LAST year, Jake O'Kane's annual comedy tour of the north literally got off to a flying start when an uninvited audience member flung themselves at opening act Terry McHugh during his set at Enniskillen's Ardhowen Theatre.
"Terry had had two strokes the previous year, which of course he didn't tell me about until we were back out on tour," explains O'Kane of his fellow north Belfast comedian who will be on opening slot duties once again for The Blame Game regular's upcoming Walking The Line tour.
"I was in the dressing room listening to his set on the wee tannoy and the next thing I heard a scream – and I s*** myself. I though, 'aw f***, he's dropped on stage'.
"So I went tearing up to see what had happened: a bat had flown from the back of the theatre and dive-bombed him on the stage. Even Terry himself thought he was having a stroke."
Of course, this freak occurrence immediately became one of 2017/18's No One Shouted Stop! tour's recurring gags – and it seems that the same flying furry fiend may also make a cameo at the opening date of the new tour, which kicks off at the Co Fermanagh venue on December 27.
"They can't get the bat out because it's a protected species, so the bat is now part of the show again this year – just hopefully not when I'm on," chuckles Jake, whose regular late December starting 'review of the year' jaunts around the north have become a sell-out fixture of the north's comedy calendar.
"I'm quite looking forward to getting out there, for a change," he tells me. "Getting unfettered access to the public is always enjoyable, with no producers or lawyers or TV execs telling me 'you can't do that' or 'you can't say that'."
Not that Jake knows exactly what will feature in the show just yet, what with an election looming and the fact that he hasn't actually written most of it yet. As any skiving schoolkid will tell you, leaving revision to the last minute ensures all the relevant material is freshly installed at the top of your brain – plus, current affairs 'bits' never stay current for long, especially here in Northern Ireland.
"I always hold off," he says of the shows, which routinely employ Irish News-sourced visual aids for the topical gags.
"People don't believe me but I've honestly only just started writing the thing. I've got ideas, obviously, I'm like a magpie picking up stuff all year that I want to talk about but I never start writing until a couple of weeks before the show. Because I've done that before and you just have to rewrite stuff."
Besides, as a diagnosed coeliac of advancing years with a bad back and faltering eyesight, there's plenty of material closer to home for the father-of-two to draw upon when slegging the usual suspects starts to lose its lustre.
"I'm not doing as much politics now," he admits. "I used to do an awful lot more but when you think about it, nothing much has changed in a year: there's a Paisley scandal – we had one last year – and there's Brexit – still going on – the Shinners have disappeared, they're still hiding, the DUP are still making d***s of themselves.
"We've another idiot in 10 Downing Street, another secretary of state whose name nobody can remember. It's all the same stuff, it's like Groundhog Day."
Indeed, as the veteran funnyman explains, the crushing familiarity of the news cycle here over the past couple of years has pushed him towards creating shows which include a lot more personal material alongside his customary politically orientated sleggings.
"I've noticed that it's morphed into a stand-up show," O'Kane admits.
"It's still grounded here – I'm always talking about stuff from here because that's the whole idea of the show, that it's a 'review of the year' – but I'd say 70 per cent is just stand-up: it's me talking about getting old and bits falling off and not working, finding a new form of underwear that gives a man support in his middle age – all these really important things that need to be addressed."
As for this year's show title, while it refers to both the comedian's equal opportunity policy when it comes to taking aim at our political leaders, it could equally have been inspired by his country-inclined listening habits which definitely tread a fine line between cheesy and cool.
"I had a horrific experience with Spotify during the week there," reveals Jake, whose family hail from Draperstown in rural Co Derry.
"My kids signed me up for it and I didn't realise that they give you a yearly break-down of what you've been listening to: among my top five artists were Glen Campbell, John Denver and James Taylor – it's the most easy listening, middle-aged stuff ever. My wife was disgusted.
"But there was another one in there, Lil Nas X, which made my heart skip a bit: I thought 'I'm down with the kids' – but even that turned out to be that one he did earlier in the year [Old Town Road] which was like a hip-hop version of country and western.
"It must have been being brought up in the country, you see – when it's in your blood it doesn't leave ye."
Despite tomorrow's Westminster election being described as of 'once in a lifetime' significance, you won't catch Jake at his local polling office. Famously, he refuses to vote in our local political popularity contests, and this year will be no exception.
"There's two reasons for that," the comedian tells me. "One, it seems to annoy people greatly, and two, I can't walk on stage letting on to be 'uninvolved' if I'm going to sneak off and vote one way or the other. It's the only way for me to show I'm 'out of the game'."
Jake adds: "Plus, the last time I voted was in the Brexit referendum, because that was outside of here – and I lost."
Sadly, despite the fact he seems to have a firmer grasp of reality than many of our elected representatives, it seems there's no chance of Jake switching careers from comedy to politics either.
"Here's the problem with that – there's every chance I'd win," he chuckles.
"And I really don't like the idea of spending four years sitting beside Jim Allister in the naughty corner. I can think of better places to be."
Jake O'Kane's Walking The Line tour begins at Enniskillen's Ardhowen Theatre on December 27 and visits Belfast for four nights at The Ulster Hall from January 9 to 12. Tickets via Jakeokane.com/tour
Friday December 27: Ardhowen, Enniskillen
Saturday December 28 & Sunday December 29: Market Place, Armagh
Monday December 30: Marine Hotel, Ballycastle
Thursday January 2 & Friday January 3: Theatre at the Mill, Newtownabbey
Saturday January 4: Strule Arts Centre, Omagh
Thursday January 9 to Sunday January 12: Ulster Hall, Belfast
Friday January 17: Island Hall, Lagan Valley, Lisburn
Saturday January 18: Millennium Forum, Derry
Friday January 24: Canal Court Hotel, Newry
Thursday January 30: McNeill Theatre, Larne
Friday January 31: The Braid, Ballymena
Saturday February 1: Alley Theatre, Strabane
Friday February 7 & Saturday February 8: Riverside Theatre, Coleraine
Friday February 14: Burnavon, Cookstown
Saturday February 15: The Great Hall, Downshire Estate, Downpatrick
