Susan Calman... is following a total sell-out Edinburgh Fringe run, and sold-out two weeks at London’s Soho Theatre, with a tour of The Calman Before the Storm which takes in Durham Gala Theatre and Newcastle's Northern Stage.

Calman is constantly referred to as very BBC Radio 4 – having done everything from The News Quiz to presenting Woman's Hour – and is on CBBC a lot, yet her four-year-old niece is the most terrifying human being she can imagine. She also challenges assumptions about her political stance, her height, her nationality and her sexuality.

Having worked on Death Row and at the United Nations in Geneva as a former corporate lawyer, Calman decided to give up her promising career to become a comedian in 2006 when she reached the semi-finals of the BBC New Comedy and So You Think You’re Funny Awards. A second series of her sitcom Sisters has been recorded and among a list of TV appearances are 30 episodes of CBBC quiz show Top Class.

Her first DVD Lady Like, which was recorded at the Citizens Theatre in Glasgow, is on sale now, and her book Cheer Up Love: Adventures in Depression with the Crab of Hate is out via Two Roads.

* Sunday, February 12, Durham Gala Theatre, 0300-026-6600 and Newcastle Northern Stage, Monday, March 6, 0191-230-5151