Normally a man of many voices, Josh Berry is giving that busy tongue some downtime with his latest venture. It's a book!

"Staggering Hubris is a diary written from the perspective of my alter-ego Rafe Hubris BA (Oxon), an old Etonian, Clapham-dwelling neo-yuppie of implacable self-confidence but very little ability," Berry explains.

Rafe's memoir includes "all the good stuff" as he interacts with top governmentalists during the recent health crisis, featuring missing PPE, missed Cobra meetings, plus that Barnard Castle business.

"There's also a lot on what I presume occurred behind closed doors: gratuitous bullying of Matt Cock in his Hands (Matt Hancock) from everyone in government and a bitter rivalry between Princess Nut Nuts (Carrie Symonds) and Big Daddy Cum Cum (Dominic Cummings). Though what I've written is obviously parody, if I've done my job properly, I don't think my farcical imaginings will play too far from the truth."

That's out next month, but actually Berry is still being vocal, and he's currently taking Rafe to the general public.

"Being back in front of live audiences is an unparalleled thrill. I was initially worried about going on tour and having a show ready in time, but as soon as I got back on stage my desperate need to be the centre of attention extinguished all those fears."

The post-lockdown tour "hasn't quite been the rip-roaring cocaine-snorting, prostitute-shagging affair I'd imagined, it's been more of an in bed at 11 after an Innocent Smoothie kind of vibe. That said, this has been more than made up for by the shows themselves which have been so much fun.

"I'm very grateful to the assortment of young urban professionals that come and watch me now and who are willing to laugh at themselves. I feel like our ability to laugh at ourselves is rapidly being replaced by a stiff pomposity. We cannot let this happen, we are all laughable in some sense and should recognise that."

He's not wrong. But now let's take Berry back to trendy East London, a few years back.

First gig?

My first stand-up gig it was in March 2018 at Cafe 1001 on Brick Lane in Shoreditch. I can't imagine I was very good but about ten of my friends (making up about one third of the audience) who'd been nice enough to show up laughed at my initial attempts at humour. I would cringe extremely hard if I had to watch this first gig back now, but we all start somewhere I suppose.

Favourite show, ever?

The first time I did Leicester Square Theatre in March 2020 was really fun, it was a big jump in venue size for me so it felt like a real yardstick in my career.

I actually have very fond memories of the last gig I did in Henley-on-Thames. I was worried the audience might be a little stiff, but they were so up for it and gave me such great energy from the start. The theatre there is so beautiful too, I love a venue with a chandelier.

Worst gig?

There have been so many. Probably the worst was a gig I did where, playing Rafe Hubris, I died possibly the worst death of my career in front of two hundred of the uber posh. All the material was stuff that had worked before and has worked since but for some reason an ironic take on the upper classes didn't play very well to the upper classes (?!). Somehow I don't think these chaps will be buying the book or coming to my tour...

Which one person influenced your comedy life most significantly?

It's difficult to pick one, so I won't (IDGAF m8).

The first time I watched Bo Burnham's Make Happy in 2018 it made me want to do comedy on stage, he was so witty and clever it blew my mind. I take a lot of inspiration from his work ethic and the humility with which he expresses his estimable intellect.

Both Steve Coogan and Sacha Baron Cohen (particularly in Who Is America?) have also greatly influenced me. They do character comedy properly, taking a series of deft observations about groups of people and fashioning funny caricatures out of them. I feel like, done well, character comedy articulates things people have seen but haven't noticed; both Coogan and Baron Cohen do this really well, and so I try to emulate them with my stuff.

Is there one routine/gag you loved, that audiences inexplicably didn't?

I do a bit on stage as Rafe where I talk about how making people have to pay for healthcare 'would mean they value it just that bit more. Otherwise they might take things like kidney dialysis and coronary bypasses for granted'. This is obviously a mockery of people like Farage and Johnson advocating a privatised model of healthcare which to my mind is cruel.

Unfortunately, even though it's a joke, this may be too cruel for some audiences who pull back a little at the line. Perhaps even if it is a joke there may be some things that are too edgy to say. I think herein lies the difference between performing material and writing it, in the book I feel like I have more scope to be objectionable as Rafe whereas when I'm on stage I feel inclined to make him more likeable.

How were your lockdowns, generally and creatively?

Creatively, lockdowns were great for me. They allowed me to singularly focus on growing the Rafe Hubris character that was getting a lot of love on social media, which in turn allowed me to have enough of a basis to write a book from his perspective. I also had a captive audience for my videos which was ideal. Most of us were sat in the house bored and cross at the government which meant videos hammering the government were well-received.

Any reviews, heckles or post-gig reactions stick in the mind?

I was once told after a gig, by someone who worked at Number 10, that they'd shown some of my videos taking the piss out of specific ministers to the ministers themselves. The informant told me 'some of them found it really funny but it really hurt some of their feelings'.

This whole area is an interesting one, I don't set out to be mates with anyone I mock, but by the same token I don't want to upset anyone. That said, the image of Matt Hancock watching a video of me calling him 'Matt Cock in his Hands' and crying is quite funny...

How do you feel about where your career is at, right now?

Pretty good, but given how little I've overcome to be where I am, it should probably be in a better place than it is. I'll probably always feel like this though.

Staggering Hubris by Rafe Hubris, BA (Oxon), with help from Josh Berry, is published by Lightning Books in November

Staggering Hubris by Rafe Hubris, BA (Oxon), with help from Josh Berry, is published by Lightning Books in November.