s there some sort of masochistic outward bound competition going on between British comedians?

In 2006, Little Britain’s David Walliams covered his body in grease, filled his ears with Abba, the Pet Shop Boys and Morrissey, and swam 21 miles across the English Channel in ten-and-a-half hours.

Last year, Eddie Izzard, not noted previously for athletic stamina, trotted and jogged 43 marathons in 51 days – more than 1,120 miles.

Dave Gorman, due in Bradford next week, beat that, cycling in excess of 1,500 miles across Britain in 33 days. Not satisfied with blisters and muscle-fatigue, he rounded off each day with a stand-up show, in venues ranging from a 2,000-seat hall in Bristol to a Victorian railway station dining car in Scotland with room for fewer than three dozen.

David Walliams and Eddie Izzard were at least raising money for good causes. What prompted Mr G to get on his bike to travel Britain rather than, say, take trains and do a stately railway guide like Michael Portillo?

He says: “I would say their challenges were tougher, but they didn’t do a gig every night. I don’t think there is any competition, but I tip my hat to Eddie Izzard. He’s absolutely mental. He didn’t know it couldn’t be done. If you asked a professional athlete to do what he did, he wouldn’t do it.”

Dave is no stranger to challenges. His Googlewhack Adventure, which he brought to St George’s Hall in 2004, recounted his 91,000-mile journey around the world.

The show was a sell-out global hit and Dave wrote a best-selling book of his journey.

The adventure began after Dave turned 31 and resolved to put away childish things, “to grow up and write a book.”

In a desperate attempt to distract himself from the looming deadline for his novel, he spent several months (and his advance) hoofing around the world looking for people connected to 'Googlewhacks'.

These are two random words, such as ‘dork turnspit’ which, when inserted into an internet search engine, lead to only one website. The comic embarked on a frantic race to complete a chain of consecutive ‘lost arks of the internet’ before his 32nd birthday.

Of his cycle tour he says: “Lots of men approaching 40 (he is 39 next month) do John O’Groats to Land’s End. You just feel the need to prove you can still function. It started out as just me on this big bike ride, to see if I could do it.

“My manager suggested that I tour as well. I said, ‘Oh no, I’ve done that, I don’t want to do another tour’. But he said, ‘Go on, get some writing done and we’ll put the two things together’.”

Olympic gold medal cyclist Chris Boardman gave him a bike – the champion racer also went to a gig at a little town in Cumbria. A spare cycle was carried ahead on the van transporting lighting and sound equipment, which some of the smaller venues didn’t have. Apart from that, Dave cycled alone.

Because the ride didn’t follow the usual theatre route, people unable to see the touring show complained. So the man from Staffordshire has taken to the road again, this time without handlebars and wheels.

Even so, his Sit Down, Pedal, Pedal, Stop & Stand Up tour is a marathon of a kind: 72 shows at the last count. Why do comedians – why does he – like doing long and intensive tours?

He says: “If you can avoid giving yourself a hard time being away from home, doing shows is fun. We are lucky people to do something we enjoy for a living.

“Once theatres knew about the tour they asked us to come and do a show. People e-mailed me, saying, ‘How dare you come to, Yorkshire, say, and not do a show’. I wrote back to them. People wanted to see the show.

“It does seem to be a recession-proof industry. If people feel they’ve got a trusted evening’s entertainment they are willing to spend money on it. It must be harder for people at the other end of the scale.”

His rural ride occurred when the country was banking towards economic crisis. What was his take on the state of the nation during that month in the saddle?

“It was pretty jolly. It wasn’t as depressed as the media would have you believe. My encounters with people were by and large happy. I was seeing rural Britain.

“I’d be travelling from Cambridge to Ipswich without seeing a car. I saw a green and pleasant land.”

Not an overcrowded scruffy little island concreted over with ugly carbuncles?

“If you care to take a step out of your environment, it’s there,” he added, meaning the green and pleasant land. “I went from Swindon to Bristol over a disused railway line. Apart from a few minutes going through the suburbs, it was like riding over tartan.”

Dave declined two offers from television companies to make a documentary of his epic ride. Wouldn’t there be enough good material for a book, though?

“Since you’ve asked, I don’t mind sharing this with you. My girlfriend Beth rode the last 15 miles with me to Dunnet Head in Scotland, the most northerly point in Britain. I proposed to her at the end of it.

“I had spent a lot of time on the ride contemplating if I wanted to do that. It makes the journey special and private to me. I didn’t want to turn it into profit,” he said.

Dave Gorman’s show at St George’s Hall on Tuesday starts at 8pm. The box office number is (01274) 432000.