After a life of loveable yet sharp TV panel show appearances under a shaggy, puppy-like lid of curly hair – which became the trademark feature of Jonathan Creek for almost a decade – it was clear Alan Davies was going to be a likeable bloke.

But as he approaches 60, the QI star’s people-pleasing public profile along with his happy-go-lucky armour has cluttered all around him. But what’s underneath is much more salient, as I discovered while watching his most personal – and perhaps worryingly raw – stand-up show yet at the Edinburgh Fringe.

‘If I’m a cake, there are all these ingredients in me, right?’ Alan tells Metro over Zoom, in a tone that suggests ‘stay with me’ on this admittedly unsatisfactory metaphor.

‘The cake that I’m putting on stage is not the same. It’s like the ingredient

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