TELEVISION viewers know him as Smug Roberts. Stand-up audiences know him as Smug Roberts. But Andy Wilkinson has a simple message to get across — he is not Smug Roberts.

The 51 year-old earned the ironic name after facing down a chairperson in a meeting, and has used it professionally for 10 years. But, he says, “I feel like I’m not being myself, it’s like being a character. Recently when I am being myself, people have told me they like it more.

“I’d like to start being a bit more truthful instead of it being a comic persona.”

On his first night performing as a standup, the newly-named Smug saw a woman stand up to leave just as he was going on stage.

“It was Caroline Aherne, but I didn’t know who she was so I asked her to sit down,” he says. “She took a photo of me and ended up being a friend and mentor.”

He says that “Smug” moniker is “ridiculous really.”

“When I first met Caroline’s mum she said, ‘Oh, hello Scum,’” he says. “Southerners as well, I don’t know if they do it on purpose but they always seem not to understand that it’s a name, you repeat yourself endlessly.”

The show is based on Andy dealing with modern life, including becoming a father for the fourth time at the age of 48.

“Lots of people think that I’m his grandad,” he says. “I’ve also joined a gym because in a couple of years time I’m going to have to take part in the parents race again, up against 25 year-old dads. I don’t want to let me son down and him have to go about with a paper bag over his head out of shame.”

As well as the standup there has been a host of television work over the years, including Phoenix Nights, Buried and Cold Feet, and he has just finished shooting a film, Tested.

“I’ve never had a plan, never been proactive in that sense,” he says. “My favourite of all was working with Ken Loach in Looking For Eric. He’s dead professional but he’s a perfect gentleman. He’s dead laid back but he knows how to get the best out of people.”

• Andy Wilkinson: My Name is not Smug Roberts is at the Albert Halls on Saturday. Tickets cost £6 advance, £8 on the door. To book, visit alberthalls-co.uk or ring 01204 334400.