And like the old stereotype, I overcame my shyness by making my friends laugh.

When I was nine I spent a lot of my time reading books about the history of comedy, or listening to the Goons or Hancock, humour from previous generations.

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.

All disc jockeys are without talent. Noel Edmonds - I can't stand Noel Edmonds.

I don't always vote in general elections, but I think I've always voted Labour.

I was trying to organise my DVDs into a sort of chronological order, and I am afraid that it all trailed off after the Sixties.

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.