In a world of comedy in which routines aimed at causing the utmost offence help stand-ups sell out cavernous venues up and down the land, it is nice to know that there is also an audience for a gentler kind of humour.

For years now Yorkshireman Gervase Phinn, a storyteller rather than a stand-up, has been delighting audiences up and down the country with his shows packed with his rye anecdotes and taken from his series of popular Dales books observations about his experiences as a school teacher and his 15 years as a school inspector.

Phinn is clearly a million miles away from Jimmy Carr, Frankie Boyle and the like and he is pleased to be so.

“My humour is not alternative or cutting edge, it’s rye humour about people and situtations based on forty years in education working with children and other teachers,” he explains.

“There are a lot of people in the world who don’t like that Russell Brand, Jo Brand kind of humour. It has a place I guess but my humour is not like that. It’s anecdotal and not offensive. It appeals to a particular kind of audience - I usually get a more mature crowd in although I did have a lot of teenagers at my last show.”

Although the comic moments in Phinn’s two hour show are counter-balanced by some poignant stories, Phinn says his style is mainly influenced by the great comedians of the past.

“When I was a small child I was fascinated by panto and the end of the pier shows in Blackpool,” he says.

“You had these great comedians who all had catchphrases, people like Norman Evans and Hylda Baker. Teachers have to be actors in one sense and when you are on stage, like any stand-up comedian, I embroider my stories and, like Frank Carson says, it’s the way you tell ‘em.”

Phinn, once described as “the James Herriot of schools”, still works as a teacher doing talks, lectures and classes for a number of charities and at schools near to the venues where he is performing and, as well as his Dales books, he has written poetry, childrens stories and plays.

“People tell me ‘I’ve read all your books’ but I know they haven’t because I’ve written 70 of them,” he adds. “I started writing when I was 25 but it was just that the Dales books captured the public’s imagination.

“When they became best-sellers my life changed completely and I gave up school inspecting. I’m writing my new novel now but I’m finding it difficult because my main love now is performing.”

Gervase Phinn, Richmond Theatre, May 7, 7.30pm, for more information and to book, visit ambassadortickets.com