Around this time last year, I was being treated to a lovely lunch by the charming Laura Whitmore in New York. Her boyfriend Iain Stirling, meanwhile, was around the corner stuck inside their Airbnb rental, beavering away on his recently released first book, Not Ready To Adult Yet. So, it wasn’t until we were back on this side of the Atlantic that we finally got to chat.

The Scottish comedian had to put his shoulder to the wheel to meet the publisher’s tight deadline back in May.

“I had to have it finished before I went to do Love Island, because I was going to be in Spain for two months and it would’ve been too difficult to do any work once I was out there,” the 30-year-old explains.“It happened quickly – off the back of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, a few book people liked some of the ideas I was dealing with in the show. It was pretty quick.”

The quote on the cover reads: “Slightly better looking than you’d expected him to be from his Love Island voiceover.”

Iain laughs at that.

“The other day I was in Heat magazine and they called me oddly attractive! And they meant that as a compliment. Fuming!” he quips. TV host Chris Ramsey recently told Iain, live on-air, that he’s “punching above his weight” by dating Laura!

“I was put on the spot. So I think I came up with some joke like, ‘If you’re punching above your weight that’s better because it means I’ve got someone like me but better!’” he explains. “But obviously that means Laura’s got somebody that’s like her – but worse! It was just a joke.” All the tabloids ran with the “punching above his weight” angle as a daft headline.

“Laura certainly doesn’t think that. It’s hard for me not to think that, because she’s just so kind and amazing and beautiful,” he says, coming across very much as a man in love. “I think every relationship has got to be on a level pegging. I like to think we’re one of them. Obviously, when I was on a comedy TV show I couldn’t give that answer because I’d be there all day and it would’ve perplexed an audience.”

Iain actually has the photo of Laura’s Hot Press cover story from last year mounted on his sitting room wall.

“Every time I walk in I see a big photo of Laura with a balloon saying, ‘Don’t fuck up’! It’s quite ominous,” he says, laughing again.

A STRAY DOG YAPPING

Iain only started dating Laura around the same time as that deeply personal, in-depth cover interview for Hot Press was published. In it, she spoke candidly about losing her virginity, her attitudes towards sex and drugs, and life in general.

Iain must’ve learnt an awful lot about her from reading it?

“Yes, it was actually quite a nice way to get to know her a bit better,” he admits. “It’s nice, as well, when you read interviews like that where there’s no agenda. I think with the media, especially being a female, you’ve got to deal with so much nonsense. And they’ve always got an angle they want to come in from, and it means you never get to say what you want to say.

“So, it was nice just reading something like that. And I recognised Laura in it, if you know what I mean. I was like, ‘Yeah, this is exactly what she’s saying. These are the points she wants to make’. That was nice as well.”

He continues, “I think if you trust someone you’ll be willing to open up to them. It was a nice interview in which you could tell from what was written down that she was obviously comfortable to talk about those things. Which is great because that’s who she is – she’s a very open, upfront, honest person.”

There’s been a lot of media scrutiny about these two since they went public with their relationship.

“For me, it’s brand new – so it’s just scary,” he confesses. “But some of the stuff, you’ve just got to laugh. Some of it is absolute madness.”

It’s totally changed how he perceives tabloids.

“I thought, ‘Every article in the paper there must be a bit of truth to it’, you know? And now you’re in it, you’re like: ‘No! They will literally make stuff up for the sake of an online article’.”

Can he give us an example?

“Some absolutely mad stuff has happened. They’d done an article once about ‘Laura’s massive flat in London’. Laura’s got a lovely flat in London but it’s by no means massive. What they did was: they got two photos of me on different television sets. I was doing a show for BBC Scotland in a living room set. And they took that picture of me on the set and said, ‘Look at Iain Stirling in Laura Whitmore’s massive dining room!’

“There were photos from about four different homes – like her mum’s. Photos of my flat (saying), ‘This is her spare room’! I was looking at this going, ‘This is mental!’ Just mad. Someone was bored and they needed an article one day. ‘Fuck it! We’ll do that’.”

I’d actually presumed they’re living together.

“We’re both away so much. We’ve still got our own places, but when we’re back in London we do spend the time together. I just hang about hers, like a stray dog yapping at the door.”

It sounds like it’s going swimmingly well between them.

“It’s going brilliant, mate,” he enthuses.

THE KING OF COMEDY

Laura will obviously be there to root for him at Vicar St in November.

“I get to do bloody Vicar St.!” he says excitedly. “Legitimately! Tommy Tiernan and even Simon Amstell, who are two of my favourite comedians, both filmed their DVDs at Vicar St. Most people watch Live At The Apollo but I watch DVDs of comedians that have performed at Vicar St. So, I’m buzzing for it, man. And I can’t wait to see the article in Hot Press – I’m buzzing. Hot Press is such a cool magazine.”

It sounds like he’s a huge fan of the Irish comedy scene?

“I’d say the majority of my favourite comedians are Irish. I love Andrew Maxwell. Tommy Tiernan is absolutely incredible. I think he is genuinely slightly unhinged – because that’s what you want from a comedian. You want someone to give you an experience, or a personality, or a viewpoint that you don’t get in real life. I want to watch someone and think, ‘Thank God I’m not them! But Christ they’re funny!’

“I’m a big fan of Neil Delamere. David O’Doherty,” he adds. “Even some newer ones: I’m a big fan of Alison Spittle, but Paul Currie is incredible. He’s like Steve Martin circa 1980s. Absolutely mad.”

He’s also a big fan of Father Ted creators, Graham Linehan and Arthur Matthews, who met at Hot Press.

“Me and Laura have just been watching The IT Crowd recently, which was obviously Graham as well. Incredible,” he says.

I mention that Graham Linehan also penned Black Books, which is one of my own all-time favourites.

“I didn’t even mention Dylan Moran, who I love and lives in Edinburgh now. He’s amazing. You forget how many funny Irish there are, man. It’s incredible.”

He namechecks another former Hot Press contributor, President Michael D. Higgins, who wrote a column for the magazine for over a decade.

“That could only happen in Ireland. Your president is like a cool columnist – we get this fuddy-duddy. You’d never get any British politicians with an interesting backstory. The Scottish National Party have some livewires on occasion, but otherwise... boring!”

One of his Scottish compatriots, Billy Connolly is the real King of Comedy...

“I reckon so,” Iain agrees. “Mind you, I went to Kevin Bridges the other day. He’s such a down-to-earth guy he’ll hate me saying this, but he’s coming a very close second. He is becoming a world-beater now. He is so funny.”

What’s inspired his own new show called U Ok Hun? X ?

“It’s become a ‘best of’ really. I’ve been doing stand-up for ten years. I had built up five/six shows that I’d take up to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival every year. I’d done it to small audiences – but Love Island happened, so I’ve got this bigger audience now,” he explains. “It’s based on last year’s show, but I thought I might as well put in a few little routines and things that I love from previous shows. Especially with the Fringe Festival, you spend a year writing a show and you perform it to about 50 people a night in a little portacabin – and you never do the show again. So, that material is left unused. But that’s basically what it is: a best of stand-up hits.”

The Vicar St show is definitely more special, now that he’s dating a Bray native.

“I’ve always loved Dublin and obviously now I’ve got friends and people that I care about there – so it’s sort of like a home gig,” he concludes.

• Iain Stirling plays Vicar St, Dublin on November 18. Tickets priced €25 are on sale now through ticketmaster.ie and the usual outlets nationwide.