Jack Dee Quotes

"Comedy and tragedy are two sides of the same coin. A talent in one area might also lead to a predisposition in the other."

"I took religion much too seriously, however, and its overall effect was depressing. I would have really liked to discard it, but somehow I couldn't."

"I'm not really part of any group or clique or gang because that's always been my nature."

"But I like going to church. If you've been brought up in the Church of England, it feels like visiting an elderly relative. And I think it's important that part of the kids' education is knowing about the Bible."

"I hate people who think it's clever to take drugs... like custom officers."

"The good thing about 'Have I Got News For You' is it's a compact show but it still gives everyone space to breathe, and everyone always gets a chance to say something if they want to. It's a very difficult show to dominate, and guests who come on and dominate always fall foul."

"In many ways, not fitting in has been a comedic asset and a comedic resource."

"I had a longing for ritual, something I could cling to, a routine to make me feel well and contented. I hoped that reading Bible commentaries and theological critiques would nudge me closer to some kind of absolute that I could hold up as a torch to light my way."

"I spent the first 25 years of my life not knowing what I wanted to do."

"If I've inadvertently become some sort of role model for failed comedians, then it's really backfired very badly on me."

"I was on various anti-depressants, but not for long - I didn't function very well on them. I felt sort of flattened out."

"And people are intrigued if I really am as grumpy in real life. People feel a bit let down if I'm laughing or smiling."

"The rain forest has Sting. Now Siberia has Jack Dee. Someone had to draw the short straw. In this case it was the rain forest."

"One of my friends went on a murder weekend... now he is doing life for it."

"I really hated fighting people and hurting them, but felt unable to stop."

"I was so keen to become a comedian that actually doing the comedy itself almost came second."

"I think it is more a cautiousness that protects me from enthusiasm about things. I tend not to get excited. People perceive it as a scowl, which is fair enough."

"Maybe I fear things going wrong so much that I pre-empt them by not getting excited about them when they appear to be. going well."

"I really like rustic mediterranean cooking. And I like trying out curry takeaways."

"One Saturday in 1984, I walked into my first AA meeting. I went regularly for six years and only stopped when I came to realize my underlying problem was not genuine alcoholism, but depression."

"The jokes are great but what really matters for a comedian is his performance, his whole attitude, and the laughs that he gets between the jokes rather than on top of the jokes."

"Mmmm... the comedy that matters is the comedy you pull out of thin air. It's a bit like when something funny has happened and you try to explain it to someone else and end up saying, 'You had to be there.'"

"I love mixing with comedians when I'm working with them, but when I'm not I don't feel the need to hang around with them."

"Possibly I am difficult to live with, but I don't bring my work home much. I'm either busy or not busy. And I don't work from home. I have an office here which has a white wall. No view. I did try working in a room with a view but it was too interesting. Too distracting."

"Whenever you're in any acting role you are mortgaging your own character."

"There were a few teachers who just did not like me because of my face. Once, I was told to stand in the corner until I cheered up. The attitude was, 'Oh, for God's sake, what's the matter with him?' But it's just a natural expression."

"I have had issues with depression all my life, and it's probably true to say there was a tendency towards it even when I was very young, during my schooldays. There was often - and this is quite common with comics - a sense of not feeling as if I belonged anywhere."

"It's something that has informed quite a lot of my comedy - that idea of someone who is always trying to get in there with the right crowd, always trying to be a certain type of person and never managing it."

"In particular, I found praying very disturbing, like swimming with bricks tied to your feet. And yet I was drawn to it constantly."

"I don't like men who blow-dry their hair. If you are a man and you blow-dry your hair, then I don't like you and that's all there is to it."