Citations

While I've got all my arms and legs and my eyes working at the same time, I've got to make as much stuff as I can.

I always come back to the gentler stuff like Simon & Garfunkel and the Fleet Foxes' first album - that's quite an odd one.

I didn't have any plan to go into comedy.

Most of the things I do are inspired by things that frightened me when I was young.

I think there's a chance that aliens might just see us as beef cattle, so that's us done. Whether they would inhabit us in that way is pretty fanciful because they'd probably just get from us what they could, and then I just see us as fast food.

I'm a fan of Douglas Adams, yes.

If it's funny or it's good, then yeah, I'll do it. Whether it's big-screen or whatever wouldn't be the deciding factor for me.

If you're a thoughtful person, you won't want to be in people's faces all the time.

One of the most memorable and frightening things when I was four or five was Kate Bush doing 'Wuthering Heights.' She did it outside, in a forest, and she did this thing where she looked straight into the camera, and it's the most frightening thing for a kid to see, but it just stuck in my head.

Oh God, I've done telesales. It doesn't get much lower than that, really. That's the job I enjoyed the least.

Nowadays, all actors talk about is what they don't eat and what kind of juicers they've got. That wouldn't have been a conversation John Hurt would have had with Tom Baker.

Actors are a great subject for a comedy. They're inherently funny because, like sportsmen, they take themselves so seriously.

A lot of my favourite songs have Eno involved, but I love the work he does on the first two Roxy Music albums. He's creating atmospheres as opposed to composition, and it's a beautiful mixture with everything else in that band.

I've been collecting synths since the late '80s. They weren't very fashionable then, so you could pick up pretty cool stuff for a few hundred quid.

If your catchphrase has appeared in men's toilets, then you know you've made it!

I draw from the most pompous people, who are the people that make me laugh the most.

I think pompous accents are inherently funnier.

I find comedy fun, and I really enjoy doing music.

Everyone in our family just kind of leans on my mum.

I didn't know how interested I was in performing until I did 'Darkplace.' I hadn't done anything really up until that point. I didn't mind the cameras, and I didn't know that I would enjoy it.

Make sure you own a good bed and a good pair of shoes because if you're not in one, you're in the other.

When I realise that I don't have a lot of time left to do what I'm meant to do in terms of buying things, that's when things begin to feel Christmassy for me - when I realise that time is against me, and I've got to act; otherwise, I'll look ridiculous.

What I love about 'Toast' is that there's always new stuff you can do with him.

I'm not going to do anything that I don't think is very funny, even if it's a lot of money or massive exposure.

The only reason I'm associated with 'the Boosh' is because Richard Ayoade, who was meant to be doing Bainbridge, couldn't do it because of something with Channel 4, so I ended up doing it.

A lot of my songs are about things that concern me personally, not a heightened version of myself or any of the characters that I play.

I'd tell my teenage self he did the right thing never getting a proper job.

When 'Toast' got on Netflix, I noticed a difference. It was something I thought that only myself and a few people would find funny, and suddenly it's on a very large platform. Now it kind of belongs to everyone.

Yes, I performed at the Secret Policeman's Ball at Radio City Music Hall and loved every minute.

I find the fact that my voice has been heard all over the world more insane than anything else.

When I'm not working, I'll spend time with loved ones.

When I do a voiceover now, there are always a few people I've borrowed bits off, whether it's their hats or facial hair, who'll say: 'That's so funny; it's obviously based on this guy.' You think, 'It ain't: it's you.' Actors never think characters are based on them.

There's always another idea round the corner that I want to do. So while I can, it's important to do them, because there will come a time when I can't.

My uncle used to take me out at night shooting rabbits.

Closest to my heart is probably 'Toast of London' because I came up with the character, based on a bunch of people I worked with in the industry. And Channel 4 didn't mess with it. Head to screen, it was exactly as I wanted it.

When you come to the end of a TV project, it's good to be able - and I'm kind of lucky - that I can just go into a different medium, make another album, or do whatever.

I showed my dad the first episode of 'Toast of London' the other night. He laughed a bit, but when it finished, he just turned to me and said, 'You're an idiot.' I loved that.

Things like, when a total stranger says, 'I want you to record something for my forthcoming wedding,' that can be a bit tiresome. But it's a high-class problem. It doesn't hurt my feelings.

I try not to see myself as anything, as that would be embarrassing. But if I had to label myself, I'd probably say I was an artist due to the fact that I enjoy working within the arts on different platforms, of which comedy is just one.

I just find anyone who's arrogant and pompous is always the funniest for me.

I've never had a plan for any of this: there was never a plan for, 'Right, I must get on the TV,' 'Right, I must have my own show,' 'Right, I must be a movie star.' I don't think like that. I haven't ever had that sort of interest.

There just aren't enough hours in the day; I've got a lot of things that I want to do, and those that I can do, I'm going to make sure that I do do!

I wasn't interested in sport or anything obvious, so I didn't stand out. I was interested in music, but I couldn't read music, so I wasn't allowed to do the GCSE. I was interested in painting, but no one's interested in a 16-year-old boy who's interested in painting. I wanted to get out of school very, very quickly.

I can't think of anything worse than to be stuck in something that I've already lost interest in.

When I was a student, I couldn't afford anything.

I still believe that the best art - be it music, comedy, painting, etc. - is the art that hasn't been asked for, or is expected.

I used to not really know any other people when I was young that wanted to play music - that's why I learned everything myself. As a result, you kind of naturally become an engineer of sorts, because you've got to learn how to record everything.

The folk that you get on Radio 1 isn't the sort of thing that I'm into: it's kind of too uptempo and jaunty for me. I prefer a bit of atmosphere and a bit of darkness.

If you're bored and you look bored, that's your fault.

A lot of actors do that - they blame their failure on their agents or their photos. But that is just putting off the real issues.