Quotes from Aisling Bea

Most of my world is in London, and I feel like this is where I went mad and ended up finding myself.

Some people admire the aspirational rock star figures whose biopics make it to TV, the people they watched as kids and made them want to play football for England. For some comics, it is often the Doug Stanhopes and the Joan Rivers.

No-one posts photos of themselves on Instagram when you're eating spaghetti hoops out of a tin going 'Why?'

Northern Irish people tend to have this sharp, dark sense of humour.

My on-set, keep-warm jacket is a Patagonia, and they make sure the people who make their clothes are paid fairly, along with a load of other great stuff and initiatives. They're a business, but they put their money where their mouth is in terms of caring and responsibility.

I know that the harder you work, the more you learn, the more connections you make. You've just got to be prepared to keep putting yourself out there. You have to make it happen.

You change things by focusing your energy on doing your job well.

You can't fake comedy. You can't make it look beautiful or put an interesting bit of music on in the background: funny can only be funny if you're funny.

I went to see Billy Connolly do two hours with no break at the Apollo, with Parkinson's disease, during the winter, and it was one of the most important gigs I have seen in my life.

You can use your womb if you want - it's the most beautiful thing to do if you want - but it's not our only reason to be put on this earth.

I can't play the guitar, so the thoughts of playing one onstage at a festival makes me quiver, but I've been blabbering away in front of people since I was a child, so talking for a living isn't the most daunting thing to do.

Americans like workers, people who slog. I love working.

When you go to a restaurant, sometimes you want to go to Heston Blumenthal's where you hear the sound of the sea while you're eating one tiny thing for a hundred quid. And then sometimes you just want toast. You just. Want. To eat. Toast. Sometimes you have to be okay with the fact that in terms of comedy, I'm just like, maybe, 'chips and a side.'

There aren't as many women in my industry in comedy as there should and could and hopefully will be, but it is interesting growing up watching a woman in a male-dominated industry and kind of, like, plowing ahead.

I've got a short torso and long legs, so I tend to wear longer tops and things that sit on my hips.

I love the garishness of the '90s - the giant platform shoes, the sparkly butterfly tops, the chokers.

When you see people getting involved in Comic Relief, especially in tough times or times of recession, that's very positive.

Don't be afraid to look silly. You are only holding yourself back if you are afraid of looking silly or failing.

There was a stage in my career, especially with standup, where I felt, because I didn't know why I was doing well, that anyone who would tell me anything; I was sort of like, 'What did they say? Yeah, I'll take that advice.' Now I'm a bit more careful who I choose to listen to.

I trained in London as a classical actor, but you've no idea what way your career will go.

Apparently, my father was funny. I didn't really know him, but people have theories that the gag-smith gene trickles down through the blood amongst other terrible traits like a big nose and a temper.

My father died when I was three years old and my sister was three months.

For me, people in Ireland who became actors would have to go through the Billy Barry's in Dublin.

When I'm in L.A., I'm part of the Irish community out there, and I just love it.