Portrait of the artist: Frank Skinner, comedian

When did you first realise you could make people laugh? I was in an art lesson when I was about five. I spread some newspaper over the desk and started drawing comedy moustaches on the faces. A bunch of kids gathered round, laughing. If you strip a lot of performers to the core, you find that urge to show off. What was your big breakthrough? My first Edinburgh festival [in 1987]. I was doing a fairly gentle show to about six people; then I decided to do a 10-minute spot at the Fringe Club. It was a bear-pit: people pouring beer on the acts, paper aeroplanes flying around. I was so frightened that I got really mouthy, but I started to get big laughs. You've worked extensively with David Baddiel. Is collaboration key to successful comedy writing? I haven't done as much collaborating as I'd have liked: even when I worked with Dave, it was compartmentalised. It's a good exercise to work with someone you trust enough that they can say, "That's not funny, Frank", and you don't start a fist-fight. You've experimented with taking the swearing out of your set. Do today's comics try too hard to shock? I've always been wary of anyone who calls themselves a "shock comic". I know I have probably shocked people; a lot of my acts have been quite full-on, especially about sex. The best jokes are often near the knuckle, but for me it's always in pursuit of the laugh rather than the gasp. Most embarrassing moment on stage? I once did a joke about people who are bent double. A guy shouted: "It's called ankylosing spondylitis "; turned out he had it. I said, "Well, at least you'll never stand in dog shit." The audience sort of went with it, but it was a tough one. What one song would work as the soundtrack to your life? George Formby's Why Don't Women Like Me? . It's a brilliant combination of working-class innocence, frustration, and an overall philosophy of life. What artwork would you like to own? Bruegel's Landscape with the Fall of Icarus . You imagine it's going to be about a boy dropping through the heavens, but all you can see is Icarus's foot sticking out of the water in a corner. It reminds me that you always think what's happening to you is momentous, but in the whole scale of life you're just a foot sticking out of the water. What's the worst thing anyone ever said about you? The Daily Mirror called me a "money-grabbing reptile" once. I could cope with the reptile part, but "money-grabbing" hurt. In short Born: West Bromwich, 1957. Career: Has encompassed standup, TV, music and radio. Presents the Saturday morning show on Absolute Radio ; his TV show Frank Skinner's Opinionated returns to BBC2 for six weeks from Thursday. High point: "Returning to standup in 2007." Low point: " Hosting the Brits [in 2002] . It was like performing standup into an aeroplane propeller."