Am I allowed to call myself working-class now? Because obviously I'm now very rich.

I remember being fascinated by the very nature of comedy from the age of 10; why is this funny, and that isn't?

I think having an outsider's viewpoint is interesting and good, especially for a comedian.

My favourite riposte to a heckle is to say, 'Excuse me, I'm trying to work here. How would you like it if I stood yelling down the alley while you're giving blow jobs to transsexuals?'

It was a bizarre existence I led in my early twenties - that cliche of the comedian who goes out and entertains a roomful of people and then goes home to a lonely bedsit was unbelievably poignant for me because that was exactly what I was doing. I had periods of real loneliness.

I'll never forget my first experience of swede. It was at school and I thought I was getting mashed potato. I've never got over it.

Well, sanity, I suppose, is getting people to see the world your way.