I think the carrots in the sick joke was the stuff I hated as he got more famous. Stuff that you'd heard a million times before.

One time I saw a film of him in the Orkneys subjecting an audience to the old Stan Boardman routine - the nit nurse. I realise that comedy devours material, but god knows, he was rich enough to employ some writers.

His early work was so stunningly fresh and original.