The Jack Dee Interview

Has [former team captain] Mark Lamarr been in touch to give you pointers?
I did have a chinwag with Lamarr, yes. Like me, he didn’t talk much and he said to me that on one occasion he said nothing for an entire episode. At which point the producer said, “Mmm, yeah, you could do a bit more than that, Mark.”

Do you bring more to the table than him?
[Sighs] Shouldn’t think so.

Do you want to win each week?
No. If you win you have to do the end-of-the-show challenge and there’s every danger that would involve me. I’m happy to lose, to be completely honest.

Who was your favourite Shooting Stars team-mate?
Ricky [Wilson] from the Kaiser Chiefs. It was nice to have a kindred spirit, someone who was as equally confused as I was. Neither of us knew what the hell was going on.

Any plans to crack the US?
[Shrugs] Not really. There’s plans to make a US pilot version of Lead Balloon, which may or may not involve us in the writing – that’s in discussion. I’m happiest close to home. I don’t want to travel. If I was offered a specific job over there, then that’s a different matter.

You could be the next James Bond.
I’d do that. In fairness I was the obvious choice, but they f*cked it up by picking [Daniel] Craig.

You famously slated Big Brother having been on the celebrity version in 2001 [Dee won the first Celebrity Big Brother, which was for Comic Relief]. Are you pleased to hear there will only be one more series of the show?
It’s time it went, but I hope to see more of Davina [McCall, the show’s host] and less of Big Brother. The show crossed the line between being a novel and interesting concept, to being just cynical and unkind and that was to do with choosing people who would suffer in one way or another when in the house.

Would you do any other celebrity reality shows?
I’m usually accosted by the people at Comic Relief to do something or other – I’d do it for them again, I guess.