Chris Addison's perfect weekend

Stand-up comic Chris Addison is best known for his lecture-style shows. He played Ollie in the BBC2 satire The Thick of It and appeared in spin-off In The Loop. He is a University of Birmingham graduate. He shares his idea of a perfect weekend.

It's Friday afternoon. What's on your mind?

Unfortunately, or fortunately, I suppose, I'll probably be thinking about ironing a shirt so that I can go and do a show. My weekends tend to revolve around other people's weekends. So I'll be getting ready to entertain other people.

If I'm not touring, I'll be thinking about which lovely bottle of white wine should go in the fridge and whether I should put whiskey in the kids' milk, so that my wife and I can enjoy an uninterrupted night on the sofa. If it's the latter option, I don't need to worry about which shirt to iron.

Who normally has the pleasure of your company at the weekend?

It's difficult to tell through the lights, my weekends are spent with an amorphous mass of people who are hopefully laughing. Otherwise, they are spent with my lovely wife.

How do you prepare for a big night out?

Months in advance. Big nights out are a well-planned operation – I'm 40. They involve baby-sitters who, at the last minute, will arrive late, spinning us into a panic.

Then, when we eventually get out of the house, I'll be wearing mismatched socks. Our big nights are usually spent in London.

What's your favourite party outfit?

I've got a jacket, a Henry Holland one, that I absolutely love. It looks great and I can put it over anything and it still looks great. It's the maximum impact with least effort. I'll pair it with a good set of boots.

You've just arrived at the bar. What's your first drink?

It depends on the bar and the day. Usually it's beer. I love lager and I do enjoy a good beer, I'm perfectly happy with a real ale.

I basically drink anything but Bud, I would rather not drink than have a Bud. It smells and tastes of . . . you know . . . Look, if you've been in a pub the moment they open and there's that horrible acid stench of last night's beer trodden into the carpet, that's how Bud smells.

What is your favourite nightspot and why?

Nightspot? What sort of a man do you think I am? I'm 40. It would be unfair to single out a particular venue because there are so many. There's a theatre in Canterbury that I love, at the university. It's a beautiful space with a fantastic crowd and it's only a 45-minute drive from home.

There's also a lovely new theatre in Shrewsbury, it's really good, Theatre Svern. It's very intimate. They've done that really well.

What tune always gets you on the dance floor?

It's old but Deee Lite's Groove Is In The Heart, that always gets me on the dance floor.

It's a sunny Saturday. What are you up to?

We'd probably take the kids out, that's what we do. Maybe we'll go down to Whitstable, which is a lovely seaside town an hour down the road. We take the kids for a walk. We'll usually find ourselves gravitating to somewhere where there's there ice cream and smiles.

What's your most memorable weekend ever and why?

The fact that it's memorable should mean an instant recall, you would think, however. . . hmm, I don't know.

One of the most memorable was when I was in Australia, at the Melbourne Comedy Festival, about 10 years ago. The festival was like a stand-up Shangri-la. It was the best place in the world – outside of Shrewsbury and Telford and Stafford! It ran for three or four weeks and we'd get every Monday off.

On one Sunday, after the show, we hired a car and headed along the Great Ocean Road to a cabin that we'd hired in the valley. I was with The Mighty Boosh. The cabin was built on stilts and we were able to look through the eucalyptus trees to the ocean. Outside there was a barbecue and we put candles around it then cooked the finest freshest food that we could imagine. That was the point that I realised I was in the right job. It was magical and odd and unexpected and it lasted just two days.

What's the recipe for a perfect night in?

That's easy, a bottle of wine, my wife and a West Wing box set.

Favourite DVD? And what would you eat while watching it?

I guess the West Wing would be it and I will never get bored of watching When Harry Met Sally; it's so brilliantly written, every line is a joke. I would always choose to eat pasta, I love pasta. If I could I would eat pasta every day, I would have pasta for breakfeast – I would get up each morning and eat a bowlful of spaghetti with lemon.

Sunday breakfast – cooked or continental?

Cooked, when we can, we've just introduced my son to bacon sandwiches. There'd probably be eggs benedict too.

Sunday lunch – home-cooked or down the pub?

Home-cooked. I love a Sunday lunch down the pub, but that's a thing for your twenties. Now I love to be at home. We have a family lunch and sit around the table and talk about the week. Half of the conversation is inevitably taken up with taking about the food.

Where and how do you like to relax?

I'm a home guy and I like to relax in my house. It's really odd, my life is like a negative of other people's lives, because my life for 16 years has revolved around other people's nightlives, so for me, the opposite is the thing that is most attractive. The most relaxed I can be is when I'm home.

You've got a whole weekend off and a wad of money in your back pocket – which country or city would you head to?

It's a toss-up between New York (the greatest city on earth, obviously) or Italy. I'd probably go for Italy. My wife and I would go to Verona, sit outside a cafe, drink wine and watch the world go by.

* Chris Addison plays Stafford Gatehouse on November 16. His DVD is out the same day. He comes to Shrewsbury and Birmingham in March 2012.

See www.chrisaddison.com