Stand-up Felix Dexter grapples with his multiple personalities long enough to talk to Matthew Jenkin about his latest tour.

ONLY a few hundred years ago admitting having several voices in your head would land you in shackles in the nearest rat infested loony bin.

Nowadays, however, they put you on stage with a mic and expect you to be funny.

Fortunately for veteran stand-up Felix Dexter, making people laugh at his schizophrenic smorgasbord of well honed characters isn’t a problem.

His Multiple Personalities in Order tour, heading to Croydon’s Fairfield Halls on January 29, sees the award-winning comedian reprise three of his most popular characters from BBC2’s recent Bellamy’s People.

“It’s an amalgam of people I have come across as well as exaggeration for comic effect,” explained Dexter of his creations — archetypes who include wideboy and self-styled entrepreneur Early D, pro-British Nigerian Julius Olufemwe and Cotswolds public school architect Aubrey Dubuisson.

He said: “I love doing character comedy because that’s the sort of area which really rocks my boat comedically.”

The pompous Dubuisson is, in fact, based on people he met while training to be a lawyer — a career which he says he left behind to pursue a love affair with an American, only to end up falling in love with stand-up instead.

It was a financially risky choice, of course, but with box office tills currently ringing with the sound of laughter, not a bad decision in the long run.

“The main reason for comedy’s current popularity is the cheapness and accessibility in terms of making TV programmes,” says a cynical Dexter.

He added: “The media is always looking for the next big thing but it’s also looking for something which is going to cost them very little.”

Dexter may have found success with a mainstream audience but many black comedians remain very much out of the limelight.

It’s a problem which the comedian says needs to be redressed.

He said: “The people who make the decisions go out looking for comedy in mainstream clubs and a lot of the good black comedians still tend to perform to principally black audiences.

“But there’s a lot of talented people out there.

“You could say there is an archetype of the Oxbridge Footlights performer which dominates British comedy.

"That influence is still very strong.

“I wouldn’t say there was a major headache with that.

“I think it’s something which is moving in the right direction but there could definitely be a lot more representation of black comics.”

Felix Dexter — Multiple Personalities in Order. Fairfield Halls, Park Lane, Croydon. January 29. 8pm. 020 8688 9291 or visit fairfield.co.uk