What do your parents/children (delete as applicable) think of your job?

It’s gone from hideous embarrassment to grudging admiration.

What’s the worst thing about being a comedian?

People telling you that “your (sic) not funny”

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 a jack of many trades but master of none. I’m very proud of my writing and I think there were moments of my hidden camera comedy career that were about as perfect as I could hope to get. Overall, however, I have massive imposter syndrome and currently feel like I’m starting again with trying to tackle the, to me,  relatively unknown world of live performance. 

How much do you earn and how much would you like to earn?

It’s always been feast or famine. I prefer feast but famine drives creativity.

How important is luck in terms of career success – have you had lucky breaks?

My career has been a series of sliding doors, lucky moments but you have to know when they appear and act on them.  For instance - I met Sam Cadman, my Trigger Happy partner in a pub when I was explaining the concept of the show I wanted to make to my then girlfriend and he was the barman, eavesdropping. 

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 third category?

I’m an introverted extrovert, a happy Goth, a tortured golfer. 

Who is your favourite person ever and why – not including family or friends or other comedians?

My dog Fitzgerald. 

Do you keep your drawers tidy and if not why not? (please think long and hard about this question, it's to settle an argument with my girlfriend. The future of our relationship could depend on your response).

My drawers look like a bomb have gone off in them. I am incredibly disorganised and very untidy. 

Dom Joly The Conspiracy Tour will be at theatres around the UK from 20 September 2024. Tickets and dates here.

Dom Joly’s The Conspiracy Tourist: Travels Through a Strange World is out now (£22, Robinson). Buy it here.

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