WHEN you've watched grown men strip off in a live performance of The Full Monty while sitting next to the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, you'd think the opening story of your stand-up show would be pretty much written.

Not so for Gyles Brandreth.

That's because he has so many cracking tales that it's difficult to know where to start – does he go with Prince Philip's reaction to The Full Monty, or does he recount the time he Moonwalked with Michael Jackson while the pair were stuck in a lift?

Thankfully, both true stories have made the cut in Gyles' One to One Show, which comes to the Assembly Rooms on Sunday.

"Yes, there's quite a lot of name-dropping in the show," laughs Gyles, whose CV is crammed with a staggering list of jobs including actor, author, presenter, government whip, MP and now stand-up comedian.

"It's basically an evening for people who enjoy a good theatrical story and who enjoy the English language and want to come along to have a laugh.

"They'll also be able to see me performing the roles of the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, Michael Jackson and myself, so there really is something to suit all tastes."

When it came to writing the show, those two particular stories immediately stood out for Gyles – he just had to figure out how exactly to tell them.

"I had the absolute privilege of going to the Royal Variety Performance with the Queen and Prince Philip," Gyles recalls fondly. "I sat next to the Duke of Edinburgh in the Royal Box and that is certainly not an experience you would forget.

"The Duke's banter is very, very funny. It was mostly Greek to me at the time but I managed to pick up the jist of it.

"That experience is one of the stories I recreate during the show – I perform the roles of the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh and myself."

The same goes for the moonwalking story, where he tells it both through his eyes, and Michael Jackson's, and one of the King of Pop's bodyguards.

"Then there is the time I got stuck in a lift with Michael Jackson and we practiced moonwalking," he says, in such a nonchalant, off-the-cuff way that you'd think it was nothing out of the ordinary.

"We had both been invited to an event organised by Uri Geller and we were on our way there when the lift became stuck.

"So there I was, in a lift with the King of Pop and four of his minders.

"And he spent the few minutes we were stuck showing me how to moonwalk."

It's a jaw-dropping story that has you wondering whether or not he's pulling your leg, but Gyles – known for the zany jumpers he wore early in his career – insists that every word is true.

Indeed, his exceptionally varied career has given rise to countless tales that he draws on in his show – anything from the wicked ways of Westminster to his brushes with celebs and the things he has seen as a presenter on The One Show.

The end result has been splitting sides since it debuted at last year's Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

"The show has been going really well but there have been some mishaps – and one in particular that I don't think I will ever forget," he says dramatically.

"I was in the middle of telling one of my best stories in the first half of the show, when suddenly I heard this exceptionally loud yelp from the crowd. I thought, 'this is going tremendously well, it is fantastic'.

"Anyway, it turned out a man in the crowd had suffered a heart attack! He was taken away by ambulance and, thankfully, he has fully recovered. His wife was very gracious throughout the ordeal – in fact, she said afterwards that at least he would have died laughing!

"But, of course, the poor gentleman and his wife missed the second half of the show but I am hoping to see them both in Derby, as long as they don't spoil the stories in the first half that they've already heard."

Gyles agreed to take the One to One Show on a nationwide tour after the Edinburgh slot because his agent asked him if he would do just four or five performances.

"Then he rang me and said 'Gyles, I've booked you 45 performances'," he laughs.

"It turns out I'd misheard him on the phone. And Derby is the last one.

"It all ends at the Assembly Rooms this week.

"The show has been great and I am a firm believer in the live audience. There's something quite different and highly enjoyable about having an audience there because they help to change the show with their reactions to each joke and each story.

"It changes little by little every night and that's what I like – for each performance to have a different feel for each audience."

WHAT: Gyles Brandreth's One to One Show

WHERE: Derby Assembly Rooms

WHEN: Sunday, November 20, 7.30pm

TICKETS: £16

BOX OFFICE: 01332 255800