AGORAPHOBICS are being invited to leave the house (if that’s ever possible) and get some therapy from funnyman Lee Hurst when he visits East Lancashire at the end of this month.

Taking a trip to Burnley with his latest tour, Too Scared to Leave the House, the former star of BBC’s They Think It’s All Over said that he has discovered that personal fears are far worse than the global ones.

According to Lee, acid rain, global warming, bird flu and mad cow disease are just minor worries that his audience have.

During his latest show, the popular ’90s comedian asks his audience to write down their fears on a piece of paper and then offers his advice.

“It’s really surprising what people are actually scared of. You have the popular fears like being scared of the dark and a lot of people say they are scared of growing old,” said Lee, who also confessed that he isn’t due to re-train as a shrink anytime soon.

“The strangest fear that I have encountered so far was this one person in particular who was afraid of street lights — yes lamp posts!

“But after chatting about it, it turned out that the fear came from their childhood and it was understandable. Away from my original concept of the stuff that goes on around the nation, I have found that people are not scared of world terror, they are worried about the everyday things.”

Currently half way through his tour, Lee has also been busy redeveloping his Backyard Comedy Club, in Bethnal Green, which is now a 131 bedroom hotel with a bar underground, providing entertainment to people in East London.

“It’s been a great project to develop the hotel, literally from the ground upwards, but because of a bureaucratic delay the project was taking a while to come together so I needed something else to concentrate on. I thought I would keep myself busy and divert my attention to this tour and it’s been great so far,” said Lee, who has been touring the country since September last year.

With a hectic schedule Lee’s face is well-known in the world of telly, as a personality and panellist on Channel 5’s The Wright Show.

But with this being the 50th year of his life, the comic wants to concentrate on touring and connecting with a wider UK audience.

“Television is something that I have always enjoyed doing and if somebody approached me with an idea that I liked I would really consider doing it. It’s great to have a bit of variety, but my main aim is to make people laugh that’s what I like the best.“

  • Lee Hurst, Burnley Mechanics, Wednesday, January 30, details from box office on 01282 664400.