“A nice tricky question to start,” laughs Richard Gadd. “We’re definitely in Cambridge.”

But for all my (shoddy) attempts to channel my inner-Jeremy Paxman, Gadd – an award-winning stand-up comedian – is unfazed. Instead, he delivers a fantastically lucid and concise explanation of the premise of his show, Monkey See Monkey Do, that is coming to the Cambridge Junction on the 18th February.

“The show explores masculinity in the modern age, and mental health, too,” Gadd explains. “The monkey is a metaphor for my inner primal urges. Not to give away all the details, but it’s a show that explores those themes whilst I pound away on a treadmill for 10 kilometres.” He pauses and then laughs. “I swear it’s funny, even if it doesn’t sound it”.

But the Scot is doing himself a disservice; no unfunny show could have received wholesale critical acclaim and secure the prestigious Edinburgh Comedy Award at the 2016 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Like his previous shows, including the glowingly reviewed Waiting for Gaddot, it challenges the traditional genre of stand-up, which is something that comes entirely naturally to Gadd.

“I like to test myself,” he tells me. “But I also think it’s important that art forms transform and take on new guises. It’s very important that it keeps developing and doesn’t suffer stasis. Comedy has progressed so much in recent years: you have alternative comedy and even the old-school ‘man and a mic’ comedy, but I think it’s important to do something different.” After all, he points out, “No one’s broken the circuit by being a carbon copy of their predecessors.”

“A joke can be as offensive as you want it to be, so long as there’s a good moral point behind it”

Richard Gadd

As well as pushing the boundaries of the genre, Gadd has been willing throughout his career to tackle some tough subjects. While his early work addressed drugs, violence and sex, this current show will tackle masculinity, anxiety and mental health. All are challenging and potentially taboo topics: does he think there are some subjects you simply cannot joke about?

“No,” he tells me, albeit applying the caveat that “you have to joke about them in the right way – it depends on where you’re coming from. A joke can be as offensive as you want it to be, so long as there’s a good moral point behind it.”

Indeed, he is keen to emphasise the importance of offence in comedy, arguing that “you need to test people and make them think. You can’t just be inoffensive and get off stage – art needs to change mind and opinions.”

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“We’re at a crisis point in civilisation,” he continues. “We’re in an age where people get offended for offended’s sake and I don’t think that’s good because it makes people timid in their art. You need to push boundaries. We need to be using comedy and painting and other art forms to make people think and change their opinion. And I think offence is a way of making them feel uncomfortable – a way of making them think.”

And as far as making audiences think, Monkey See Monkey Do is a show that will certainly meet that brief. Indeed, as if to reinforce Gadd’s point that “comedy is all about life experiences”, the show has a raw and deeply personal element to it, by virtue of its coverage of the huge personal mountain he had to climb to overcome a sexual assault he experienced five years ago.

I am honestly not sure whether to ask about it. I circle around the subject for a while but Gadd admirably takes my tentative – and I hope, not too obvious – allusions in his stride in characteristically articulate fashion. To him, discussing the experience on stage is something like a cathartic release: “when you haven’t spoken about something so traumatising like that, you feel like you will implode. And I was at that point – I was going to implode.” Therefore, he says, “it seemed easier for me to go on stage and talk about it rather than going around people individually.”

“This show wouldn’t work and wouldn’t be the success it was if I wasn’t pushing people outside their comfort zone”

Richard Gadd

I commend him on his incredible bravery, before asking what role he is hoping to play by bringing his experience into the public domain. He is – as he has been throughout the entire interview – humble, refusing to describe himself as “a spokesman.”

“I’m not famous,” he says, “but I’m in the public eye and if I can make people think, and talk about the issue, then that’s a good thing.” He is looking to make a difference, though: “I’m working with some charities, too, but I’m not an expert, and would never market myself as such.”

Indeed, returning to the experience’s place in the show, he is commendably pragmatic: “this show wouldn’t work and wouldn’t be the success it was if I wasn’t pushing people outside their comfort zone.” But this raises an interesting question in regards his appearance in Cambridge – namely, the relevance of the topics covered in his show to the potential audience of students, the mental health of whom is a perennial point of discussion.

He is suddenly disconcertingly adamant that the show “completely applies to all the people in Cambridge, so it’s clear everyone should come down and buy tickets”. It takes me a moment to realise that he is – like all good comedians – joking. Fortunately, by the point the embarrassment begins to manifest itself, he has returned to being a friendly, and refreshingly self-deprecating, Scotsman.

“I don’t think there is an age limit on the show”, he says, but acknowledges “it probably will work well for 18-25-year-olds because that’s when you’re developing and trying to figure out how to become an adult.” Indeed, he continues, “a lot of the show is about being a confused young adult and I think it’ll resonate with that audience best. I like to think my comedy, at least with this show, is accessible enough for all.”

“Perhaps not prejudiced people,” he adds, as an afterthought. “I hope it’ll make people who are prejudiced rethink their actions, but I’m not sure whether they’ll like it.” Fortunately, I point out, he is coming to the renowned liberal bastion of Cambridge.

“That’s true”, he says, chuckling. “I’m less looking forward to going to Leicester.”

Richard Gadd will be performing his new stand-up show, Monkey See Monkey Do, at 8pm on Saturday 18th February at the Cambridge Junction. Tickets cost £11.50 and are available here