I think comedy is a bit more international than people credit. I happily watch lots of American shows and American comedy films. If I did a list of the top 10 comedy films in Britain, there’s no sense that it would probably be different than yours.
Writing for radio really focuses the mind, because you can’t rely on thinking “Oh, just pull a funny face at the end of this sketch.” You’ve got to try to work on the words.
There’s a sort of magic and music to comedy. Some words, some numbers even, are funnier than others. A Caramac bar, for instance, is funnier than a Milky Way.
It can be difficult to be subtle and not cartoony in prosthetics. But when you see characters like Bubbles and Desiree from ‘Little Britain’ on screen, it makes all the hard work worth it. It’s such fun watching those transformations.
I think most people that do comedy write for themselves. I don’t think there is any other way you can do it, really. Otherwise it would be quite cynical.
I’m terribly attention-seeking. It’s very different once you get all this attention, though. Because then you want to control it. And you can’t exactly.
I know somebody from university who’s called Phil Collins, and I think there’s something terribly unfortunate about sharing a name with somebody who either is famous or becomes famous.
