THE North East hasn't always been kind to comics.

The Sunderland Empire crowd seemed to take great pleasure in throwing a spanner in the works of fledgling careers, and Sid James drew his last breath on the theatre's stage, though it isn't known whether hecklers were the cause.

But the region has been more than generous with its talent too, and Gavin Webster is the latest in a long line of stand-ups with a Geordie's winning way with a vowel sound.

He takes to the mike on Wednesday at Pontardawe Arts Centre for their Punchline Comedy Night.

Having grown up in a house where Bobby Thompson was still king, Gavin is a dedicated gag man, who has no truck with homogenised comedy, he says.

"When I was starting out comedy clubs used to be a bit underground and a bit dangerous, and you might go along and see one act you laughed at, and you might like the compere, but the rest were doing things you didn't quite understand.

"And I liked that. I think comedy needs to push the boundaries.

"And if you see an American comic doing Jewish jokes you might not get every single reference they make, but you have experienced something new and you have got a slice of their life as well. I think that is all part of it."

So you will get a good dose of North East humour in Gavin's show.

"I'm 42 and when I was growing up Bobby Thompson, The Little Waster, was huge in the North East.

"He had an album out that outsold Grease, the album of the film, in my part of the world. If that had spread worldwide it would have been the equivalent of Thriller or the Dark Side Of The Moon.

"I think one in every four homes in the North had that record. And his was very local, working class humour.

"He was talking about debt and credit and the dole, things everyone up there knew about."

And it might be that communities who live with tough times have to develop their funnybones more acutely.

"People talk about some regions of Britain being funnier than others. I think there is something in that. "Maybe it comes out of industrial towns, where people get together and have the crack, as part of their working life. And I think you're right, communities that have had hard times maybe develop more of a sense of humour to cope with it.

"I think the same thing is probably true in some communities in Wales, so I'm looking forward to getting down there."

Caimh McDonnell will be the support act on the night and James Cook comperes.

8pm start.