AS one of seven children, Stephen K Amos had to do something to stand out when he was growing up. But who could have predicted that his chosen attention seeking ploy would lead to a successful career?

“There were so many of us, you had to have your own personality to vie for attention,” the British stand-up tells me. “I went for the jokey, jokey element.”

Despite being “one of those annoying funny kids at school”, Stephen insists he was never a fan of comedy as a teenager, thinking it didn’t include “people like me” and he decided to study law. It was a chance encounter while travelling around America that changed his perspective for good.

“I went travelling and met a woman in America who said I was very funny. She was opening a comedy club and asked if I wanted to come along and try stand-up.”

Although fame didn’t happen overnight, and Stephen continued to do a series of “awful jobs”, the star had woken up to the fact that he was good at making people laugh and before long he was an up-and-coming stand-up.

Now, he is an Edinburgh Fringe veteran and a Comedy Store regular. He has appeared on various television shows, including Live At The Apollo and Mock The Week, and also picked up numerous accolades including the Time Out Best Stand Up.

His latest show, Find The Funny, which comes to the Hackney Empire this week, follows a string of semi-autobiographical tours and displays a conscious decision to get back to generic observational humour.

“I reckoned nobody wanted to hear me talk about me any more and I should go back to basics and find the funny in everyday life,” he explains.

That said, some of the experiences that have provided Stephen with material for his shows have come from darker places. Speaking about his decision to openly discuss his homosexuality in his 2006 show All of Me, he says: “I came back from Australia and was watching the news around Christmas time and a body had been found, and the body was somebody I knew. He had been killed in a homophobic attack and that really angered me, it was a complete shock.

“I wanted to see what the subject meant to people and I found young people were still spouting some outdated views. I couldn’t believe it.

“I felt I needed to talk openly about my sexuality and an audience can tell if you are being truthful and honest.”

Stephen arrives at the Hackney Empire, Mare Street, London, on Friday, June 5, 8pm. Tickets: 020 8985 2424 www.hackneyempire.co.uk (£11.50-£14.50) Kate Sole