The security forces feared that Adair’s reappearance in Belfast would have led to further gunfights.The Adair family are thought unlikely to lead a quiet life in Bolton, given their previously disruptive record. He is to live with his wife Gina in Bolton, where she, their four children, and associates fled following a feud in Belfast. She is recovering from cancer.Their teenage son Jonathan was jailed last year for conspiracy to supply heroin and crack cocaine.Adair’s decision not to stay in Belfast is a huge relief to the authorities there, who had feared fresh outbreaks of feuding involving the Ulster Defence Association, which expelled him several years ago. It has bouncers on the door and was full of groups of blokes from the City who had been drinking for at least six hours. You either got someone throwing up at your feet or subjected to abuse. To crack it meant that you could cut it as a competent jobbing comedian.”Best joke: “I’d come on stage wearing a white T-shirt with a blood capsule in my mouth. I was supposed to cough blood all over my clothes before saying ‘Oh dear I must give up smoking’ But it would always go wrong.

Either I’d spit the capsule on to my chest or swallow it whole. Eventually I had to ditch the gag.”JENNY ?LAIRFirst performed: In the mid-1980s.What the Comedy Store means to her: “I’m really glad I’ve done it because it is one of the hoops you have to jump through in order to prove yourself. But even now the prospect of a weekend at the store has me running for the hills It is a gig that turns my bowels to water. Walking on to the stage feels like you’re getting on to a plane that you’re never sure is going to make it The worst was the Friday 8pm gig There are many comedians who thrived in such an environment But it didn’t encourage me to experiment. I always thought someone on a stag night would get up and punch me in the face.” Best joke: “In 1984, I remember reciting an eight-minute poem written in Odyssean verse about a man who burnt his face eating a Breville sandwich.

I was amazed to get through the whole thing without getting heckled off.”* Jenny ?lair is performing in The Andy Warhol Syndrome at the Riverside Studios from 31 January.SHAZIA MIRZAFirst performed: September 2002.What the Comedy Store means to her: “It meant a lot to me because the Comedy Store is an established, prestigious place to play. Some people have brilliant comedy careers without ever playing it but to me, anyone that comes to London and wants to watch comedy comes to the Comedy Store so I wanted to play there. I always wanted to do it because I wanted to give the audience something different. Usually, you will mainly see white, male comedians and I thought my act would be something different for the audiences.”Best joke: “My name is Shazia Mirza, at least that’s what it says on my pilot’s licence.”RHOD GILBERTFirst performed: Early 2003.What the Comedy Store means to him: “Getting on to the Comedy Store stage is a massive privilege for me. You are on the billing with some of the best comedians in the world. Before I’d done it, I was used to doing dingy pubs with two people in the audience and a dog. At the Comedy Store, I got many more laughs that I was used to.