If you became a comedian in the '80s, you had to work the circuit and make people laugh. Canned laughter is cheating.

It was a bizarre existence I led in my early twenties - that cliche of the comedian who goes out and entertains a roomful of people and then goes home to a lonely bedsit was unbelievably poignant for me because that was exactly what I was doing. I had periods of real loneliness.

The letter is forged and we have registered a case of forgery, cheating and criminal conspiracy against unidentified people.

And like the old stereotype, I overcame my shyness by making my friends laugh.

One longs to be funny, to make people laugh. Laughter is such a sign of approval, isn't it?

I never thought of myself as a comedian. That is a label - make me laugh. I want to make you think.