You’re a big reader, aren’t you?

What turned me on to reading was English O Level at school and the book that changed my life about wanting to read was Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, then Lord Of The Flies… and I carried on reading.

I’m reading a book by Deepak Chopra at the moment, and I really like self-help books. My favourite is Feel The Fear And Do It Anyway by Susan Jeffers.

A while back, my manager bought me The Alchemist by Paul Cohelo and I was hooked. Bradley Walsh, asked me what I was reading, so I gave him a copy, and said it was about a bloke who didn’t know what he wanted, so he went on a journey, and the whole story is revealed in the last paragraph. I told him to ring me when he’d finished it, so about two weeks later, about 2am, he rang and said ‘Squeaky - what the **** was all that about?’.

Since leaving the Jungle you have taken up quite a few hobbies – are there any new ones that you have taken up?

Well, I still go boxing four times a week, and of course I’ve got my pilot’s license, but I’ve now taken up running and am planning on taking part in next year’s (London) Marathon. I’ve started an Open University course in Geology. When I was a teenager I wanted to be a geologist, and was really into it but I got run over when I was 13. I had plans to go to university but then I lost a year’s school and was in hospital for about six months. I never caught upand got known as a bit of a div at school and was in the remedial class. I’ve realised over the past few years through the acting I’ve done is that I can learn a script in a day, so I can’t be that thick.

do you keep taking on these challenges?

I don’t want to turn into my dad! He’s got a mobile phone and he can barely turn it on and he keeps sending me blank texts or pictures of up his nose.

You worked your way up in showbiz through working as a comic at Pontins, but you also appeared on New Faces. What do you think of TV talent shows?

I think they’re a gift but it depends which way you look at it. Richard Holloway, the producer of Britain’s Got Talent, was the producer of New Faces when I did it, and executive producer when I was doing The Price Is Right. People like Richard and Simon Cowell have discovered that there are as many nutters around now as there were 20 years ago, and I was one of them… everyone wants their 15 minutes of fame.

What’s the bravest thing you’ve ever done?

I think jumping out of a plane into the jungle, possibly, but I suppose going out on stage in front of an audience is considered brave too. I went to Iraq two years ago and we were mortared in a helicopter, so bravery is all relative. One of my first jobs was at Smithfield meat market with all these chunky East End geezers and I was a 9½st weakling and had to keep up by making them laugh whilst carting carcasses about. I ended up being a wrestling referee at a holiday camp. Because it was me, being who I am, the old girls used to wet themselves laughing as I’d play it for laughs.

Why don’t you have your own website?

The internet is the world’s worst invention. I have someone on Facebook pretending to be me. So we got in touch with the Facebook people and said ‘It’s not me’, and they said I had to prove it wasn’t me.

But let’s face it, who would want to pretend to be me?

Do you still like touring?

I love the gigs, but the travelling is horrendous. We were playing Dudley, which is a two-and-a-half hour drive from my house, but which took 11 hours after I got stuck on the M25.

Who are your big comedy influences?

I was lucky enough to know Bob Monkhouse, and was close to him at the end. He was a great influence in my life and my attitude to the business. He was a gentleman, with not a bad word to say about anyone.

I did New Faces, and he asked me around and helped me get onto other shows. Like him, I’d rather be liked.

But you still enjoy performing?

Yes, and if you don’t, you have to remind yourself why you came into the business in the first place – the answer should never be for the money. I intended to be an actor, really, and I did a play recently with Stephen Berkoff for two nights at the New End Theatre in Hampstead. Berkoff had re-written the Bible, and wanted me to play David in David and Goliath.

it was quite sweary, and I never swear on stage, so it was quite exciting just swearing in front of an audience.

Berkoff is quite an intimidating person with a big reputation, and when I was reading for him he said ‘That voice you’re using – do you have another one?’, and I said ‘To be honest, no.’

Any more memorable career moments?

I got to host a BAFTA comedy event in Hollywood, and there were some great names there. One of the guests was Billy Connolly, and afterwards he came and found me, saying ‘I’ve been looking for you for ages’, and we had a great chat.

Tell me about the new tour? Well it’s called the ESP Tour and it features all sorts of craziness and a bit more of the ESP stuff. I’ve always been quite intrigued by that sort of thing. To be honest, it’s not something I really believe in, though. When I was in the Scouts, we used to go round collecting jumble. I got a lava lamp and a Ouija board, and me and my mate Kevin and some others went into the church and contacted a ghost called Colin, but we don’t know if it was real or just somebody pushing the board around. We put it back into the jumble.

Joe Pasquale is at Hartlepool Town Hall on November 6. Box Office: 01429-890000.