Lee Mack

Everyone talks about the gags, but the most difficult thing is coming up with the stories. You have to learn to do that for sitcoms.

I'm like a goldfish. My memory is terrible.

I feel that I'm a stand-up comedian more than anything else, that's my job.

Comics were always the lowest rung on the ladder, front of cloth at the Royal Variety Performance. What that means is you're only there so Take That can set up behind the curtains.

Going on stage is a performance, it's an act; you're playing a version of yourself. I don't give it a lot of thought. I clock on, I tell jokes, I clock off again.

I've tried everywhere, but my garden shed is the most effective place to write.

I'm a huge fan of stuff like 'Planet Earth' and the American sitcom 'Everybody Loves Raymond.'

I've realised that my strength is writing around people.

I can remember weird things from way back, but not what I had for breakfast.

Looking back at my school reports, I start off as quite a swotty kid, and then when I get to 12 or 13, my teachers start saying: 'Lee has started to joke around a lot in class.' After that, it's a steady graph of decline, with the jokes increasing and increasing.

We have all said things that are offensive when taken out of context. You don't need to tell the public to be repelled. They will tell you they are repelled.

My kids would say I'm strict, but I don't think I am.