6. What do your parents/children (delete as applicable) think of your job?
I think my parents are genuinely quite proud of me, although they are never shy of telling me when I’ve taken a cheap shot or let myself down. My kids are just beginning to get handle on it and they like the idea that I am somewhere on the “celebrity" spectrum more than enjoying any of my material. They are also just becoming aware that they feature in some of it, but aren’t quite sure how offended to be yet. A golden age.
7. What’s the worst thing about being a comedian?
Without a doubt, the travel and the subsequent isolation.
8. I think you are very good at what you do (that’s why I’m asking these questions). What do you think of you?
I think I am capable of being pretty good, yes, but I’m also capable of coasting. I always try to realise and remember with relish that this is a great job as long as you keep creating and that there is nothing that gives you that buzz, as long as you’re always pushing forward. And when I do that, I think I’m capable of delivering the genuine article.
9. How much do you earn and how much would you like to earn?
That really is none of your business. But of course, it’s never enough.
10. How important is luck in terms of career success – have you had lucky breaks?
When it comes to luck, I’m a great believer in that old buddhist thing about it being “too early to say”. Also, like anyone, I tend to credit myself with my successes and my luck with my failures. But my one great stroke of luck was really to find myself falling into the game in the mid-nineties - a rising tide has lifted virtually every comedy boat in the country since then - until quite recently at any rate - and that has mattered more than anything else.
11. Alan Davies has said that comedians fall into two categories - golfers and self-harmers. The former just get on with life, the latter are tortured artists. Which are you – or do you think you fit into a third category?
I can think of no subtler, more psychologically vicious form of self-harm than golf.
