Quotes from Hugh Dennis

I love the whole mess of family life. I love having the focus elsewhere and worrying about the kids as opposed to myself. I love both the chaos and the structure that family brings.

My first proper race was a full marathon in 1987. A work colleague convinced us this was the best way to start and signed me up for the Lakeland marathon.

When you go and meet people in far-flung parts of the world who need help, they're not earnest; they're having a laugh and a joke as they transport the water you're buying for them - not trudging around saying serious things.

Ive become a parody of myself, as Im a big fan of a skinny cappuccino.

I travelled across Canada on the Canadian Pacific Railway when I was 18. I didnt realise how long the journey was - four days - and I didnt buy enough food. All I had was four slabs of Philadelphia cream cheese and some biscuits.

One of my travelling bugbears is just people-watching or sticking to a rigid to-do list without venturing further afield.

After university, I travelled through China for about two or three months in 1985. It was very much a closed-off country and no one spoke English, so it was very hard travelling through it.

I cut the cord for my son, which was a tremendous pleasure, though Ive never eaten calamari since.

Steve Punt and I have always tried to go so fast that its physically impossible to heckle.

When I was seven, I went on a school trip to Blankenberge on an overnight ferry and I remember watching the White Cliffs of Dover disappear into the distance. After that trip, our family always spent holidays in Britain and Ive been to nearly every cathedral in Britain.

I think I've said sorry to practically everyone the whole way through my life. I am always saying sorry.

I drove from Addis Ababa to Aksum, where they have the Ark of the Covenant, to the Semien Mountains in the Highlands. I love how the country has a distinct identity and historical borders that werent randomly carved up by explorers.

I'm constantly looking for humour in the news. The funniest things are in the minutiae.

I would rather have nothing worth stealing than live my life trying to protect things.

Ive been to a lot of unusual places including Peru, Nepal, Laos, Cambodia and up the Mekong.

The key thing I took from my upbringing is that people are just people. My parents never worried about status.

I think youve got to work out what makes you happy. With me, its that I do lots of different things. So Ive got this rather odd career whereby Im not really a stand-up and Im not really an actor and Im not really a writer. But I do them all.

I know Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin of old, having worked with them for many years on 'Outnumbered.'

I vary from issue to issue and Im not party political at all. I think its important in comedy not to come from any set angle or it would be too predictable.

Im an entirely one-paced runner, but occasionally I try and go into a slightly higher speed and usually pull my dodgy hamstring. So I just potter along with my rather odd bow-legged running style.

Both my comedy partner, Steve Punt - who grew up in Reigate and is the son of a civil servant - and I come from similarly suburban backgrounds, and its really what fuels our comedy.

My dad was a vicar and my mum was a primary school teacher, so I was always aware of being in a very supportive family.

As a vicar's son, I understood performance. It never seemed odd to me that you'd stand up in front of people wearing weird clothes.

There's something inherently British about siding with the underdog. While comedy needs victims, it doesn't need to treat them in a brutal way - we're kind of lauding them.