STEP away from the mobile phone. Put away the tablet. The wonderfully acerbic comedian Rich Hall is coming to Salisbury and is demanding your undivided attention.

The American-born Hall comedian, who was raised in North Carolina, is performing at Salisbury City Hall on June 5 at 8pm. He said: “What I love about stand-up is the immediacy of it. Having run the gamut of TV panel shows, after a while you know how to do them and they are not so much fun any more. For those two hours, no one is looking at their phones.

"It’s a true non-media event. Those sorts of occasions are rapidly disappearing, and that’s why I value them so much.”

A stand-up whose plain-spoken, growling indignation and waspish observations have won him fans all over the world, Rich has been described as a transatlantic messenger lampooning each country he visits with his common sense comedy.

The stand-upHall, who was the inspiration for the curmudgeonly barman Moe Szyslak in The Simpsons, says: he gets a kick out of touring the UK.“I may have become overly familiar with the motorway service stations of the UK, but I really like discovering new places. It’s important to visit out-of-the-way towns because it gives you a new perspective.” he said.

One of the aspects that distinguishes Rich’s live act is the way he can craft on-the-spot songs out of the smallest items of information that he gleans from the audience.

The comic, who won two Emmys for his work as a writer on The David Letterman Show, explains that, “I do what Americans call ‘crowd work’. I really enjoy that because I can turn it into improvised songs, which is a big thrill for me. I always have a guitar beside me on stage in case something happens.”

He added: “Brits like to insult you. Sometimes they come to the stage door after the show and say, ‘We really prefer Lee Mack.’ They don’t even say, ‘We really enjoyed your show – you’re our second favourite behind Lee Mack’! But I know the subtext – they must quite like me if they have waited in line to insult me!”

For more details Visit cityhallsalisbury.co.uk for details.