In 1987, I was in Edinburgh doing my first one-man show. I took part in a kickabout with some fellow comedians and tripped over my trousers and heard this cracking sound in my leg. A couple of days later I went into a coma and was diagnosed with a pulmonary embolism.

If you stay in a house and you go to the bathroom and there is no toilet paper, you can always slide down the banisters. Don't tell me you haven't done it.

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

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

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

In fact, I don't watch a lot of contemporary comedy for fear of being influenced by it.

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