My early life has given me a great deal to draw on, certainly - but would I have swapped a happy childhood for the writing? Yes.
When I was writing 'Withnail,' I was so busted flat that I had one lightbulb that I would carry around the house with me. I mean, really. No furniture, no money, and I was hoping to be an actor, but I could never get a job.
Bernard Shaw said that when you copy yourself, you know you've got style. And I feel that if you can write like you write, then you are true to yourself. And it's not an easy thing to do - it's a disgustingly difficult thing to do.
I like situational comedy when people are being completely serious and yet you can find something extremely funny, not jokes.
Mostly in movies an actor has to come to a mark, an X, and deliver his line - but that's so artificial, that's not how people really behave.
I wake up most days with a vague feeling of doom - 'Dear God. Here I am again.' Then, when I read about politicians in the newspaper, the vengefulness starts. By mid-morning, the anxiety is kicking in.
I don't advise a haircut, man. All hairdressers are in the employment of the government. Hairs are your aerials. They pick up signals from the cosmos, and transmit them directly into the brain. This is the reason bald-headed men are uptight.Collection: Men
Those with the money are eccentric. Those without, insane.Collection: Insane
You can't be a 20-mile a day eater if you're just a 5-mile a day runner.Collection: Miles
We are indeed drifting into the arena of the unwell.Collection: Arena
He didn't like religion, hadn't liked it for years, but he adored churches, loved them like old scientific instruments whose time is long past but are nevertheless fascinating and strange.Collection: Atheist