Sometimes comics will make the observation that it's not jokes that are funny it's characters that are funny. And isn't that true! That's why I always kill jokes. I'm terrible at them because I get the joke right but I can't get the character right and it just goes down like a lead balloon.

The misconception is that standup comics are always on. I don't know any really funny comics that are annoying and constantly trying to be funny all the time.

Funny things tend not to happen to me. I am not a natural comic. I need to think about things a lot before I can be even remotely amusing.

People ask 'do you make a conscious effort not to swear?' - if you're doing silly stuff you're not tempted to put swearing in. All the comics from my childhood who were funny without swearing were the people that influenced me. What I do is quite traditional anyway.

The thing I thought about doing it was it's Comic Relief and you've got to be funny. So although I did try to sing properly it obviously has hilarious results when you can't sing.

I always like to watch comics and it's interesting that you can tell if someone's funny in 10 seconds.

Some people can do things and get away with it. Comics are famously like that. Why is it that some guys can say the most horrible things and it's not offensive it's funny?

I've thought for the last decade or so the only actual place raw truth was seeping through in newspapers was on the Comics Pages. They were able to pull off intelligent social comment pure truths not found elsewhere in the news pages and had the ability to make it all funny entertaining and pertinent.

In comic strips the person on the left always speaks first.

So the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund is out there preserving and fighting for and sometimes winning and sometimes losing the fight for First Amendment rights in comics and more generally for freedom of speech.

A nice easy place for freedom of speech to be eroded is comics because comics are a natural target whenever an election comes up.

You can't be a proper comic unless you've been out on stage and felt the fear.

Few if any teenagers can relate to getting up for school and finding famous comics like Pryor and Williams hanging out in your living room after a hard night of partying. But that's Hollywood.

Oh yeah I was one of the first guys writing comic books I wrote Captain America with guys like Stan Lee who became famous later on with Marvel Comics.

I remember when I was an up-and-coming comic how annoyed I would be when the famous guys would show up and just take everyone's spots.

Comics don't work if the story is all in the text and the images are illustrative. It's hard to have enough faith in the artists to allow them to do their job.

Even in a gleefully negative comic there is optimism although it's slightly hidden: It comes out through a comic character's sheer tenacity. He keeps going and trying to find some sort of fulfillment regardless of his perpetual failure record. That's a form of hope a form of optimism. Really hokey I know but it's true.

When I was a kid I wanted to be serious like Daniel Day-Lewis. No one really dreams of being a comic actor do they? Now I realise how stupid that is - and it's because comic acting isn't taken seriously enough. It's a discipline. You know instantly - either you're funny and getting the laughs or you're not.

I've accentuated the look over the years. As a comic you try something and if it works you go with it and grind it to death.

As a comic you try something and if it works you go with it and grind it to death.

I was very sad to hear of the death of Ronnie Barker who was such a warm friendly and encouraging presence to have when I started in television. He was also a great comic actor to learn from.

I love the comic opportunities that come up in the context of a father-son relationship.

I'm in a comic book now. That was cool. That's something that I'm still sorta reeling about 'cause I read comics as a kid. Someone drew me and actually did a pretty good job!

When I was in school I read a lot of comic books and pretend I was in them and kids would tease me and call me names. But now I do the same things and people say that I'm artistic and cool and I'm doing the exact same thing I did in high school.