There are quite detailed rules with sitcom. When people can leave scenes, act structure, joke rhythm. You can't not have a straight man.

A lot of comedians want people to listen to them. I don't think we've ever been that bothered about whether people would want to listen to us.

We've ignored audiences all these years. We've just amused ourselves and hoped enough people would want to eavesdrop to make it all viable.

With everything, 'Shooting Stars' included, we'll just have some words on a card to prompt us - 'How would Rod Stewart die,' that kind of thing - and we'll just run with that idea, as if we were talking to each other, messing around. And I'm no scholar of these things, but I think that's what double acts should do, isn't it?

In broadcasting, there's a lot of longevity offered to people like Griff Rhys Jones and Stephen Fry, who are polymaths more than comics. We're comics first and foremost.

I sometimes wonder, with the Oxbridge comics, the broadcasters seem to say, at some point, now I trust you to do a documentary, you can be the voice for a maths show, or whatever. I don't think we're ever considered in that way.

I don't think 'Shooting Stars' has ever successfully been replaced.

After heart surgery you can go two ways, you can kind of get scared, shrink on to your sofa and keep yourself safe, or you can engage with life again. I probably was in danger of taking the first option.

When you've had a heart thing, a lot of the problems are psychological.

It can be very lonely knowing that you have things to say but you daren't say them. Knowing that you could contribute to something but you don't dare quite do it.

Throughout my entire three years at Sussex I never spoke to another law student. I talked in tutorials but as soon as they finished I was away back to my room to listen to my records.

We live very ordinary lives.

After my triple bypass I got my sheet of healthy and unhealthy foods and I was like, croissants!?! Literally as bad as lard.

I come from the era when that continental stuff, the skimmed yogurt and a croissant, was a healthy start to the day.

I am allowed one matchbox-sized piece of cheese a week.

I go on 'Sunday Brunch' and Simon Rimmer's mashed potato is like heaven.

My doctor told me that I would have had a heart attack on stage.

I have always been a bit of a recluse, but I really was after the heart thing. And everyone knew.

I don't fish but had always wanted to after doing it as a kid.

I wouldn't wish it on people but there is a positive side to a near-death experience. People used to ask me do you fancy doing this or that - and it was like I had a file of reasons in my head for not doing things. I would riffle through it until I found one. But I've dropped that.

I don't think old posh is as intimidating as new posh, is it?

I am increasingly of the mind that all fat is good.

You know the thing I liked about fishing when I was 14 was being out with your mates mucking about, throwing bread around, getting a bit wet maybe.

I eat a tin of sardines every day.

I used to like getting cups and putting tiny bits of food and liquids in them. I'd grow mould plumes in the dark wardrobe of my little back bedroom. Not to eat them, mind - just to admire the growing power.

I can't remember ever cooking food to impress a woman. The idea's quite cheesy and sort of makes my skin crawl. But I sometimes make a special effort to impress my cats, with chicken liver or something. It's tricky to know if a cat's impressed. They might give me a little look, a glimpse at least. That's cat ownership for you.

At one point I was putting 17 sugars in my tea. I know it's unbelievable and I do wonder sometimes what my mum was thinking to allow it. The weirdest thing was that if I had 18 teaspoons it was too sweet.

When I was young, having a heart bypass was, 'Woooh!'

Laughter is the only currency I've really ever known. Ever since I was a boy.

After your heart fails, you just feel really vulnerable for a while. You just want telly and your little house. Then, suddenly, three, four months have passed.

Comedy, if it didn't save my life, certainly gave me a very different life.

Rheumatoid arthritis generally happens when your immune system attacks your joints, but I've had it attack my iris.

I hardly do any exercise because of my arthritis and my joints.

After I had my heart operation I got really into heart stuff. I did think it would be lovely to go on 'Strictly' just so people could see I wasn't finished. But, sadly, now I couldn't because of my joints. I'd be hobbling around.

If you want the best audience, make your way up North to be honest.

I thought I had a chest infection and went to the doctor - five days later I was under the knife. It came completely out of the blue. My arteries were 95% blocked.

There's nothing better than just staring at a buttercup, struggling to make an impact on the world.

I don't know much about history.

I remember when I worked at the solicitor's - you'd go in, talk to your mates for a bit and then get down to work. With us the talking to your mates part never stops.

I come from an era when if you are told that you need a triple heart bypass it sounds pretty terminal. But I think it's quite a normal operation these days.

I've been brewing my own beer with this ex-army bloke.

House of Fools,' that was the first thing I was sad that we couldn't do any more.

Before I had my heart problem, if I was asked to do something I would look through a mental file looking for reasons why I could say no.

Our new programmes have always just been different vehicles for the same sort of comedy.

We can write idiots quite well.

Performing in front of an audience gives you an extra ten per cent energy and the chance to react to the instant feedback.

Having an audience in the studio makes you perform rather than just act.

I'd always wanted to do something about football, so I did the podcast.

That's the thing, you see, we were never good enough to write proper punchlines.

The more cynical commentators on our careers would say that the northern accent has been the basis of our success. There's a certain authenticity to the voice - which isn't to my credit; I was just born there.