GAVIN Webster has been a stand-up comic for the best part of 20 years. But up until this Sunday, the only way to be a fan of his was to go and see him in the flesh.

“I think I’ve made it hard for people to be proper fans of mine,” says the 43-year-old. “There’s never been anything to buy or take home ... so if someone tells a friend they like what I do, there’s never been any proper way for them to show them.”

Unless they attempt an impression?

“No,” he says with a laugh. “Whenever people try and ‘do’ me, I always sound rubbish.”

Where he won’t be sounding rubbish though is on his debut CD: Gavin Webster’s Northumbrian Assembly, Volume 1.

Released on Sunday at The Stand comedy club’s weekly gathering which shares its title, the CD promises to combine stand-up snippets, sketches, songs and other stuff in a feast for the ears.

“I’ve been thinking about doing it for a while,” says Gavin, who is the eponymous host of the increasingly popular Assembly nights at The Stand, Newcastle.

He is quick to refute any suggestion that his first comedy release offers a once around his ‘greatest hits’.

“Not really ... it’s more about 30-second bursts of stand-up and sketches and songs which aren’t necessarily suited as well to being done live. There’s hopefully stuff on there which will surprise people as well.”

So what can we expect to hear on volume one?

“Let’s see, there’s a sketch I’ve done with (fellow comic) John Scott about two blokes from Edinburgh, in space. Proper Edinburgh, not posh Edin- burgh. There’s a track from when I was in a boyband called Chicken on the End.

“There’s a song about young people. There’s a song about there being fewer social groups than you might imagine... I realise that might sound a bit weird, but I don’t want to give too much away.”

Gavin Webster’s Northumbrian Assembly, Volume 1 is launched on Sunday at The Stand, Newcastle. It will also be available from www.gavinwebster.co.uk  with the first 20 orders getting the promise of an in-person delivery from the comic himself.