Frank Skinner is back on stage and back on the box. Here, the comedian discusses the new primetime run of Room 101 and offers a glimpse into his 'showbiz' lifestyle...

Give me a glimpse into your life. What are you doing right now?

I'm sitting in the back of a car on my way to Victoria to go to work. That was dangerously close to, 'What are you wearing?' by the way ...

Work? What qualifies as work in the A-list comedy world?

I'm doing a TV show, Opinionated – we film it in Glasgow. I'll be writing on that today, then we go up to Glasgow. We'll film it, I'll edit it, then come back.

Opinionated did very well, showing straight after big-hitters such as Rev and Life's Too Short...

It was in good company, yes. You hope people watch Rev, then Ricky Gervais and hang around for me! We got more than most of them one week, but I try not to get too carried away. It's always nice to have witnesses if you do something good, but telly's changed. I was told I was 'trending' the other night, which doesn't mean much to me but is apparently a good thing.

I suppose my way of knowing if I'm doing things right is when I'm at the football and if people make a reference to something I've said on the show, I know I must be getting a few viewers, but you can go mad thinking too much about that stuff.

At this stage of your career are you a confident performer or still riddled with insecurity?

I think I'm probably a combination and that's quite important. I had a mate in comedy and I saw him do a gig. It started off with the crowd quite indifferent, then some booing, and by the end they were throwing beer mats at him. And I thought, 'Oh man, this is terrible' and he came and sat next to me and said, 'That went all right!' I knew he'd never be a comic, because if you are a comedian in your bones, you need for that sort of thing to hurt. You need to promise yourself you're going to get better. You need that insecurity, and pain, I suppose.

I interviewed Marvellous Marvin Hagler once and he always said that to be a champion you need to think like a challenger, and I really took that on board and still behave like that. I don't want to be a George Best comedian who can do it on natural talent. I want to keep putting the work in.

You're back on stage soon as compere of a variety show. Tell me about it.

We have done it before under another name. When the credit crunch was at its depths, I did the Credit Crunch Cabaret. It's me, a newish comic and then often somebody very strange, and another stranger person, and a headline. I thought it was nice not to do stand-up endlessly. We had magicians and burlesque performers, with me doing stand-up in between. We had a quiz and audience interaction and it did well. It felt very much like the Birmingham clubs I used to run when I first started off and it has that same nice feel. You get that relationship with the audience. I loved doing it.

So, Room 101 is back...

We've filmed a few already and I'm loving it. It's in the very bosom of the mainstream, which is quite new for me. It's an unusual line-up of guests, and they don't really behave the way you might expect. Chris Packham, Chris Tarrant and Alice Cooper – they're the perfect trio! They're vying to get their choice in, and they have categories, and they have to get their choices past me. They have to compete, and whoever argues best is the winner. It leads to some very unique styles of persuasion, so you end up with Robert Webb, while arguing to put Jeremy Kyle into Room 101, quoting from William Wordsworth, which was a very special moment for me

It is just another platform for comedians?

When they said it wasn't all going to be comedians, I wasn't sure, but it works. They key is, these people genuinely mean it.

People are at their most articulate when slagging things off, and the funny thing is that it turns me into Mr Positivity! I am the keeper of the gate, so can find myself arguing in favour of the Jeremy Kyle Show, which isn't a position I ever expected to find myself in.

Who are the standout guests?

You would be surprised at the people with the most rage. Gabby Logan was actually thumping the desk and it wasn't playing for the cameras. She wanted to put in people who moan about the Olympics and she got really passionate.

It's going to be YouTube gold.

Frank Skinner hosts Room 101, BBC1, Friday 8.30pm.