6. What do your parents think of your job?

They’re both very supportive in their own way - my mum is very proud and tells anyone who’ll listen that I’m a full time comic. She comes to a few shows with her boyfriend who is always quick to offer up some old Jethro material to improve my act, but they’re always complimentary and sweet, which makes it easier. My dad hasn’t ever seen me perform stand up, it’s not really his thing. He’s quite old school and would probably prefer I learn a trade but when I’ve been painfully broke he’s helped me out more times than I’d care to mention. He doesn’t get it, but he lets me get on with it without passing judgement.

7. What’s the worst thing about being a comedian?
The amount it takes me away from the ones I love - it’s great to be busy and I feel very lucky,  plus there’s nowhere I feel happier than on a stage mugging off a load of strangers, but it only takes a few hours for me to start feeling properly homesick. It can be very lonely.

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’m alright, people are very nice about what I do - I’m painfully aware that I wear my biggest influences on my sleeve but I guess we all do. I take real pride in doing something a bit different and I revel in creating an atmosphere where the audience don’t know what will happen next.

9. How much do you earn and how much would you like to earn?
I do OK, I have been properly skint in the past doing comedy but these days I make enough to live relatively comfortably which feels pretty great, especially from doing something I love. I had so many shitty jobs before I managed to go full time with stand up so to be able to make enough to survive from it was always the win. I’d love to be earning more than I am though, millions preferably but I’d settle for a few hundred grand a month.

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

I think luck plays a part definitely, I’ve been lucky to have been helped out enormously by very kind colleagues over the years who’ve vouched for me to promoters or nominated me for things which makes all the difference and I’m very grateful for that, but for me it’s mainly about knowing an opportunity when you see it - I don’t mean in a wanky networking way but doing a gig where you know if you do well it will lead to other shit. It’s all about doing well when it matters, everything else is just noise. Mark Olver gave me some amazing advice when I started, so simple but so true - work hard, be funny, don’t be a dick. 

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’m 100% a self-harmer. I’d love to be a golfer and maybe some day I will be, but I’ve been very guilty in the past of perceiving comedy as the answer to my problems and it definitely isn’t. It’s a welcome distraction and the most potent form of validation a human can get, but it’s not a cure. Then again, I probably do prefer being this way - I’d much rather think I’m a bit shit and keep working hard than think I’m God’s gift and stagnate. 

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

Shane MacGowan. Everything about him is cool - He’s the greatest poet of the 20th century. He created a brilliant new and now much-aped sub-genre of music. He can’t really sing and yet his voice resonates with me emotionally more than any other I’ve ever heard, because he sounds like he’s lived the songs he’s singing. He’s a true original. He wrote Fairytale of New York. Enough said.

13. 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).

Fuck no, who has time to keep their drawers tidy? I’m not weird, mate.