Paul Whitehouse

However much of a brave face you put on, you sometimes realise 'These people are just so much better than me at everything.'

People say how refreshing it is to see two men open up. But I don't really think of us as being those types of people. In fact, Bob's philosophical questions sometimes drive me round the bend.

Stealth is important when you're fishing.

In many ways I was lucky: my dad had a quadruple bypass in his fifties. When I had the heart stents, the guy who did it said, 'Well I didn't put them in for you to go and sit by the fire, so get up and go out.'

I do a programme with Bob Mortimer, where we explore our heart problems. We both tend to it really carefully. I have to be a bit careful.

It's tiring doing eight shows a week.

I never write alone.

Making it big in pop would have suited me fine, although comedy is a far better world for an older person.

Sometimes Harry worries a bit too much. As he likes the role of being burdened with the cares of the world, I humour him. He thinks he knows best and a lot of the time, he does. We're both champagne lefties, though I hate champagne.

I met Harry through a mutual friend in the early Eighties, when Harry used to do a passable Prince Charles impersonation over a pint in my local pub in Hackney.

Nurse' couldn't be construed as laughing at the characters. You can't do something about mental illness without being genuine about the characters. Given the nature of the material, you can't fake it. That would be trite and wrong.

Working on 'Nurse' was actually a labour of love for us; we helped each other through it and found it very uplifting in a curious way.

If someone says 'Oh, that's a really good film,' before I go and see it, I'll probably think it is, but then if someone else says it's crap then a seed of doubt will be planted.

The first time we went fishing together was not long after Bob had his heart surgery in 2015. His treatment had been significantly worse than expected, but I badgered him to come out fishing at Stockbridge on the River Test.

I like to think I'm quite cocky, and at home in any company. But you're not really, are you?

Well, I don't get depressed, but there have certainly been moments in life when I've been really miserable.

Some friends of mine have started what they call the Misery Club. They just drink and bemoan failed relationships.

You've got to try something new and risk opprobrium. But you won't see me debuting at Glyndebourne.

They go together, don't they, 'monumental' and 'folly?'

I never eat veal. I don't agree with the way it is produced.

Bob and I are both of the opinion that the funniest creature on Earth is the 14-year-old boy.

We've talked about it, but I think one of the reasons 'Gone Fishing' is popular is that the fishing is on our doorstep. Even the more highfalutin places are available to anyone at certain times of the year. It's sometimes expensive, but no more expensive than you'd spend going to the football.

I'm quite shallow.

I have no fear of my own mortality.

Obviously, you lose sight of certain things as you get older. In some cases; for example, youth culture.

We've all got people who have experienced mental illness, and my mum was a community nurse for a while.

I'm quite grumpy.

Bob and I got into comedy in a similar way. On the coat-tails of our mates.

The average 'Only Fools and 'Horses' fan probably doesn't go to some poncey West End musical.

Comedians are great at laughing at themselves, we really are. We mock everyone else and we can take it as well.

It is disconcerting looking at yourself as Mary Berry. It's bad enough looking at myself as myself.

In fact, fishing's the thing I most associate with my dad.

I was put on blood-pressure medication for a couple of years, but when it didn't really seem to go down, they brought me back in, did an angiogram and told me, 'Oh, you've got one artery that's only got ten per cent function.'

I don't want to make a big deal out of the heart stents. When the guy did it he said, 'I didn't put them in just so you can sit by the fireplace,' know what I mean?

I've got three stents, four kids and five Baftas. I think one's led to the others. But I don't worry about illness.

We get people saying, 'Thanks for the laughs,' but it's very different when you get people coming up and saying, 'Thanks, my dad watched your show, and as a result I made him go and get his heart checked.'

I think I can sing, and if you ask Bob Mortimer he will tell you, 'Will you shut up,' and my children they'll say, 'Shut up, dad,' because I sing all the time.

Those old Tories who are always going on about the Sixties and the age of permissiveness being our downfall are probably right.

Nurse' is a project close to my heart.

When we did 'The Fast Show Live,' we got a great deal of affection from the audience. That feeds your enjoyment and everybody else's.

Certainly 'Blackadder' with the first series didn't go to very much, and I was told most of my stuff wouldn't have been a success if we didn't have a second bite of the apple.

In comedy, if you're going to commission something commission two series, don't commission one because so many comedies are finding their feet and you have to take a punt.

All TV production companies and channels, not just the BBC, know that drama is what they can sell internationally to bring money in.

If you look back at 'The Fast Show,' we always shot it nicely and tried to make it look good as well as funny.

Harry - how can I put it? - doesn't suffer fools gladly. But he's always very indulgent with me. If I come up with a suggestion, he never says, 'No, that's rubbish.' We're very tolerant of each other professionally.

I work with quite a lot of black comedians and I don't think they think doing accents is racist at all.

If you do certain accents it's considered racist, but I'm not convinced it is.

I was on holiday in Somerset with my daughter, just sitting watching the telly or something, when: BANG! One minute I was fine, the next I thought I'd been shot in the stomach.

The Queen musical ran for years, but then Rod Stewart's wasn't as successful, so you never know.

We are all prisoners of our past to some extent.