I have the philosophy of yes. If anybody asks me to do a job, I say, 'Yes.' I've said yes to everything.

I've never planned my career, really. It just comes along, and I do whatever comes next!

Variety has always been in my mind: to do something totally different. I've had a parallel career since the beginning. On one track, the TV and film, the other, theatre, but they never crossed.

Theatre is the principal job of an actor. An actor's job is to tell a story to someone in a room. TV and film can be great and I really love doing it, but it is a different way of telling a story.

Death is important for a couple reasons. The first is that death creates scarcity in our life, which therefore gives our decisions meaning and value. From a practical point of view, it therefore makes sense that we keep our own deaths in mind when deciding how to use our time.

I’m sure when alternative comedy started, before which - Billy Connolly aside - standup was essentially a person being racist and sexist onstage, there was also the sense that this was the death of comedy. But it’s just progress."

To some extent I liken slavery to death.

The most feared thing should be death, but after a lot of rumination, I have settled to fear incessant pain. It is not a 'screaming hysterically' kind of fear but a silently lurking one.