He’s the sweetest comedian I’ve ever spoken to, but apparently Matt Price looks like an angry executioner ready to murder someone before he walks on stage.

It’s all part of his trancelike pre-gig ritual – a tradition he’ll no doubt be following before his show in Erith on February 3.

“I watch the whole show.” Matt told News Shopper.

“I watch people coming in, see how they speak to each other and feel the buzz in the room.

“I suss out who the right people are to talk to.

“I might see a guy on a stag do dressed as a dragon, and think ‘he looks like a bit of a character’.

“Then backstage I just switch off and pace up and down.

“I’ve got quite a serious face - I’ve got the wrong face.

“I look like I’m about to kill someone and that’s not a good look.

“I’m like an overweight, angry executioner who's doing a bit of exercise.”

But, unlike some harsh comics, Matt never singles out audience members to mock.

Instead, he loves nothing more than making people laugh with hilarious real-life stories.

The 38-year-old added: “I like telling the story about how I did a gig at Broadmoor maximum security hospital.

“Apparently I was booked because I have a nice personality.

“It was very interesting, and put comedy into perspective.

“I didn’t think of the moral implications, it was just a gig.

“They weren’t interested in spontaneity or having a good time though – it was a challenge.

“I’m not an offensive or edgy comic, but I was in a room full of murderers, rapists and paedos so I can’t help but be slightly edgy.”

The Cornish comedian, who has been on the circuit for 10 years, now lives in south Wimbledon.

From dreams of becoming a boxing journalist, the blogger went through a string of jobs including working in a call centre and in IT before falling into stand-up.

But he wasn’t successful straight away.

“Starting out, you get the harsh reality of performing on a Monday night to six people in Central London.” He said.

“None of them speak English and there’s a dog barking all the way through.

“After a while you see most things and learn to deal with hecklers.

“There’s only x amount of things people can say to a fat man from Cornwall.”

Matt adores his audience members, who have often had him in tears of laughter during his interactive sets all over the world.

“I like to think anything could happen, in a good way.” He said of his shows.

“I was doing a gig at Reading University and it was the sound engineer Jim’s last night.

“I said he could come on stage and have everyone say a nice, big goodbye to him, or he could go crowd surfing.

“So he went crowd surfing.

“It was brilliant – Jim hugged me and said he would never forget it, and the audience will never forget it either.

“I like to take an un-cynical, joyous approach.”

In some ways, Matt is rather like Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins.

“People feel I’m speaking specifically to them sometimes.” He said.

“Like a Cornish Dick Van Dyke.

“He’s had a long and successful career, there are worse things I could be called.”

Matt will be headlining at The Runaway Comedy Club at The Running Horses pub in Erith.

Larry Dean, Paul McMullan, Andy Storey and Kerry Billson will also be performing.

Doors open at 7.30pm and the show starts at 8pm.

Tickets are £7 and available from wegottickets.com or behind the bar.

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattpricecomedy