I think the sheer hell of trying to get a film made; I don't know if it would ultimately be worth it. The sort of format that I have, these TV things, sit somewhere between documentaries and reality shows and entertainment shows and dramas.

People often think that you get the most of everything from having your face on the screen but its really, like musicians, when you hit the road. It's also where the most fun is, the adrenaline of it every night, giving this incredibly well rehearsed charismatic version of yourself every night and people hopefully loving you.

The joy of doing the TV or something like 'Sacrifice' isn't really the process of doing it; the joy is going through this real-life experience.

If you're a comedian, it's a bit of a choice whether or not you want to be funny when you're not performing because it might feel disingenuous. In the same way, I don't show people magic tricks in social situations any more.

I'm probably more persuasive than the next person if I want to be, but do I want to be? In my head, I just don't go there.

I remember Doritos launched a new flavour and the question was whether I could use my skills - as they perceived them - to make people desire and want to try this new flavour. But I like to be in control of the things I do and feel proud of them.

Glenn Close is my favourite actress and she came to see the show in London once which was giddying.

I like films that sort of play out in one confined area. Films that have a feeling that you're watching a play, a contained environment and a creeping tension.

Not everything is about causing controversy. That would be a very boring way to go.

When you're made to be frightened within a safe context, like watching a horror film, you have that tension/release which triggers all those happy chemicals that feel good.

I think it's important to be sort of nice.

In my 20s, I just had to be the centre of attention all the time. I was quite eccentric.

I had no sense of 'Gotta work hard to be famous.' Never have done, and still don't.

When we find ourselves in groups or with charismatic individuals, we might do things we wouldn't ordinarily do.

I'm very interested in how we take ownership of our own stories and our own lives.

I like to eat other people's food in restaurants.

I never really enjoy the thought of fancy dress.

I was allowed to do whatever made me happy. I can't think of a better or more worthwhile approach to parenting.

The Stoics appear during a huge time of constant wars and real political strife. And it became very popular, I think, because it's a way of distancing yourself from strife and keeping your centre of gravity within you.

I really liked 'Heist,' and that seems to be a popular favourite, but I think my personal favourite was 'Hero at 30,000 ft,' about the guy who ended up landing the aeroplane.

I'll sometimes go a week or two without tweeting, and then when I'm in the mood, tweet loads, and clog up people's in-boxes. It's a moment when you feel like sharing something.

If something's stressful I've always tended to just find ways of avoiding it rather than rising to meet it or try to change it.

As a performer you often feel that you're the child and everyone else is a grown-up.

Guilt's too strong a word, but there is this niggling worry that I'm a grown-up doing a childish job and it would be nice to do something more useful and to reach a number of people with an idea you think is important.

You have to realise that hypnosis doesn't exist: it just works on people's natural suggestibility, their expectations and capacity to unconsciously role play. You can't make someone do anything they don't want to do.

Clearly if a hypnotist could make someone to steal £100k just by telling them to, the world would be a different place, and I suspect that hypnotists wouldn't bother doing shows in pubs or dodgy Spanish holiday resorts.

I am a movie geek, yes!

When I was at University I had a sort of fear about going to the gym and that kind of blokeish environment, which was rooted in a feeling of total inadequacy, which is what fear is.

I came across the idea of running towards the things that frighten you. Once you go and do it, you realise that the fear of it is far more powerful than actually doing it.

Since turning 40 I happily moisturise - I have what's called a regime - but I'm always in two minds because I have no idea if I'm completely wasting my money. They feel nice when they are on but I can't stop wondering, 'Am I succumbing to the same nonsense I try to fight against in other areas?'

I went to a party when I was a student and they had a mynah bird up in the bedroom where people put their coats. I was completely captivated - I just sat there all night talking to it. The next day I passed a pet shop and they had a conure - it's a little parakeet - in the window. I bought it, not knowing what it was or how to look after it.

The process of coming out is normally very disappointing. It's not that people react badly to it - they really don't care.

Magic should get under people's skins.

Everything you do is about creating an experience in the viewer's head. If you're rude or irritating as a performer, then your magic is irritating.

In recent years there's been a lot of philosophical theorising about how important magic is, and how it takes us back to a childlike state of astonishment. I think all this is just nonsense. Magic isn't meaningful or important other than how you're performing it in that moment.

When I started doing magic I was quite obsessive about it. I didn't feel impressive and I had a strong desire to impress people. I was putting all my creative energy into learning and performing tricks, and it helps if you're not in relationships or doing the stuff other people are doing. But it's not necessarily a healthy way of living.

Mentalist is the technical term for what I do and it covers everything from psychic medium through Uri Geller, through to magicians doing tricks with a mental theme.

If you aim to be controversial for the sake of it you'd end up with a very thin and meaningless show.

There was something about me even at an early age that enjoyed charming and manipulating.

I wore a cloak for many years, I had long hair, I may have had a drop earring for a week and I fancied myself as a philosopher poet but was somewhere more in the gay female leisure pirate.

For a long time, I couldn't just sit and have a conversation with people at a table without showing them a trick. I thought you just had to impress, it was about impressing, which of course is what you do if you don't feel very impressive.

I'm probably a little shyer than people imagine.

I'm not very sociable. If I get invited to a glamorous event I probably won't go. That world does not really appeal to me.

It used to frustrate me when I'd get celebrities on my shows and I had to meet them as this ludicrous magician character rather than as myself.

I love touring, more than anything. Doing the stage show is a more enjoyable process than TV. There are no safeguards but the payoff is the wow factor.

I don't want to be some extreme therapist. Although seeing someone's life change for the better is a really moving thing.

Psychic, illusionist... I'm just doing the things that I find interesting and worthwhile.

I really do like being on stage. Compared to television I have a lot more control - it's a lot more relaxed and loose.

When touring I get to travel around with my best friends, do a show I love and I'm confident people will enjoy, and have all the adrenalin that comes with performing.

I once had Rachel McAdams over for lunch, when she was with Michael Sheen, who's a friend of mine.