When writer, comedian and actor David Baddiel makes his first ever trip to the Isle of Wight, he is hoping we will find his show, Trolls: Not The Dolls, funny and entertaining. He says his aim is also to equip us to 'deal with all this horribleness.'

His rescheduled tour rolls into Shanklin Theatre on Wednesday, October 6, at 7.30pm.

The theme?

"The acorn that grows into the tree of the show is the fact that one of the rare laws of social media, which is a bit like the Wild West, is the mantra 'don't feed the trolls,'" he explains.

Isle of Wight County Press:

For David, social media trolls aren't new.

In fact, they are little more than hecklers with access to the internet and comedians have been dealing with THEM for centuries.

"If you've got a deep commitment to sarcastic comedy, you can find Twitter uplifting," says David, who uses film and screens as part of a show designed to challenge that 'just ignore them' approach.

"There is no difference at all between someone shouting an insult from the dark when I'm onstage and someone doing it on Twitter.

"Never get angry - embrace it!"

David has taken to retweeting jibes on social media, adding a joke and pretending he embraces the tweet's message while at the same time demolishing it.

"I make comedy out of the anger, rage and abuse, rather than ignoring it," he says wryly.

David's tour actually started in January 2020 and ran for two and half months before, like others, it had to be mothballed.

The hiatus gave him a chance to tweak it and to reflect our experiences over the last sixteen months.

Isle of Wight County Press: David Baddiel poster.

"If anything, it's got a bit better," he says.

"It was quite difficult to drag my mind back to want to do a show. There's a certain mojo you have to have.

"I did a few warm-up gigs and after the initial sluggishness (from myself, not the audience), it was really great.

"It's about the madness of social media.

"Its intensification and grip increased in the pandemic.

"I've added bits and pieces and I've cut some of the jokes about Donald Trump.

"They're still funny - but I couldn't do quite as many now he's not president and not on Twitter."

For David, the real nub of what he has to say is about how identity is mixed up with opinion.

"People can't say something they believe without other people getting furious about it.

"I often do a joke about how Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, in one photograph, looks like Lulu surrounded by backing singers.

"I get crushed by SNP trolls.

"You think it's the death of comedy, but it becomes funny in the show because it's so over the top and so crazy."

For David, there are different types of troll: The classic; The 'very high minded sanctimonious people who tell me off in a head-teacherly way; And the people 'who can't get a joke at all'.

"It's hilarious how much people don't understand what a joke is.

"People are so frightened of saying the wrong thing on social media that some get very literal with comedy.

"Comedy is about deliberately saying the wrong thing in order to get a laugh."

When he crosses The Solent, David will be fresh from shows in Dartford and Dorking and as soon as he's done, it's off to Brighton, London and York.

This week, he posted a selfie after a show in Northampton - his fifth gig in six days.

Part of the problem with having to stop, he says, is that he moved from "medium middle age to late middle age and I don't have that much time in which I can do a two hour show every night and make people laugh."

"There's one bit in the show where I dance.

"Last night I said, 'I can't carry on.'

"It was getting loads of laughs - but that allowed me to get my breath and I had to sit down for a bit.

"I need to get these gigs in!

"I'm not going to be able to perform standing up for much longer."

You might know the 57-year-old as one half of the Newman and Baddiel and Baddiel and Skinner comedy duos, or as one of those blokes who sing Three Lions (no, there won't be a follow up, we asked), or as the grumpy story reader in dressing gown and nightcap on Horrible Histories, or as an author.

David's very clear about how he earns his crust: "My job description is story teller.

"It sounds like something from a fairytale, but it's true.

"I only do one thing - storytelling in lots of different forms.

"If I'm doing a stand up comedy show about trolls, that's one form of story telling.

"If I'm writing a book about antisemitism, that another one.

"Making a documentary, or being in Horrible Histories, they're others.

"A joke is a story and a lot of my stuff is about telling true stories."

The next step on David's storytelling journey is a musical version of his first children's novel, written with musical genius behind Everyone's Talking About Jamie.

"There's something totally brilliant about writing something that people sing and dance on stage to," he said.

He'll probably tell you about it on Twitter soon.