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.

I love reading books that can break my heart.

I mean, I'm married to an academic oncologist, a cancer doctor, okay? He and his colleagues are some of the most conscientious, devoted, hard-working, conventional bourgeois people in the known universe. They are the people that keep this society going.

I'm ready to become a French person amongst French people, and more than ever I have the love for my country deeply ingrained in my heart.

I don't want to use the word 'instinct,' but when something good happens - something big or good in my life - I have this sensation that it was inevitable. Anything careerwise, 'Lord of the Rings,' 'Rudy,' or getting married. Which is weird, because you don't ever want to be ungrateful for what you have.