How did you get into standup?

I started writing sketches when I was 13. I liked Vic Reeves, Fry and Laurie, and Paul Merton, and I thought you could just send sketches to the BBC and they'd go: "Great, we'll put these on telly." But I gradually realised that you either had to go to university and join a club, or do standup. I ended up doing both. My first gigs were at university: I'd dress up as Jesus, jump off a cross and dance to a Mick Jagger song. I don't know if it was funny or not, but it was a start.

What was your big breakthrough?

Applying for an open mic award run by the Daily Telegraph. I'd been doing standup for about a year, but then I got hepatitis and couldn't really do gigs. I needed a shortcut, so I applied for this competition – there were only three or four gigs to get to the final. I was beaten by Frankie Boyle in the final, but it did get me an agent.

You're an artist as well as a comic. Are there parallels between the two worlds?

I guess standup is really painting pictures with words – especially for me, as I describe quite fantastical, visual things. My art teacher, Dexter Dalwood, always seemed to think they were linked. We bonded over our love of Vic Reeves. Years later, I introduced him to Vic at one of my exhibitions. He was really chuffed.

What one song would work as the soundtrack to your life?

Probably Octopus by Syd Barrett. I just love how English it is – surreal, whimsical, on the verge of madness.

Is there anything about your career you regret?

How long have you got? I've been dragged through the tabloids – but you just have to learn as you go. And I wish [Mighty Boosh partner Julian Barratt and I] had done a film. We had offers, but we never took them up.

Which artists do you most admire?

The film-maker Alejandro Jodorowsky. His films are hard to watch – they're so dense and rich – but they're probably the best things ever made. And Spike Milligan, who was light years ahead of the rest. I played some of his stuff to Jack Black once. He'd never heard of him, so watching him listen to Spike for the first time was just hilarious.

What's the worst thing anyone ever said about you?

What, in the last week? There's been so much. I remember when Julian and I won the Perrier [award], we had to go and play Her Majesty's theatre [in London]. Our Edinburgh set had been in a tiny, 60-seat venue. It was like putting a puppet show on a football pitch. We got through it as best we could, but one reviewer said of the act that followed us: "He was quite funny – but after the Mighty Boosh, a public execution would have been funny."

What's your greatest ambition?

To do something completely different, like write and illustrate children's books, and live in a decrepit, slightly bohemian house by the sea.

In short

Born: London, 1973

Career: Co-creator, with Julian Barratt, of The Mighty Boosh. Also a stand-up, regular panellist on the TV show Never Mind The Buzzcocks, and an artist. Has donated artwork to the Macmillan De'Longhi Art Auction at London's Royal College of Art next Tuesday.

High point: "The second series of the Boosh."

Low point: "None. I've been so lucky – I can't moan about any of it."