Comedian Lee Evans has confirmed that he will be retiring after his current Monsters tour ends.

The 50-year-old funnyman announced his decision on The Jonathan Ross Show (airing on Saturday) and explained that he wants to spend more time with his wife and daughter.

Ross asked how long the “remarkable force of comedy” planned to carry on in his job, prompting Evans to reply: “I am frigging knackered. This is it. Finished. This is the end. I am not doing anything.”

One other reason for Evans’ departure was the death of his manager Addison Creswell from a heart attack last year.

“All I have ever done is work and Addison always used to put his arm around me and say, ‘Don’t worry, I will look after you. It is okay’,” he said. “My dad always said to me, ‘You have got to work’ so I constantly worked and did comedy tours.

“I think I have ignored for far too long my missus, and I want to spend a lot more time with her. I am going to go and see my wife, be home and say ‘I’m yours’.”

Ever the joker, Evans added that his wife will probably be saying “Get out, you are getting on my nerves” within a week, but he is “deadly serious”.

“I have said to her ‘I am really sorry, I am always away’,” he said. “Every single week I have been doing plays. I have had to say to my little Mo, ‘I can’t go to the school play as I have got to do this work.

Lee Evans gags Show all 10 1 /10 Lee Evans gags Lee Evans gags Lee Evans gags I tried water polo and my horse drowned... that was a nightmare. Lee Evans gags Lee Evans gags I swear, the other day I bought a packet of peanuts, and on the packet it said "may contain nuts." Well, f*cking YES! That's what I bought the buggers for! You'd be pissed off if you opened it and a socket set fell out! Lee Evans gags Lee Evans gags "Bird flu! What's that? How do you know a bird's got flu! Some chinese bloke spots one of his chicken with its claws in a bowl of hot water and a towel over its head! Bwrr-rr-rrr-rrr-rrr-rrr-rr!" Lee Evans gags Lee Evans gags Why do we always have the wrong number? You might have the wrong ****ing house! Lee Evans gags Lee Evans gags My phone will ring at two in the morning, and my wife'll look at me and go, "Who's that calling at this time?" I don't ****ing know! If I knew that we wouldn't need the bloody phone! Lee Evans gags Lee Evans gags Have you noticed every time there's a murderer on the loose they have that advert pop up from B&Q - "this week, hatchets, half price!" Lee Evans gags Lee Evans gags Why are we still embarrassed about the condom machine? The only blokes who are not embarrassed are the blokes who don't get any! You know, they wait in the bog, pound in hand, and as soon as someone comes in they're like "Come on! come on! I've got birds waiting!" Lee Evans gags Lee Evans gags I love kebabs, they give you all that meat, that saturated fat, and they give you that little bit of salad. What's that, the healthy section? Never see a drunk do that, do you? "Where's me salad! What you trying to do, kill me?" Lee Evans gags Lee Evans gags We got completely lost driving in, and we asked the way, yeah, why is it that when you ask for directions you always get the village-f*cking-idiot! Lee Evans gags Lee Evans gags Who are them blokes, the jockeys? Who are they, three foot high f*cking hobbits in a pimps outift!

“But now I can be with little Mo and do the things that we never did when we were kids.”

Despite his home-oriented plans, Evans told The Sun earlier this month that he often gets “very gloomy” when not performing.

“Not on the outside, but at home I do [feel depressed],” he said.

“I get very deep and depressed. Everyone does sometimes, don’t they? I can sit there for ages with my head in my hands. It’s mostly out of being criticised because then I don’t feel worthy and slope off on my own.”

Evans, one of the UK’s highest-selling stand-ups brought in a massive £12.9 million with his 2011 Roadrunner tour. He has also starred in films such as There’s Something About Mary and Mouse Hunt.