“Although I was a shy child, I was also a bit flamboyant.”

“At my core, the glass isn't half-empty - it's not even what I ordered in the first place.”

“Because I was a shy and awkward child, I used humour to deflect attention. It was a controlling mechanism. Because I could use it to control my image.”

“By a lot of people's standards, I lived a very privileged life. I never wanted for attention, I never wanted for material things. In some ways, I was probably spoiled because I never had to share. And I was doted on.”

“Few things focus the mind like fear.”

“How nice it would be to breeze through life and just brush things off. I never read reviews because I hate to lose more than I like to win; I experience negative emotions far greater than positive ones.”

“I don't know why, but people tend to look at stand-ups and think they can act, which actually isn't the case. But never mind. I thought: if that's the area where they're looking, then that's the area where I'll put myself - even as a means to an end. And it was.”

“I don't like tea! Never have, never drunk it.”

“I realised that if you get yourself labeled as the funny one, people don't look any further. I've used that as I've got older. It's controlling: I decide what part of my personality you're seeing. I don't want you to look at me, I really don't. I don't want you to comment on my clothes, my hair or the way I look.”

“I tried four times to get into the Central School of Speech and Drama before I got accepted. I started when I was 17, which was too young, in retrospect, and finally went when I was 21. I just kept plugging away. Determined? Yeah, I think I was.”

“I used to go red when anybody spoke to me. It's awful because you absolutely cannot control it. If you are a child that blushes, or is shy, the one thing you want in the world is to be the child who comes in and says, 'Hi,' to everyone and goes up and makes friends.”

“I was not a 'Doctor Who' fan. As a kid, I thought it was scary and for boys.”

“I went from an unemployed actor's life to doing stand-up comedy, and that was fortuitous. It's not the usual way the crow flies, going from being in a TV sketch show to playing one of Shakespeare's finest characters, but, hey, that's the way it has happened.”

“I will absolutely say that whatever job I was asked to do, whatever schedule I was asked to work, it is never going to be as hard as looking after a child.”

“I'm an incredibly negative person, so any form of success is only ever going to be a relief to me and set my default position back to neutral.”

“I'm naturally quite lazy, and I actually think I'm lax about my career. None of my work defines who I am.”

“I'm not frightened of a bit of silence.”

“It's never been a point of reference to look to a man. It's not always a good thing, I suppose, but I think independence is always preferable to dependence.”

“I've realised I need a gnawing, nagging, anxious doubt when I wake at 4 A.M.”

“My mum left my dad when I was six months old, so I don't know him at all. I had no male figures in my life, really. I had my godfather, but he's more like a grandfather, so I was quite sheltered. I've never tried to find my father.”

“No one got anywhere by being too scared to open their mouth in case nobody laughed.”

“Nothing prompts creativity like poverty, a feeling of hopelessness, and a bit of panic.”

“Putting TV stars in plays just to get people in is wrong. You have to have the right people in the right parts. Stunt casting and being gimmicky does the theatre a great disservice. You have to lure people by getting them excited about a theatrical experience.”

“That's the poisoned chalice: when you're shy, people assume you're arrogant.”

“There's no game plan when it comes to thinking up new characters; inspiration can come from anything - from a wig I've seen to an expression I've heard someone use.”

“When I realised I had a facility for humour, I latched on to it, and it gave me confidence and I built my personality around it. So I subconsciously made myself become the funny one so that would be my label rather than the ginger one or the red-faced one.”