JASON Manford reacts well when it's suggested he has a split personality, the attention span of an insect and sees happiness as a constant pursuit.

"It's all true," says the comedian, laughing. "But why can't I make life more simple? In fact, when I look at this job (his eyes survey the London rehearsal studio) I sometimes think 'Why am I here?'

"I've got a job I'm quite good at, so why am I starting again, learning to sing and dance and all of that?"

Jason's response to the split personality and other little accusations suggests a man who doesn't take himself too seriously.

He didn't know at first there was license, in that we share the same birthday; he's also an unrescuable Gemini.

But the personality profile does explain why he's taken on the role of timid account Leo Bloom in Mel Brooks' world success comedy musical, The Producers; he needs to constantly challenge himself.

"I do," he says, smiling. "But I feel this is the right show for me. "It's always had comedians in it, from Gene Wilder to Lee Evans and Peter Kay. For me, it's all there."

The Producers began life as a 1967 cult film starring Gene Wilder and Zero Mostel, was remade into a far less good film in 2005 but meantime was turned into a stage show in 2001.

The story of the theatre producers who do their damnedest to make a flop show - and fail - is clever, silly and hilarious.

"It's all about getting laughs, but they don't necessarily have to come from me," says Jason.

"When I was doing the clubs I was usually booked as an MC and I think that's because I looked at the show as a whole, rather than making it about me.

"It's the same with this show. I'm here to help others get there."

The challenge for Jason is to play the man-child, someone who's scared, but slightly devious, the grown man who keeps a piece of his kiddie blanket in his pocket as a comforter when all goes wrong.

"Yes, but the show is the star," he maintains. "It's so funny and so brilliant."

You can only mess it up, then, Jason?

"Exactly," he says laughing. "But even when we do on occasion, that's funny as well."

Manford hasn't done too much to mess up his own career. He's a stand-up who can sell out stadium. He's also an accomplished actor, see recently in BBC car salesroom drama, Ordinary Lies.

But he didn't do his career any favours when it was revealed in 2010 he'd been a little too explicit with texts to ladies he wasn't married to.

Was he prepared when the guardians of the nation's morality sent down their thunderbolts in the form of headlines?

"You can never be," he says, with a shudder. "But what you've got to say is 'Look, I'm a comedian. I'm not a politician or a priest.'

"And I think everyone has a moment when they think 'I hope no one finds out about this.' You see, everyone has something going on. We've all had the downside. Peter Kay's had it. Michael McIntyre's had it."

He pauses to reflect; "And while it's hard when you're in the eye of the storm, you've got to look at the (negative) publicity and remind yourself you've got a great life.

"What this job overall means to me is that my kids won't have the start in life I had. That's the positive thing."

The teenage Jason Manford was something of a lost soul - bright, but not an academic over-achiever, confident and funny - but never enough to consider a career as an entertainer.

"I liked a laugh at school, but no one expected me to become a comedian."

The idea had been planted however after seeing Billy Connolly play live.

"I was about ten when I went to see him and I was blown away. It was the first time I realised laughter could sound like thunder.

"I used to memorise his routines and tell them in school. I had a Scottish accent for about three weeks after seeing him.

"I still think he's the best. He's a genius."

Meantime, on leaving school, Jason was clueless.

"When I left I worked on a building site for a while, worked in Burger King. But I kept getting sacked. I had no respect for authority.

"Then I went home one night and my mother told me the facts of life.

"She said; 'There's not enough money in this house for you to sit on the couch. You're a man. You eat like a man. And we can't afford a man to be in the house without a contribution."

Jason trundled off to college, studied Theatre Studies and realised he loved the chance to perform.

"I'd always been in plays at schools. If I'd worked in an office I'd have been the fat bloke telling stories all the time."

Meantime, he landed part time work in pub that happened to stage comedy nights.

"I was blown away, not because they were all brilliant but because they all got paid. And then one night I saw Peter Kay perform and realised the love in the room for this guy. And I wanted some of that."

This realisation a chubby northerner could become a stage success sent Jason's mind soaring. And when seen in the Producers, it's his career star which will soar even higher.

"I just like to make people laugh," he says, simply. "And in a show like this, so long as you learn to sing and dance, and work hard, the rest just falls into place."

* The Producers, the Theatre Royal, June 15-20.