I Was Always The Clown In School.

When I Was Nine, We'd Take A Bus To The Seaside. Coming Back, We'd Take Turns Entertaining, Singing Songs And The Like. I Tried Some Stand-up Comedy. I Had A Captive Audience In That Bus. Then I Realized I Wanted To Do More Than That.

I Only Travel To Good Material, A Good Director And A Good Company. I Won't Work In Another Country For A Year Any Longer, Because I Have A Lovely Wife And I Adore Her And I Can't Bear To Be Away From Her.

I Feel If Some Kid Has Sat Down And Felt I'm Important Enough To Write Two Pages Of Words To And Take Up A Lot Of His Valuable Time, Then He Deserves A Few Words Back, Or Even A Phone Call As I Have Done On A Few Occasions.

I'd Get More Applause Than Some Because I Was Just Seventeen. If They Didn't Clap At The End Of My Act I Would Limp Off Stage And Boy Would They Feel Guilty. They Would All Burst Into Tremendous Applause As They Saw This Poor Cripple Kid Walking Off.

It's A Little Like Casting Out Hundreds Of Fishing Lines Into The Audience. You Start Getting Little Bites, Then More, Then You Hook A Few, Then More. Then You Can Start Reeling Them In And That's A Loveliest Feeling - The Whole Audience Laughing With You.