A veteran of the stage for more than 50 years, Tyne Dock-raised gagster Alan Fox has worked long and hard to hone his act so audiences are left literally weeping with laughter.

When asked what the secret is to making people laugh, the 72-year-old grandfather-of-one gave an answer typical of a dyed-in-the-wool comedian. "You have to be sincere.

"You can't fool the public, but once you have learnt how to do that, then you can get away with murder."

He may be a big name in comedy now, but Foxy (born Tommy Duffy) always dreamed of being a singer.

He explained how an early impromptu performance on a makeshift stage, in 1945, gave him the bug.

"I sang from an early age, about seven or eight. I sang on the tables at the Victory teas celebrating the end of the war," he said.

"They couldn't get me down with a hammer. I had a little Punch and Judy set, which I would entertain kids with for a ha'penny."

Establishing himself in local clubs in his late teens, he turned professional in 1962, getting his first big break in Doncaster.

"I went to Donny and bought a paper and saw an advert for auditions to the Scala club there," he recalls. "I got up and sang I Remember You.

"Tommy Jackson, who ran the club, gave me some work right away."

When I remarked that this Frank Ifield hit was one of my grandmother's favourite songs, he told me off for being sarcastic.

"Tskkk, your grandma's favourite!" Sorry Foxy!

Becoming a firm favourite on the north-eastern variety circuit, he would go on to work with big names such as David Whitfield, Ronnie Hilton and Ray Ellington, who had made his name working with The Goons.

"It was our golden age, and then I got offered a summer season in Jersey in 1969, and I had six seasons there. I went to the Isle of Man, Torquay and Blackpool with the Grumblweeds."

So how did he make the transition from singer to comedian?

"The gags crept in between the songs, and then one day I sent the band away and I was a comedian.

"I was on the TV show The Comedians in the early 1970s, with Mike Reid and Bernard Manning."

The fact that he has been such a draw on the comedy circuit for so long makes it all the more surprising that he's only just releasing his first DVD.

Recorded in January at the Customs House in South Shields, the performance will be a joy for those who like their comedians to reference things only someone from up here can truly understand.

"There's some very 'Geordie' stuff on there," he said. "It's funny.

"It's a collection of gags linked together. I can't adapt to this new stuff. Old dogs don't learn new tricks."

As an example of his machine-gun delivery of old-school gags, here are a couple from the DVD.

'A fella walks into a library and says: 'Have you got any books on shelving?' The librarian replies, 'They're all on shelving'.' And they keep coming.

'A man walks into a shop and says to the girl 'I'd like a book by Shakespeare.' The woman replies: 'Which one? – to which the man says: 'William'.

So what does Foxy make of modern comedians, with their meditations on the world rather than traditional jokes?

"There are some very good comedians, such as Paul Merton, but most of them, I think, what is it they are known for? People like Eddie Izzard; their stuff goes over my head."

So how was it to perform to a home crowd at the Customs House?

"It was great. They were a great audience. From the word go they were very welcoming. It's a great feeling when you get that laughter coming back to you."