Rob Beckett laughs as he admits he had no idea what the Edinburgh Fringe was until he became a comedian.

Beckett first appeared on the comedy radar in 2009 and said he was clueless about the festival until his friends told him that it was a must for up-and-coming comedians.

The Londoner is now preparing to return to the Fringe after a two year absence with his new show Mouth of the South and says he can't wait to get back to the Scottish capital.

He said: "I just love it, there's so much amazing stuff going on. A lot of comics get the hump about doing it but you've got to remember that it's such a brilliant showcase of what you do.

"Doing the show everyday makes you a better comic and that's the overall outcome you want. It's an opportunity to get better every day, which is hard to come by."

However, despite his love for the Fringe, Beckett says he knows he's unlikely to be nominated for any of the festival's top awards.

He said: "I'm never going to be a Fringe favourite really. I'll sell tickets but I'm never going to be the one up for the awards, I'm not whacky enough, or crazy or alternative.

"A lot of comedians say I want to win the Perrier, it's all I've ever dreamed of. I'd be a liar to say that because I didn't even know it existed, how can you want to win something you didn't even know was there to win?

"I want a DVD out and to do the O2 but you're not allowed to admit that because that's not cool or edgy but that's what I like. I can't pretend I want to win all these arty awards."

The comedian has had a meteoric rise over the last five years and is now a regular on 8 Out Of 10 Cats and Mock the Week.

It's a far cry from his early days when he used to practice his material in his local park in Greenwich.

He said: "Being a comedian was a dirty little secret to start with. I had nowhere to practice so I use to walk round the local park saying my jokes out loud. My Mum's mate Debbie saw me and said to my Mum 'I think your boy's gone mad'. My Mum pulled me to one side and said why are you talking to yourself in the park and I had to come out and say I'm trying to be a comedian. It was like coming out as gay, coming out as a performer in a working class family."

Beckett, who cites his influences as Billy Connolly, Richard Prior and Bill Hicks, says he's always loved comedy but thought it was only for larger than life characters until he saw Peter Kay and Alan Davies.

He said: "Alan Davies and Peter Kay inspired me to give it a go really. Before that all comics were crazy big eccentrics and I was just a normal kid and I thought I can't do it, I'm boring. When I saw Alan Davies and Peter Kay I realised you can be as funny as those guys but talk about normal things."

The comedian decided to give stand-up a go after watching a bad act at his local club and says, from that moment, he knew it was the career for him.

He said: "My Mum always said to me try everything, it's about getting rid of the things you don't want to do. I knew I didn't want to be a builder, I didn't want to working in a pub or an office and then I did comedy and I thought this is what I want to do, I loved it from day one.

"It was like the first time I had a can of Fanta Twist, I had it and I was like, this is for me."

Beckett's style of conversational comedy has won him a lot of fans and created a strong bond with his audiences,who often see the comic as more of a friend than a performer.

He said: "I've always really liked comics where you get to know them a bit more. I like the feeling of holding court in a pub that's got out of hand.

"Once when I was on stage this lady didn't clap, she waved goodbye. That's one of the biggest compliments you could get, she completely forgot she was at a show and just thought she was listening to her friends."

However, despite his success, Beckett admits that he has never written out a full comedy show and says his enthusiasm often results in him accidentally giving away new jokes, leaving him with no new material for future tours.

He said: "I’ve never in my life written out a full routine and thought this will be the punchline. I'll just go on stage with bullet points. I talk about the same subjects because they're the key material but I'll always do it in different ways and I'll add new bits.

"The only problem is that other comics will write jokes and put them In their little vault for the next tour. I should do that but I don't, I'm just to excited and throw it out there so by the time the next tour comes along I've got nothing. It makes the tour good though and it pushes me to write more next time."

The Fringe may have been unknown to Beckett when he was starting out but it actually played a small role in landing him his job as the host of I'm a Celebrity's spin-off show, I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here... Now.

He said: "I was in Edinburgh in 2012 and they were looking at replacements for Russell Kane. They came and saw my show, liked it and invited me for an audition.

"I'm not doing it this year, I love doing it but I never got a chance to do a big tour because I was out there for so long in the autumn."

However, the comic says there is no way he would ever appear as a contestant on the show.

He said: "It's horrific, I can't believe they do it. If I was desperately skint I wouldn't do it. I'd have to be in some serious tax problems to go and do it so if you ever see me in the jungle you know I've messed up."

Rob Beckett will perform at the Pleasance Dome from August 10-16 and 18-30.