James Acaster

If people are coming to see me because they like what I do on 'Mock the Week,' that's great because they are coming to see me being me.

The Rock was one of my favourite comedy characters growing up, and I still think he is. Mainly because he took himself so seriously by being ridiculous and a buffoon all the time but always took the high status.

I thought comedians were the funny guy in the common room, not understanding that the flaws in my personality were actually the funny things about me.

I remember being four or five, not understanding how to be funny, so just going around the house and my mum and dad's friends, confusing adults by saying weird things.

I'm not a big depressive, but I have my moments.

I'd say I get heckled quite a lot because I look quite like an easy target. If you're an alpha-male and you think you've got something to prove to your girlfriend, I think I'm the perfect person to prove your worth.

I like touring, and I like stopping off at service stations and driving along motorways.

Because such a massive part of stand-up is trying and failing first, I'm not putting as much pressure on. Just going out and doing it is enough.

One of the things I figured out was that I was having good gigs when I wore jumpers. It was because I looked more like an outsider, so they expected me to talk about weird stuff rather than normal stuff.

I'm almost able to be more honest by lying. By making everything up, I'm able to say what I really want to.

Certain celebs manage to worm their way out of the spotlight, and I won't stand for that.

I really love standup, and I really love writing standup.