Jonny Pelham on politics, comedy and jam

Two years ago, during a performance of his debut hour Before and After, Jonny Pelham had to deal with a bunch of pissheads in the front row.

While such brewed droops are an occupational hazard for any comedian, the episode lingers in the memory for the way Pelham calmed them by seeming to do nothing at all. It was a little like watching a teacher who never raises his voice – the one who the kids try to kid, but end up learning something despite themselves. "I started in Newcastle and a lot of my early gigs were at The Stand Comedy Club," Pelham explains. "The Stand have a great policy for not heckling, and I think that helped me 'find my voice', in the sense that my delivery can be quite slow. But, there, I could speak at the same pace and tempo. It meant that when I went to perform at really pissed-up comedy clubs, I found that keeping the same pace of delivery was the way to do it."

Before and After's premise derived from a letter he received from the NHS offering him cosmetic facial surgery. It was as if the health authorities thought Pelham was too unsightly for the rest of us to look at. Though he mined great humour from this missive, it was the identity crisis it triggered on which the show centred. Pelham had grown up embracing that, born with a cleft palate, he looked a little different.

His second hour, Fool's Paradise, focussed on therapy and the help it offered him with anxiety. Now, in Just Shout Louder, he is trying to get out of himself, to live a normal life and grow out of his shelter, however comfortable it may be. "One of the things I'm talking about in the show is having such helpful parents," he says. "And I'm aware what a first world problem that is, but it meant that I never had to do much. They would bring the world to me – in a wonderful loving way."

He adds: "I am very avoidant of life. I've never had a proper job, because I went to university and then did comedy. And had I not gone into comedy I think I'd have become an academic or a therapist. I think maybe I would have gone on to a PhD. And these jobs and comedy are all taking a step back from the world. Therapy is observing people, academia is talking about the world." And comedy? "Comedy is a combination of them both."

Stand-up isn't exactly for the faint of heart though: "Doing comedy has definitely given me the confidence to do more things and an identity. It was helpful to be able to say, 'I'm a comedian'. I'm in my first proper relationship, which is peculiar I guess, for a 25-year-old guy. A lot of the new show is about that, how it came about, why it took me so long and how it is going well."

Pelham must often find himself caught between his analytical intelligence and the kind of anxiety which can crease in on itself, which threatens to make someone a prisoner of their own brain. "I'm taking more risks. It's great for my life – but also makes it more terrifying."

This includes becoming more politically active. "What has stopped me before was fear of the complexity of the world. You think, 'let's raise taxes on the rich,' but that might end up with unintended consequences. The world becomes very grey, complicated and confusing."

But Pelham is learning to trust his gut: "I knocked on doors for Corbyn. I just love the fact he brought jam onto The One Show. Or when people say he's got to be a strong leader and he's more into his allotment. It's a jargon-y word but I do think he is very authentic."

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Jonny Pelham: Just Shout Louder, Gilded Balloon, Teviot (Balcony), 2-27 Aug, 7.45pm, £6-£11