If you wish to be at any of the recordings for the third series of Radio 4's Banter, the tickets are here. If you've been before you'll know the drill, except this time we're at the Drill Hall (in Central London, off Tottenham Court Road), which is a more traditional venue for Radio comedy. I can't wait. It's the best job in the world: sitting in the middle of really funny comedians with no pressure upon you to be as funny as them.

In order to remove myself from my comfort zone, I accepted a kind invitation from Robin Ince to appear on the bill of his comedy night The School For Gifted Children (son of The Book Club) at Battersea Arts Centre last night. I haven't really done actual stand-up before, and indeed my main experience of standing up in front of an audience and trying to make them laugh has been the Banter warm-up. (We can't afford a warm-up comedian.) Because I am not a stand-up comedian I think audiences are lenient towards me, and are prepared to laugh at my jokes because I don't tell jokes for a living.

I often talk about serial killers when I do my warm-up (because I am very interested in serial killers, proving that I am not one), and I prepared a ten-minute routine about it two years ago for a comedy night hosted by my publishers, where certain authors had to get up and entertain people from the book trade, in order to persuade them to stock our books in their shops. (In other words, prostitute ourselves.) This was made into a video podcast, if you're interested, which you can still get here in audio form (I think you have to download the video one from iTunes). I wrote about it on my blog here. Anyway, I refined this routine for Robin's night at BAC and, thankfully, he put me on at the beginning, so that the audience didn't have many other proper comedians to compare me to yet. The seasoned genius Graham Fellows, for instance, was on the same bill, and Josie Long, who was on the front of the Guardian Guide. It was fun to hang out in the tiny dressing room with so many friendly comics beforehand, and nerve-wracking beyond belief to hover outside in the corridor, waiting for Robin to introduce me. I needn't have been nervous, as the audience were very friendly and didn't heckle me. I went onstage in my woolly hat and long overcoat so that I could show them what I looked like when stopped and searched under the Prevention of Terrorism Act, which dovetailed into my talk about serial killers. I overran and Robin had to come on and tell me to get off, which I did, but that's because I'm not experienced and have no idea how long ten minutes is unless someone tells me. Anyway, a good, invigorating, palette-expanding experience outside my comfort zone.

Come to Banter. It's mainly other comedians. (The show is broadcast on R4 in April. Dates as I get them.)