"I'VE only ever got cramp in my face twice," said rubber-faced funnyman Phil Cool.

"It's terrible. Your whole face seizes up and it really hurts. the only thing you can do is relax until it goes away but when you're on stage you just don't know what's going to happen next."

After 30 years making a living from pulling his face, Chorley-born Phil is about to enter some uncharted comedy waters.

He will headline a night at the prestigious Edinburgh Festival and play America in August - two things he has never done before.

"It's quite scary really," he confessed. "I've done shows at plenty of theatres but Edinburgh and America are two very different stages, as well as being totally different from each other.

"I've been working on material for my shows in Los Angeles and I've come up with a really tight set but I will be on for much longer in Edinburgh and so it's more difficult." The former plumber is constantly on the lookout for new ideas. His latest set includes a side-splitting take on Jack Nicholson from the film A Few Good Men, where Phil turns Jack into Bugs Bunny and back.

"I'm really enjoying doing that sketch because it's going down brilliantly and I'm having a lot of fun with it," he laughed. "It came from the interactive television idea where viewers will be able to select their own actors, plots, endings, everything. I just thought it would be good to work around that idea and swap Bugs for Jack and it's hilarious."

Phil's repertoire includes everyone from Rolf Harris to Tina Turner and Terry Wogan to Sylvester Stallone but there are some celebrities he just won't do.

"Someone suggested I do Chris Evans because I have a look of him when I put the glasses on but I'm not going to bother because it won't work abroad in America or Australia where he's not well-known," he said.

"I still do Rolf Harris because I get lynched on the way out if I don't but I've been doing him for years and I like to include new characters in my show." And despite five television series and a substantial back-catalogue of videos, albums and books, Phil is still happy on stage.

"I still really enjoy it and I still get that buzz from being on stage but I love being at home with my wife Beverley and son Joe, who's four. I've never spent a night away from them until now. I've always managed to get back, so it is going to be hard to be away.

"Joe is absolutely brilliant and I've just been spending my time looking after him. He can sing and pull faces like me and I make him laugh, which is great."

Now 50, Phil has so far managed to resist the temptations of moving to London and lives in a converted barn in the Forest of Bowland, away from the spotlight.

"I love it because it is so peaceful and quiet," he said.

"I go away and I don't really like it, all the traffic and hustle and bustle.

"It's just not me.

"I'm just glad to come home."

Phil Cool is appearing at the Grand Theatre's Studio, Blackpool, on August 12, 13, 14, 15, 18, 19 and 20.

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