I’m sitting in a quiet, nondescript café in West London when – out of the blue - a cavalcade of celebrities suddenly appears before me. As if by magic, I’m unexpectedly face to face with Gok Wan, Gary Lineker, Simon Cowell, Arsene Wenger and Frank Skinner. It’s like being in London’s ultra-hip Ivy restaurant on a busy night.

That’s right, Alistair McGowan is back. The master of a million different voices is embarking on his first live tour for a decade. In “The One and Many … Alistair McGowan,” the comedian will be performing a brand-new one-man show.

But there is much more to his comedy than impressions – Alistair is truly a man of many talents. In the show he will also be delivering sharp observations on footballers, film stars, romance, animals, and “greenery”.

In addition, the stand-up will be displaying his trademark dazzling wordplay – he may even treat us to a spot of poetry. So what persuaded Alistair to come back to the live arena? “I did a panto at Christmas,” recollects the comedian, “In the middle of the show, I did a solo spot and it went really well. That made me think, ‘it’s great fun doing the voices and people obviously really love them.’ So I thought the time was right to go back.” His instincts were spot-on.

Alistair, who has built up a highly acclaimed career as a stage actor in productions such as Little Shop of Horrors (for which he received an Olivier nomination), The Merry Wives of Windsor, Measure for Measure and Cabaret, was also inspired to return to stand-up by a couple of other great comedians of his generation. “I would sit at home watching most sketch shows and thinking, ‘I don’t find this funny. If this is what makes people laugh, I don’t think I can do it anymore.’ In 1988, John Cleese said, ‘I’m retiring from comedy because I don’t know what makes people laugh anymore.’ I felt the same.

“But suddenly along came Harry and Enfield and Paul Whitehouse with their fantastic BBC1 sketch show, and I instantly got it. What they do is brilliant. They’re not trying to please anyone else – they’re just performing what they observe. You can’t try and be like the latest 22-year-old – you just have to do what you think is funny. Harry and Paul made me think, ‘I can do this, you know!’ So here I am, back performing live and trying to make people laugh.”

What is terrifically exciting is that Alistair has acquired so many new voices in recent times. “It’s four years since the end of The Big Impression, and when I sat down to plan the tour, I thought, ‘actually, there’s very nice clutch of people I haven’t done before.’” Hot-off-the-presses impressions include: Adrian Chiles, Arsene Wenger, Gok Wan, Bear Grylls, Harry Redknapp, Alan Carr, Fabio Capello, Jimmy Carr and Boris Johnson. After an absence from the stand-up arena of ten years, the comic also feels he has loads of new things to say. “I loved my time in the theatre, but I started to think ‘I don’t think that joke works’,” reflects Alistair, who won both a Bafta and a Royal Television Society Award for The Big Impression. “I did a Neil Simon play and 30 out of the 300 jokes always bombed. I thought, ‘I’d prefer to do my own jokes that don’t work rather than someone else’s!’ “I’ve had four years to re-fuel, and now I’m relishing the prospect of coming back with all this fresh material.“ Alistair McGowan, Epsom Playhouse, July 9, 8pm, £15, 01372 742555