COMEDY star Isy Suttie has mixed feelings about the prospect of playing to a home crowd when she performs at Derby Assembly Rooms on Wednesday.

"I love Derbyshire," she explains. "I grew up in Matlock and it's a beautiful area to visit but it's many years since I've actually performed in the county.

"The last occasion was at a comedy night in Wirksworth. I was still a novice back then, polishing my craft and, on that particular night, I really bombed. It still makes me cringe a bit to think of it."

That isn't an experience that Isy has repeated in recent times, however.

With numerous radio, TV and live performances under her belt, plus a blossoming comedy writing career and an award for Best Newcomer at the 2005 Chortle Awards, there is little doubt that she is pretty adept at raising a few laughs these days.

"It really is a case of finding your niche and then being comfortable in it," says Isy, who writes and performs comic songs and has been favourably compared by critics to Victoria Wood.

"I guess my style has evolved in a similar way to Victoria's in that I often write about the trials and tribulations of everyday life with off-beat observations thrown in," she says.

The topics which are likely to be aired at the Assembly Rooms include meeting a guy in Sainsbury's and a conversation between a little girl and a sadly neglected green sweet.

Isy puts her success down to lots of energy, hard work and the will to succeed.

"I think I had the ambition and drive to become a performer in one sphere or another from the age of four," she says. "For a while I had visions of myself as a Wimbledon winner. The ambition faulted somewhat after an unfortunate incident as a teenager, in which I took a £1 bet and jumped off a bridge into the River Derwent.

"At this point in the conversation I definitely need to add a 'Don't try this at home kids' because, basically, it all ended badly and I broke my ankle. I then decided to concentrate on my other dream which was to become an actress."

Isy reveals that her interest in performing was encouraged at the Highfields Secondary School, in Matlock, which had a strong drama department, and her membership of the Bakewell Youth Theatre.

It was at the Guildford School of Acting, however, that she fully realised her talent for music and comedy.

"I played guitar quite well and had several serious attempts at writing songs. The most enthusiastic response I got, however, was one night when I was messing around and sung one of the songs with a comic foreign accent. My friends found it really funny and I just got a real buzz out of making them laugh. I was hooked."

At the age of 30 – recently celebrated in Matlock Bath – London-based Isy has become well-respected as a regular performer at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, a writer for several Radio Four comedy shows, a comedy consultant for the Channel 4 show, Skins and plays Dobby in the Peep Show.

On her return visit to Derbyshire, she will be much more of a hit this time.