IT might not be the most picturesque Bedfordshire landmark, but two gigantic sheds at an airfield near the village of Cardington attracted the interest of comedian Simon Munnery.

"They were the biggest buildings in Britain at the time," he says.

"Now, of course, they're about one tenth of the size of an Asda distribution warehouse. But I'd seen them and wondered what they were."

As he quickly discovered, the imposing 85-year-old structures used to house the legendary R101 airship.

"So I read a book about the R101 and became an expert. Then I read another book, which seemed to contradict the first book, and I was no longer an expert, but still interested."

Nearly 780ft long with a diameter of 131ft, the R101 was the largest man-made object to ever take to the skies. At a time when even the fastest liner would take four weeks to travel to India, the R101 could do it in just five days.

But tragically, the great hydrogen-filled vessel crashed in France in 1930, killing the majority of passengers and crew, bringing the age of the airship to a dramatic close.

Inspired by the tale of this flying Titanic, Munnery concocted a new show, Hats Off To The 101ers And Other Material.

"It's mainly about the Other Material," he chuckles.

"The R101 is the title track, if you like, a six-minute punk rock musical about the R101 airship."

As part of his research, Munnery, who recently appeared in Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle, even constructed his own mini-R101.

"I built an airship out of Wilkes polythene dust sheets, some double-sided sticky tape and a hairdryer," he says proudly.

"My original template used rolled polythene tubing, which I hoped to inflate like a bouncy castle. I built a lot, but they were all too heavy, didn't inflate – I used hot air, not hydrogen – and leaked. In the end I built a kind of envelope – so I went through a lot of processes to make a bag, basically. It had R2012 on the side and flew into a tree.

"I have to say it was not as good as the original R101, although it was historically accurate as it did crash."

Raised in Watford and graduating from Cambridge University, Munnery appeared alongside Steve Coogan, Stewart Lee, Richard Herring and Patrick Marber at the Edinburgh Festival in 1992 before graduating to radio and TV.

Mixing straight stand-up, the absurdity of Spike Milligan and Monty Python, and the verse of "punk poets" like John Cooper Clarke, he toured regularly under the guise of revolutionary Alan Parker: Urban Warrior and The League Against Tedium.

"I've spent 25 years touring – but this is only the second time I've toured as myself," he says.

"There are several different characters in this show, but there is 25 minutes of stand-up where I am myself – although you are never completely yourself on stage. It's like putting on a telephone voice (adopts gruff tone): 'Hello? Battersea Dogs Home?'"

With the tour keeping him busy until the end of March, Munnery is already looking to the future, with plans to expand his intimate comedy/art/restaurant performance La Concepta, and possibly revive his angry Alan Parker persona.

"I'm sure I'll end up on a panel show somewhere too, I have a radio proposal to complete as well, but I have to get one thing out of the way first before I can start thinking about something else," he says. "I am making some little films at the moment ... and I should also write another book, so I have quite a long 'to do' list."

Simon Munnery appears at the Glee Club in Castle Wharf on Sunday, March 11. Doors at 7pm. Tickets are £7 and £12, call 0871 472 0400 or visit www.glee.co.uk