Daniel Howell on his upcoming We're All Doomed tour that kicks off this weekend at Ipswich Regent Theatre

"It's a show about all of the worst things in the world, but the goal is if we find a way to kind of joke inappropriately about all the things that make us terrified, that's like therapy isn't it?"

Daniel Howell is coming to Suffolk, bringing with him the self-deprecating humour, sarcasm and unbounded oversharing that saw him shoot to Youtube fame in the early 2010s.

His upcoming We're All Doomed tour, which kicks off this Saturday at Ipswich Regent Theatre, will explore all the possibilities of the planet's seemingly-doomed future and will take the Berkshire-born 31-year-old to Europe, the USA and as far as Australia to perform before auditoriums of fans.

Born from the Covid-19 pandemic, We're All Doomed is a terrifyingly honest look at the future, but one that Dan hopes is cathartic not only for his audiences, but also for himself.

"Everyone's life changed in the pandemic, everyone's plans changed. People had goals for their friendships and their relationships and their careers and families and then that happened and got in the way," Dan told Suffolk News.

"This was not a tour that I ever planned on doing but then when I found myself at the start of this year just looking around, I thought 'you know what I really want to do a show called We're All Doomed'.

"If we find something to be hopeful for when we talk about the future, wonderful, we all feel better about the world. But if not at least everyone will have had a good laugh before we all go up in flames," he added.

Dan began posting content to Youtube in 2009 under the username 'danisnotonfire' and, in just a few years, he had become a firm favourite in the British youtuber landscape.

With friend and collaborator Phil Lester, he went on to host BBC Radio 1's Sunday evening show, the pair had voice cameo performances in Disney's Big Hero 6 and, most recently, Dan penned his first book, a mental health guide, with psychologist Dr Heather Bolton.

For Dan, who has been open about his personal struggles with depression and who more recently came out as gay and described the homophobia he faced while growing up, comedy and humour is his way to hope with the difficult things happening in the world.

"A lot of people wonder, should you joke about these things? But I think the problem is a lot of people don't want to talk about it and then they just suffer in silence," Dan explained.

"That's the big problem for a lot of people, we all feel a lot more stressed and anxious than we probably admit to even the people close to us."

Dan is no stranger to touring, having completed two tours with Phil in 2016 and 2018 which were well-received by his over-six-million followers, but this is his first time going it alone.

"I am incredibly excited - in my day-to-day life I don't really get out much so even if I'm just going to be going on a tour of the Greggs in every town centre of the UK across September that is big for me," Dan joked.

"But I've done lots of things on the internet, on the radio, and going live on stage is by far the most fun I have ever had in my life. Nothing makes me feel better than having a room full of people that are all having a good time."

He recalled previous tours with shows in Mumbai and Manila, and said: "To see that no matter how different people are, where they all come together in a room and you just know that the people around you have something in common with you on some level, I think there is something really beautiful about that.

"It means every night when people come into that theatre, they know that they are part of a community."

Dan said the Ipswich show will be particularly special as it is the first time his new material will be showcased to a live audience.

"I know that a lot of people are coming to that show just because it's the first show so we're bringing some tourism to Ipswich, which is great," he said.

"This is going to set the tone for the rest of the tour - the next show is Manchester and I am doing London quite close to that so there's all the big cities but in this whole 80-day tour, going to all these countries, Ipswich is where it started.

Of the opening night, Dan said: "I think people are honestly just quite scared to see what this new, free and unhinged Dan might talk about on stage - and I think they're right to be scared."