Entrepreneur, musician, cricket-lover and now headlining the first Yellow Comedy club show of 2016, is there anything Andy Stedman can’t do? Once upon a time the Farnham-born comedian even had a career as an English teacher and a financial advisor. He is also the managing director of Dodgeball UK, which he started up with a few friends in 2009.

Now the 43-year-old is keen to make waves in stand-up comedy - and to start with, he will be performing a set at the Yellow Comedy club event tonight (Friday, January 8) at the Reason Coffee shop in Watford.

Andy, who spent much of his childhood watching his father play cricket and football for town clubs and listening to Elvis records, says he first thought about doing stand-up after a bet. “I went to see a comedy show with a friend, who is a promoter, and I didn’t think it was all that good and I said I could probably do better than that,” he says, “so we had a friendly bet that I would go and do stand-up.”

Since then, the former singer/songwriter has gone on to do stand-up shows across the country.

“I do a lot of musical comedy,” says Andy, “I write funny songs and most of them are based on people in my life - my family, my friends.

“When I was kid, I naughtily read my sister’s diary and then told a couple of people what was in it. This was when she was around 11 or 12-years-old. So I wrote a song about the stuff that was in the diary - embellishing it, and also adding in an apology to her.”

Andy had a fairly successful music career, during the early 2000s. He had been signed by Canadian record label and another independent label in the UK and had done various tours, been in two bands and released a couple of albums. Although he says he enjoyed it, he couldn’t make enough money from it in the end and says things just “drifted”.

Then came the bet.

“I found that I really liked being on stage and the big difference between recording music and going on tour now and comedy, is that people will just go and watch a comedy show without really knowing who the comedian is - so there’s always going to be a good crowd there. Whereas with music, people never go unless they know the acts.”

On tour, Andy would often pepper his tunes with witty banter, which later became a trademark of his shows.

“Music is my main love,” he adds, “but I do enjoy making people laugh. In music it is a lot less spontaneous, whereas in comedy you can be spontaneous, make stuff up on the spot and interact with the audience, which I think is important.”

Andy, who grew up watching sitcoms such as Only Fools and Horses and Black Adder, says he likes any comedy that is not slapstick - “there has got to be a more human, real element to it other than it just being funny - I like something a bit more edgy.

“I think I have always been a bit cheeky - I take the mickey out of people, people I like and in a playful way. My family think it’s great that I’m doing stand-up comedy - they come to some of my shows and I have jokes about them,” he continues.

“We have nicknames in the family, calling someone poo if they have a beard as apparently there is more poo particles in a beard than there are in a toilet after it has been flushed.”

Scheduled to appear alongside Andy at the show tonight are Sonia Aste, Luca Capani, Kate Jones, Fiona Ridgewell and Arthur Turner.

Yellow Comedy club also have a second show on Sunday at the Pump House Theatre and Arts Centre, with David McIver as the headliner.

Reason Coffee Shop , The Parade, Watford, Friday, January 8, doors open 7.30pm.

Pump House Theatre and Arts Centre, Local Board Road, Watford, Sunday, January 10, doors open 7.30pm. Details: yellowcomedy.uk