With acting, I always felt like I didn't have control of it. It was all about other people giving me a job.

I could never be on stage on my own. But puppets can say things that humans can't say.

Having a puppet is a way of having opposing opinions - I say a thing; he says the other.

If I have a gig in the evening, I get 'the doom' at about 5 P.M., when I think I'm getting flu.

The way I talk to the puppets is real, and it's in the moment, and it's seeing what will happen. It's not something that is scripted.

I make napkins talk in restaurants, socks talk on car journeys. There is an awful lot of puppetry going on in the house.

My dad is a much more flamboyant character than I am. I think that's why I couldn't see myself going into straight acting. I always just felt daft.