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I remember being fascinated by the very nature of comedy from the age of 10; why is this funny, and that isn't?

- Paul Merton
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Paul Merton
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Funny
Nature
Age
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Maybe there's a perception of me as grumpy old bugger who suffers from depression. It's a total misconception. I don't think of myself as any grumpier than the next person. I'm not even grumpy first thing in the morning.

When things are difficult, awful, stressful, the thing that always gets you through is a sense of humour. I don't mean - well, maybe I do - laugh at the hangman as he puts the noose around your neck. But an eye, an ear, for the ridiculous, the absurd in life, can get you through a lot.

I have never sold my story, done 'Hello!' magazine, any of that stuff. I'm not guilty of exploiting my private life for cash and then saying, 'Oh, I don't want to talk about my private life.' I've never crossed that line.

I've never been disappointed by politicians. I've never invested that much in them in the first place.

I never give anyone advice: it can backfire horribly. In the 1950s, Eric Morecambe told Ken Dodd to get his teeth fixed. But those teeth turned out to be one of Dodd's big selling points.

In 1986, I was attacked in the street as I helped Neil Mullarkey from the Comedy Store Players to put up posters. We were in the wrong place at the wrong time - midnight - and we were English. I got kicked in the head.

My school days were the happiest days of my life; which should give you some indication of the misery I've endured over the past twenty-five years.

In 1987, I was in Edinburgh doing my first one-man show. I took part in a kickabout with some fellow comedians and tripped over my trousers and heard this cracking sound in my leg. A couple of days later I went into a coma and was diagnosed with a pulmonary embolism.

When I turned about 12 or 13, I realised that being funny wasn't about remembering jokes. It was about creating them.

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I remember being fascinated by the very nature of comedy from the age of 10; why is this funny, and that isn't?

I remember being fascinated by the very nature of comedy from the age of 10; why is this funny, and that isn't?

I remember being fascinated by the very nature of comedy from the age of 10; why is this funny, and that isn't?

I remember being fascinated by the very nature of comedy from the age of 10; why is this funny, and that isn't?

I remember being fascinated by the very nature of comedy from the age of 10; why is this funny, and that isn't?

I remember being fascinated by the very nature of comedy from the age of 10; why is this funny, and that isn't?

I remember being fascinated by the very nature of comedy from the age of 10; why is this funny, and that isn't?

I remember being fascinated by the very nature of comedy from the age of 10; why is this funny, and that isn't?

I remember being fascinated by the very nature of comedy from the age of 10; why is this funny, and that isn't?

I remember being fascinated by the very nature of comedy from the age of 10; why is this funny, and that isn't?

I remember being fascinated by the very nature of comedy from the age of 10; why is this funny, and that isn't?

I remember being fascinated by the very nature of comedy from the age of 10; why is this funny, and that isn't?

I remember being fascinated by the very nature of comedy from the age of 10; why is this funny, and that isn't?

I remember being fascinated by the very nature of comedy from the age of 10; why is this funny, and that isn't?

I remember being fascinated by the very nature of comedy from the age of 10; why is this funny, and that isn't?