You can analyse a joke and say it's funny because this guy thought this was going to happen, and that happened, and it's surprising. But not all surprising things are funny.
— John Lloyd
You can't predict anything. How can you be certain about anything when everything is chaos and we're not in control?
I can help you shape your sitcom, I can help you think about what could make your sketch show better, but it won't help you get you a commission.
I still don't like authority exercised without reason. But they laugh at you at Cambridge if you say that sort of thing. For them, the law is a system of rules not that different from mathematics.
Jokes are a lot about meaning. I think if we understand what jokes mean and why they work, we'd understand everything else. Genuinely I do.
Maybe the universe is a giant practical joke and we don't know the punchline.
The universe is fractal. The closer you look at it, the more interesting it becomes.
I'd never bought the idea that you don't lose money by underestimating the intelligence of the audience. Although perhaps I should add that I've never really made that much money.
I have very strong views on TV. There's no diversity, there's no choice. Things are decided by committee.
I spoke Spanish when I was three, and then Maltese. I love dictionaries. I like foreigners. My dad moved every year before I was 14, and I learnt to like abroad. I'm not scared of change.
I do have at home the most ridiculous number of awards for what I have done, which is nice in terms of being patted on the back, yet it does cure you of caring about what other people say about you. Ultimately, you must have your own standard of what is good enough.
I probably did pack a lifetime's work into the 1980s.
