You go to Florence and all the paintings you've seen in books are there. To see them in real life, it just blows your mind.
I was one of the quietest guys in school.
I love the company of my family and I like being on stage performing because I'm interested in people.
Painting was always something I thought I'd do once I retired. But then, about five or six years ago, a good mate passed away suddenly at the age of 50 and it made me realise that if I put off doing stuff until I retire, I might not ever get there.
You know, my mum's never seen me do stand-up. Ever. She's just too lazy to come.
This mum comes up, she's got a five-year-old kid and she says, 'Can he have your autograph, you are his favourite person in the whole world.' I thought, 'How cool is that? I've got five-year-old fans,' and as I'm signing this autograph, the mum goes, 'Yeah, yeah, you're by far the best Wiggle.'
I cranked out a book. I didn't expect it to do much, but it's sold 80,000 copies.
When I was in primary school I was in a special needs group, which is the polite way of saying the dopey kids.
On the world stage, Australians are very good short filmmakers.
I find myself chatting with my paintings, not deep and meaningful stuff, but things like 'hey there buddy' and 'oh, look what I did to your nose!'
Painting is a lonely, mostly solitary act.
I just used to make up stories for the kids at bedtime and my wife goes, 'you should start putting that stuff down.' It's such a joy to do.
