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I mean, all alternative comedy is are comedians that have being doing it for so long, for so long, that they were relaxed enough to start becoming personal on stage.

When I started out in the late '80s, my act was pretty terrible, and for years, I kind of toiled in obscurity. I don't believe in a hierarchy in comedy; I feel that a person deserves respect the first time they get onstage, and after that, they just have to be funny and get more consistent.

Let's face it, the great comedians now that are handicapped in the looks department are tremendous writers.

When I hit the scene, there was Billy Connolly and Max Boyce. It was all mother-in-law and Irish jokes, and we broke the mould. Now there are thousands of comedians out there, and I don't think I can be above it all.

I was so keen to become a comedian that actually doing the comedy itself almost came second.

Comedians tend to find a comfort zone and stay there and do lamer versions of themselves for the rest of their career.

After the comedy boom of the '80s, there was a certain formula that comedians had to do and could do in order to be successful touring comedians, and those were mainly observational comedians who had a very strict structure of what made an act, and I think it was very performance oriented.

We need comedies in the world! We need to laugh, it's all so hard.

I've played farce on the stage, but I have never played any sort of comedy on the screen.

I believe it is important for comedians to know who came before them.