British comedian Tim Clark wants you to know he is multi-talented. 'I'm walking around and making coffee and stuff,' he said from his home in Liverpool this week. A fairly impressive feat, he stressed, considering he was in the middle of a 9am phone interview, having performed the previous night. Beyond his physical dexterity, Clark is also funny. Britain's The Guardian described his stand-up performance as 'brilliant', while The Stage called him 'a significant star'. In his 10-year career he has appeared on a variety of British television shows, including Channel 4's The Happening and the BBC's game show Give Us A Clue. He has written for Channel 4 and appeared on a variety of radio shows. But the 40-year-old comedian scheduled to make an appearance in Hong Kong next week cites stand-up as his favourite part of the job. 'Stand-up is the best by miles. It's live and you're never quite sure what's going to happen. You have to improvise a lot, it's very exciting. It's just what I love doing.' Clark had to convince his Beijing promoters of the unexpected nature of stand-up when he performed there in 1995. 'They wanted a translation of my act in Mandarin. I said we couldn't do that. I think it would be impossible - so much of my act is in the here and now. Forty-per cent of it I won't know what's going happen,' he explained. His job has not always been that unpredictable though. Up until 10 years ago, Clark was in the much more secure occupation of social work. A decade ago he decided to make the move into the career that had been a passion since he was a child. 'It's something I always wanted to do. I thought, 'if I don't do it now, I never will,' so I did. I started doing little shows in pubs,' he said. 'Social work was just something I fell into really, it wasn't what I especially wanted to do. I did enjoy doing it and it was something to bring the money in. But once I was able to get money in another way, it wasn't hard to leave it.' His early days as a comedian were not always easy, however. According to Clark, negative reactions from the audience motivated him to improve his act. 'I've been booed off,' he said. 'It made me want to try harder the next time, put things right that I thought were wrong. 'The biggest area you can learn from is gigs that are bad. Just keep on. If you play the violin, you learn to do it pretty well before you go on stage. In stand-up you can't do that. Initially you're pretty bad, you've just got to go through all these bad things. It's all about learning from experience,' he said. Not that he is in any rush to share his wisdom with up-and-coming performers. 'I don't want young people coming up and trying to steal my work. I've got no advice for them at all,' he said with a laugh. What has kept him in an industry that is difficult to break into and even harder to stay in is his passion for what he does. 'Being on stage, I love it. I can't tell you how much I love it, it's a complete joy.' Clark believes comedy for him is somewhat therapeutic. But, he says the biggest drawback to being known as a comedian is people expecting him to be funny all the time. 'When I was at school, I was the class clown, and yeah, it was nice. But sometimes if you go to a party and people know what you do, you feel under pressure to be funny all the time. Sometimes I'd rather say I was a tax inspector or something,' he said. Clark gets his material from a variety of influences, instead of focusing on particular experiences. 'It's a mixture of working hard and being lucky,' he said. 'Sometimes it's just by looking at things and thinking about things. Some things just come to you when you least expect them, and you have to write them down on whatever scraps of paper are available. 'Other times you have to sit down, like a job, and think 'right, I've got to write some stuff now'.' Clark is excited about bringing his brand of humour to Hong Kong next week. It will be his fourth time performing in the region. He is optimistic that he will be able to entertain across cultural boundaries. 'The most important thing is that [my material] has a common frame of reference for everyone. I think it's my job to sell it. That's what you are when you're on stage, you're a salesman.' Also on the bill for next week's Punchline Comedy Club are Paul Tonkinson, a BBC regular, and magician Carey Marx. The Punchline Comedy Club, June 10-13, 9pm. The Viceroy, 2/F Sun Hung Kai Centre, 30 Harbour Rd, Wan Chai, $240. For ticket information, call 2827-7777. Also available at http://www . webhk.com/punchline