Guilty for being funny

FEELING perpetually guilty has nothing to with being the son of a bishop, insists Hugh Dennis, one half of comedy duo, Punt and Dennis.

He laughs: "My father is a Church of England bishop so there's no sort of Catholic guilt there at all. We never bothered with the guilt thing. He's very relaxed. They were really cool parents. I even went to an atheist school."

His guilt complex comes from working outside the regular nine-to-five.

Hugh reveals: "I never got over the feeling of guilt that comes with being a writer. One of the reasons that people love this sort of job is being able to roll out of bed when you want to, but I'm the sort that come 11am I want to see what I've done I've always got to be doing something, which drives my wife up the wall. Even when I started writing full-time I was really undecided, and don't think I've ever really gotten used to it. "

The pair are back on the road, nearly a decade after whipping up a frenzy among the teenage-angst hit youth of Great Britain with their cult show, the Mary Whitehouse Experience.

Hugh, a father of two, says: "We haven't really done any big stuff for about nine years. Back then we'd do 150 nights and then 50 the next year."

Teaming up with Jasper Carrott to appear on Carrott Confidential, which went out live every weekend, was the big break for the pair and cult status came not long afterwards when they teamed up in Mary Whitehouse.

But even landing a slot with Jasper on primetime was not enough to convince Hugh that full-time comedy was the job for him.

"I worked in marketing for years before I made the decision," reveals Hugh. "All the time we were doing the comedy stuff in Jongleurs and then with Jasper Carrot I'd be working at Unilever from 9am to 6pm all week but then it got to the stage where I had to decide what I wanted to do. Steve (Punt) had always wanted to do this for a living but I was never quite sure, although it was really fun. It had not ever occurred to me to do this full-time - it just sort of happened by accident.

"I only ever got on stage for the first time when I was in my third year at university and then it was only as a favour to a mate after someone left. I got hooked after that."

Decision time came when the pair took part in the hugely successful Mary Whitehouse Experience, which started out on BBC Radio 1 before moving across to BBC 2.

The Cambridge Footlights, the university's drama society, which seeded the likes of John Cleese and Stephen Fry, was where Steve and Hugh's paths first crossed.

Hugh recalls: "I wanted to do it as a hobby but Nick Hancock and Steve were looking at it seriously. But then Nick went off to do teacher training, so myself and Steve came together as a double act by default really."

Staying in comedy has proved lucrative for the pair who have written and performed 13 series of The Now Show and 11 series of It's Been a Bad Week, where they report on the news from the previous week in a laugh-a-minute satirical format.

With two children each, life is a whole lot different for the pair now, but the punters are still coming in their droves.

Hugh chuckles that the name of the show, Grown Men, is somewhat telling of their own take on their return to stand-up.

"What it's meant to be is why would grown men be doing this kind of stuff for a living standing up and making jokes, and yet here I am doing this which is great," he explains. "It's semi-topical, with sketches. When we were doing Whitehouse our main fans were girls of about 15. It was an incredibly popular show, especially among students and kids at school now our appeal has widened which is great."

So when many marriages barely last past the five year mark, what's the secret to the pair's success?

"Part of it is that we are not competitive," says Hugh. "A lot of these things fall apart because one thinks he's not getting as many laughs as the other, and then it can fall apart."

And they no longer live in one another's pockets. "When we started off we always had this rule that one of us sat at the typewriter and one wandered around the room dictating, but that's because in those days typewriters were really expensive and we could only afford one, but now it's possible for us both to have one so we can work on our own. We then get together over coffee at the Royal Festival Hall, which is equidistant from our respective houses and pretend to work. That's another great thing about this job, is that we can just be at home - vicars do that too. I have a study which my children poke their noses around, which is what I remember doing when my father was working."

Hugh has also enjoyed several stints as guest presenter on Have I Got News For You.

He reveals: "It's less daunting than it seems. I was quite used to doing Carrot which was always live, so I was used to that very pressurised environment from early on. The thing is that you cannot think about the millions of people behind the lens. The way nerves have always affected me is that I feel really sleepy and have a bit of a kip before I go on."

Fans of My Hero, which also stars Ardal O Hanlon, will recognise him as the irredeemable Dr Piers Crispin.

He laughs: "I play a character who is completely horrid and has no redeeming features at all - a real dastardly style character. It's really fun playing people who are not at all nice."

Currently on a month-long tour across the country and with tags such as "Kings of Satirical Comedy" to live up to, suggests the boys won't leave it so long before stepping out in public next time.

But the widening appeal means Hugh has nerves of a different type to contend with.

He confesses: "I'm concerned about how long it will be before I become a complete embarrassment to my seven-year-old. At the moment he has a certain amount of hero-worship. I'll give him a year and a half and then he'll let his sister in on the secret."

Punt & Dennis, Grown Men. In Public at Wycombe Swan on Thursday, January 27, 8pm. Tickets: 01494 512000