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.
— Matt Berry
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 can't think of anything worse than to be stuck in something that I've already lost interest in.
Something like 'Knock Knock,' I was trying to do a Joe Meek, 'Johnny Remember Me'-type thing.
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.
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.
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.
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'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.
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.
My uncle used to take me out at night shooting rabbits.
I find the fact that my voice has been heard all over the world more insane than anything else.
Everyone in our family just kind of leans on my mum.
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 draw from the most pompous people, who are the people that make me laugh the most.
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.
When I'm not working, I'll spend time with loved ones.
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'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.
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.
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'd tell my teenage self he did the right thing never getting a proper job.
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.
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.
What I love about 'Toast' is that there's always new stuff you can do with him.
'Toast' is based on a bunch of actors but especially one guy. I worked with him on a film and realise that if I mentioned any actor who was around his age but more successful, it would drive him insane. So from sheer devilment, I'd do it on purpose.
Before doing 'Darkplace' in 2003, I was temping and at call centres, and that was pretty bad. Then I was at the London Dungeon, which I loved doing, and then from that, I was on Channel 4 doing 'Darkplace.'
I'm not making comedy albums. That's too much effort for one joke.
I just find anyone who's arrogant and pompous is always the funniest for me.
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.
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.
Oh God, I've done telesales. It doesn't get much lower than that, really. That's the job I enjoyed the least.
Actors are a great subject for a comedy. They're inherently funny because, like sportsmen, they take themselves so seriously.
Yes, I performed at the Secret Policeman's Ball at Radio City Music Hall and loved every minute.
If you're bored and you look bored, that's your fault.
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.
I always come back to the gentler stuff like Simon & Garfunkel and the Fleet Foxes' first album - that's quite an odd one.
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.
If you're a thoughtful person, you won't want to be in people's faces all the time.
Today, actors aren't forced to ditch their regional accents like they used to. The best example's Tom Baker, a Scouser who went to great lengths to change his accent and ended up with something alien - and fantastic. It's sad that when the likes of him go, there won't be those sorts of accents any more.
When I was a student, I couldn't afford anything.
It's a different world: when I'm writing 'Toast,' I've got one foot in 1974 and one foot in the modern day, because the modern day is nowhere near as funny or interesting.
It's always more interesting to do new things.
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 think pompous accents are inherently funnier.
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.
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 somebody has no sense of humor, I think that's a great place to start for British comedy in terms of your character.
I don't like to think of anyone waking up every morning amazed that things haven't gone their way in life.
