I always find it easier to portray myself as being unlikeable and idiotic; to actually play a character that is likeable and engages the audience is far more difficult. It's a more subtle kind of challenge.
If you do something very successful, you will then be defined by it.
There is a strong ethical dimension to the best comedy. Not only does it avoid reinforcing prejudices, it actively challenges them.
When I was a student I was very, very ambitious, completely immersed in my comedy career. I never had that period of reckless hedonism that you should get out of your system in your youth.
If you start to disrespect the character you're playing, or play it too much for laughs, that can work for a sketch, it will sell some gags, but it's all technique. It's like watching a juggler - you can be impressed by it, but it's not going to touch you in any way.
Me, myself, personally, I like to keep myself private. I have never said I am a paragon of virtue, a model of morality. I simply do what I do.
I've always been drawn to discomfort and that limbo of unease you get between comedy and tragedy.
Most of all I don't want to be bored. That's why I'd rather do something that has some sort of ambition, that risks failing, rather than make safer, more comfortable choices.
Going to a grammar school, you mixed with all sorts of different types and I used to listen to how they talked. When I did my imitations, I could sound like someone really rough, or I could sound like a cabinet minister.
I find impressionists slightly annoying, really.
What I don't like is dance music or hip hop or any of that sort of thing.
If you are a great dramatic actor then you often don't know if people are enjoying your stuff at all because they are sitting there in silence.
London audiences are tricky, too. They don't laugh as much as the Northern audiences because, and I hate to say this, they are a bit cleverer normally, and they are picking up on all the little details and listening more carefully.
Even great people are always slightly disappointing, which is generally what makes them interesting.
When you tour you become more intimate with your audience. It's like I need reassurance that they like me or at least find me relevant. And that I can still do it.
The best feeling in the world is performing in front of a live audience who like what you're doing. I can understand why people become dictators just because of the thrill they get making the speeches.
The great thing is that the funny side of getting old is fuel for my comedy.
I happen to have a public profile. Ditto newspaper editors. It's a result of what I do, not an end.
I want my work to be judged, not me.
The tabloids operate in an amoral parallel universe where the bottom line is selling newspapers.
