JAAP Stam had just parted company with Reading FC. Some fans were joyous, others were despondent.

On walks Jason Manford, with a hilarious tale about the time Lee Mack tried - and failed - to tackle the Dutchman during a charity match and you could feel the tension melt away.

The Mancunian funnyman is in a rare bracket of stand-ups to do a full two-hour set without the aid of a support act. 'Why pay somebody else to do a job I am capable of doing myself?' Sound logic.

If you ever get the opportunity to see Manford live, I implore you to take it. He is incredibly genuine and I found myself laughing and nodding in agreement throughout his observational onslaught at The Hexagon.

His new show 'Muddle Class' is a mixture of comedy and life lessons in the best possible way. His final words to the audience were 'just because you are struggling, it doesn't mean you are failing' and sometimes I think we all need that reassurance in the stress of modern life.

Coming from a working class background, the transition into a successful showbiz lifestyle has left Manford, 36, in a bit of a muddle.

As a proud Manchester City fan, I imagine his sympathy for a former United legend in Stam was minimal. But even those who wear the blue jersey are not exempt from his wrath.

Take Carlos Tevez. He was throwing the usual kind of tantrum that only comes with being paid silly sums of cash to kick a ball around for a living. Poor Carlos. Anyway.

Reading Chronicle:

Manford had been booked for the Professional Footballers' Association awards dinner and had been pre-warned by his colleagues that he would be in for a tough ride.

With a full set of gags in his armoury, all of his professionalism vanished when he saw Tevez in the crowd after a six-month absence from training.

'If I am going down, then you're coming with me, Carlos,' Manford explained. The manager had been 'disrespecting' Tevez, who said he was being treated like a dog.

Manford replied: "Well, you do chase a ball around a park for a living."

It is fair to say a lot of his humour if fuelled by the dysfunctions of family life; both during his childhood up north and his new life in London. It all comes from a place of love and the audience remained captivated by his sincerity.

What a lot of people won't know about him, is he is also an incredibly talented singer and not just Tyrone from Coronation Street, a fat Michael Owen or, my favourite likeness, that guy from the Plusnet adverts.

A lot of his set came back to an underlying theme of duality; a wrestle between an idealised version of ourselves and the reality. The battle between eating a salad for lunch and raiding the cupboard for Jaffa Cakes in the early hours of the morning. We've all been there.

As a parent, Manford is constantly caught between his working class roots and the life he is building for his children. He doesn't have many rules, but a blanket ban on Disney films - due to the volume of parents who die at the start - is a good place to start.

Jason Manford is back at The Hexagon on May 23. To book tickets, call the box office on 0118 960 6060.