well, we bottom feeders live in Crouch End. Then whenever one of us makes a bit of cash we swoop up the hill and get something with a natty view in Muswell Hill.

What do you do? Erm – comedy? I make a mean lasagne too. And like all of us I'm just existing, seeing out my days until the inescapable indifference of death swallows me.

Who makes you laugh? Good slapstick. People being punched hard, people falling over, general injury. And most comedians make me laugh. As soon as I start naming names I won't stop and if I limit it to just a few I'm bound to forget people then feel guilty for a week.

What is your favourite London venue? The King's Head in Crouch End. Yes it's good for me because it's at the end of the road, but it's the kind of club that comedians like to play. That's where generally you'll get that perfect mix of a comic giving a proper performance, but being loose enough that it's an original event.

What are you/should you be famous for? Nothing. And fame would be awful, don't you think? If I'm ever famous I hope that it's for some kind of grand humanitarian gesture like killing George Osborne or at least going to toilet on his lawn.

Which celebrity do you look like? I don't really know. The guy in films who sits at the side of the road during a car chase and does a double take at his bottle of booze? Does he count?

Whose sex face would you like to see? Without a doubt George Osborne. I think it would be fierce and full of hatred for whoever he was with. He would imagine it was an immigrant or a working class single mum and that he was solving society's problems with his penis.

Audiences love it when I... gig fully clothed.

Audiences hate it when I... physically assault them then burn the gig to the ground. But you've got to get off stage somehow!

Dan Atkinson, Wimbledon Studio, The Broadway, June 23, 7.30pm, £10. Call 0844 871 7615 or visit newwimbledontheatre.co.uk for a full list of all comics performing previews.

Interview courtesy of londonisfunny.com