Because I think in order to get famous you have to be known for something. Like 'You're the romantic comedy girl' or 'You're the Oscar-winning whatever girl.'

Comedy has to be done en clair. You can't blunt the edge of wit or the point of satire with obscurity. Try to imagine a famous witty saying that is not immediately clear.

More than any other setting - more than battlefields or boardrooms or a spaceship headed for intergalactic travel - I'll put my money on the family to provide an endless source of comedy tragedy and intrigue.

I've always been part of comedy. One of the things about our family was that if we were reasonably funny with each other particularly my two brothers and myself when my father was upset with something you'd want to make sure in some way you made him laugh. Because when he didn't laugh you were in trouble!

Comedy is an escape not from truth but from despair a narrow escape into faith.

As soon as I did my first five minutes of stand-up I knew that I would rather be a failure at comedy than a success in marketing.

I don't have a fear factor. Well not much of one. And I'm willing to risk quite a lot - as a comedian you're always risking a lot. You're risking failure especially if you're improvising and going on TV shows trying to make comedy out of thin air. That is quite a risky business.

I think a lot comes from having the experience of doing stand-up comedy. It allows you to figure out the psychology of an audience what things are funny and not.

The greatest way for people to experience a comedy is to go in not knowing anything about it. But because of marketing it's impossible. Marketing meaning that in order to get people to come you can't just go 'Hey there's a great movie - we're not going to show you anything from it but trust us!'

I think we're the only jokeless show on television. I mean really we have no setups and no punch lines. It's not a joke show. There are funny lines and funny moments but again the comedy is born of the human experience and awkward pauses are a great part of what it is to be human.