‘In the UK I can let rip...but in the US I’m more careful’

LIKE MOST variety stars, Paul Zerdin owes his success to a combination of talent and dedication.

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The super-slick TV ventriloquist has plenty of both, but admits to one downside. “I can't switch off,” Paul tells me. “Even on honeymoon I was writing material.

“At 2am I think of something and I have to write it down. I can't leave it alone.”

Mercifully, the new Mrs Z didn’t order the London-born puppet master to exit the marital bed and kip with his dolls.

“Emma just rolls her eyes,” he says.

“She understands me, she knows I'm always thinking of ideas, especially on holiday.

“I'm more relaxed, so I get inspired.”

Paul, 52, married actress and dancer Emma Hunter in September.

They live in the Surrey village of Cobham, popular with Chelsea footballers. “Despite that, it's still quite nice,” he jokes. “It’s good for Heathrow Terminal 5 - it’s just 20 minutes away.”

Which is handy given he has a new residency in Las Vegas, playing selected weekends at Jimmy Kimmel’s Comedy Club.

Zerdin, who tours the UK with his new Jaw Drop show this September, sounds altogether perkier than when we spoke after his first taste of Sin City turned sour.

He hadn't expected to win America’s Got Talent in 2015. As well as $1million, he also scooped a weekly three-night residency at Planet Hollywood for three years, but then had to perform there while still honouring UK commitments.

“It was a very stressful time. I felt like David Frost, jetting between the US and Britain for my tour, and slotting in meetings in New York and dates in Canada too. I was getting by on sleeping tablets and adrenalin.”

It became overwhelming.

“I had a breakdown. I was playing Vegas and meeting heroes like David Copperfield.

“It should've been the time of my life but it was the opposite. I could cope with the jet lag, I'm good when I'm tired. I'd fly in, unpack my case in the wings, have a bourbon and walk on stage.