Stand up is one of the few jobs safe from Al

MARION MCMULLEN discovers how Russell Howard is serving up a punchline to modern technology as he hits the road with his Don't Tell The Algorithm tour

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The tour is called Don't Tell The Algorithm. Are you technically minded?

(Chuckles) No. It basically came from this idea that essentially we are now lap dancing for robots.

We have these phones that tell us what we like and know what we like and we go to this kind of bubble.

It just feels that so much communication and sharing of entertainment takes place through these kind of tech sectors saying 'This is your thing and this is what you like!

There is something beautiful about going to the cinema or going to a concert or a stand-up night where you are basically having a night off from your machines. So the tour is a night away from the phones and a shared experience.

It's basically don't tell the algorithm that we are having an evening without them. I don't lock people's phones up or anything like that but it's so nice to go to gigs where the phones are away because you are so much more present and invested in how you talk to people. We are crying out for those human experiences, I think.

Are wary of the rise of AI?

Stand up is one of the few jobs safe from AI. There is no AI that could compete with hanging out with Billy Connolly. Ultimately you want to be in the room with this shaggy-haired guy.