John Bishop
I don't think interviewing people is any different than normal communication.Collection: Communication
When I was 10 I had a bone disease called osteomyelitis; they said if they didn't operate, I had 24 hours to live.
Everything else outside the world - Brexit, the global economy, global warming, everything - nothing matters as much as what's in your house.
Comedy is counseling.
I'm very much looking forward to getting back on the road - there really is nothing like performing stand-up in front of a live audience.
I have fond memories of the Grand National, but in recent years, as I have become more committed to animal welfare, I have grown increasingly uncomfortable about an event that every year results in the deaths of horses.
I'm the type of bloke who gets a flatpack cabinet from Ikea, puts it together without reading the instructions, then gets the drill out because the holes are in the wrong place.
My job is trying to make people laugh. A room full of people laughing forget their worries, their issues, that's why I find it so joyful.
My loyalty starts and ends at my front door.
You know what I mean, I'm not Tom Cruise. I can act as long as the character happens to look and sound a lot like me.
I'm not from the generation that took chances.
In 2006, I left my job in sales and marketing to go full-time as a comedian, and I started off doing panto at the Lowry in Manchester.
Often you'd find yourself exhausted backstage during a matinee with glitter on your face, asking a colleague, 'Who's your gas supplier?' At the time, I thought, 'This would make a brilliant TV comedy drama.'
'Panto!' is basically my life. It's not a comedy drama; it's a documentary. I was going to write an autobiography, but I thought I'd write this instead.
It's nice to have the family around, as I have been on tour for a while.
It's the people and their stories that make Australia great. The scenery isn't bad either.
Everyone at Liverpool is committed to the club and working as hard as possible.
In fact, most married couples who live together would be quite happy to only see their partner twice a year, and to just worry about the color of their seats!
I feel like a bit of a jinx.
As a child I qualified for free school meals, so I know I would have been in one of the families that needed help to gain access to a laptop.
When people have a public profile, for whatever reason, nine times out of 10, it's an interesting journey that they've been on to get there.
As a comedian, you have to say something that people relate to, or nobody laughs.
As an actor, you have to perform the character in the way that people relate to.
I can be a little bit of a control freak.
I am in my late 40s now, so I wake up fatter than when I went to bed.
I was looking for someone to represent me and an agent sat me down and said, 'I don't think there's anything to work with here.'
There was a deficit between what I was earning and what my family needed to live off. I was resigned to the fact that, while I may do the odd night, I was going to have to get a proper job.
I have the same mates I always had, I go to the same pub. I've got the same wife and kids and the same house. Nothing's changed.
When I was young, I only ever wanted a job where, when I went home, I didn't have to get a wash.
I think there's a thin line between pathos and comedy, and I'm not afraid of putting my heart on my sleeve.
If Jimmy McGovern knocks and you are offered a part, you don't say, 'can I ease myself into it?'
Sometimes you just have to throw yourself into it and hope for the best.
I would never claim to be an actor as I have never had any training and apart from being in a panto, before 'Skins' I had not acted.
'Skins' was a fun role and I enjoyed it.
I've learned more about having more time as I've got older.
When I go out with my mates I'm never the centre of attention. Most of them, and they're probably right, keep telling me they're funnier than I am and I'm nicking their life.
I don't regard myself as big time.
I was going through a divorce so I wasn't having the best time, but I wasn't going to the doctor for Prozac.
I think there's more to be happy about than sad about on a daily basis.
I was at a pharmaceutical conference in Dallas and bored out of my head. I'd split up from my missus and went downtown and had my kids' initials done, JLD, for Joseph, Luke and Daniel. Then I got back with my wife so I had her initials added during the Edinburgh Fringe Festival - after I'd waited a few years to see if the marriage would work!
To me comedy is like being a magician, once they know the rabbit is coming out of the hat they won't care.
You have to spend four hours filming a 30-minute program. That seems mental to me.
I won't do routines at gigs that I've done on television.
I still feel I'm living someone else's life.
In my comedy when there's a victim, it's me.
It's very gratifying sometimes to make yourself the butt of the joke because it bursts your bubble.
When I took my kids to see the house that we're buying I took them in the car to the estate I grew up on. I got the kids out of the car and explained that this is where they're from.
I didn't want to do comedic acting because I don't think I am very good at it.
Some people are brilliant at being comedy actors and if you're a comedian I think there's a perception that, if you're acting at something that's meant to be funny, it will be funny all the way though and you'll be dropping in gags.
I want to do straight, dramatic acting so I do a hit show when you get chased by aliens!