Some of these people were still in short trousers the last time original Comedy Store MC Alexei Sayle saw a comedy stage

The guy was right there at the start. A surreal/political comedy powerhouse and the original Comedy Store MC, famed for his hostility as much as his comedy, Alexei Sayle was one of the most potent catalysts towards the London circuit taking off, and why I'm sitting here writing this, and why your'e sitting there reading this.

And as you've no doubt heard, he's back. He's barely been near a comedy stage since he became an author in earnest in the mid-1990s. The closest he's come is book readings. He got the taste for comedy again after appearing in a comedy nostalgia show last May, and now he's officially dipping his toe back in, hosting and curating four nights at the Soho Theatre, or as he put it, "a lazy way of seeing people I want to see".

London is Funny grabbed a quick phone call with Sayle, 59, who spoke about how he has been lurking in the shadows of London's comedy clubs recently, and a few of his new favourite acts.

Tony Law
"I thought Tony Law was great, I saw him in Edinburgh and was very impressed. It was lunchtime in some little place, very surreal, very good. Surreal comedy still appeals to me very much. Comedy is at its purist when someone is getting laughs out of nothing, and a surrealist can do that. It can be really joyful.

Josh Howie
"Josh is a friend of mine, from before I got interested in comedy again. He's been my guide to the circuit, taking me round the clubs, like the 99 Club, the Store, Top Secret and so on. I hadn't been to a comedy show for 15 years before that.

"I like his comedy, he's straight down the line and has a gag-telling ethos. He has a messianic belief in the circuit, and he really believes in comedy. I liked talking to him about the nuances of comedy.

"It was interesting going out to the comedy clubs. There's that element where, from my point of view, I started all this. So it's kind of weird, it just happened to be me. This is what my creation has become.

"Comedy seems really odd to me now, but very interesting. You can understand what a play is, in the formal aspects of it, and you can understand what music is, but with comedy, you've got someone telling you about things that didn't happen, making stuff up, its' a strange artform. When I started doing it, it seemed natural. Now over the passage of years it seems very odd. People on night out listening to a bloke talk about suicide attempts."

Josie Long
"I enjoy her radio show a lot, I've heard her name around for a long time, I've not seen her live act though. It's interesting that she's taken this political direction. I wanted to have some comedians [for my show] who were a bit like me, or in the same area of comedy, and some who aren't.

"Like when I started out with the Alternative Cabaret [at the Comedy Store], everybody in that little group was quite political. That's one of the reasons I went to [less political rival comedy/cabaret night] the Comic Strip. No one else was doing what I was doing there. There were too many people just shouting about Thatcher.

"I think the audiences were wilder and more demanding in my day as well, although it was often me making them like that, I'd wind them up and attack them. MCs seem to do crowd work now by and large."

Alexei Sayle?
"For me this is an experiment to see if I can do anecdotal comedy that's different to what I was doing before. I want to be able to talk about me as me, not as a comic persona. I don't need the money or the attention, but I want to try and find a way of doing comedy that's different and has meaning for the audience as well. If I can do that, then it seems a waste [not to] if I'm a good comic."

Alexei Sayle at Soho Theatre takes place on Tuesdays from January 17 to February 7, call 020 7478 0100 or click here for full details. Other acts confirmed for the shows include Simon Munnery, Bridget Christie and Kevin Eldon.