True characters

Graham Linehan, writer, actor and comedian

My adaptation of 'The Ladykillers' is picking up really good reviews . .. but would I have been gutted if the response had been largely negative? Of course I would. In theatre you really are at the mercy of the critics in a way that's not true in any other form. But I try not to read reviews as a rule. As someone once said, "The bad ones hurt and the good ones don't help."

I had the script of the original film . . .but would only refer to it if I got stuck. There was a nice moment when I was trying to think of an emotional speech for Mrs Wilberforce, the little old lady at the centre of the story, and I suddenly thought of looking at the script. I'm glad I did, because the speech they gave her at that point was beautiful, so I just took the whole thing because I'd never have been able to better it. Generally, though, I was trying to make the stage adaptation as different as possible without losing the basic shape. The whole thing wouldn't have been any fun if I couldn't somehow make it my own.

I've come a long way from writing album and movie reviews for 'Hot Press' . . .Back then, I had little ambition to go beyond writing for magazines – I thought I'd arrived. Free records, free movies! It wasn't until my pay started coming in that I realised I might not be able to make a living.

I seem to always have some piece of work on the go . . .but I'm so lazy. I work in the opposite way to how a swan moves. It might look like a lot of activity but below the surface I'm barely moving.

I'm something of a Twitter fiend . . .it's just a constant companion throughout my writing day. Sometimes it can suck my attention away from work but for the most part I find it puts me right in the zone. I follow so many people (about 1,200) that my feed is never not interesting.

I'm very open to collaborating . . .Indeed, The IT Crowd wouldn't be the show it is without collaboration. In the end, though, it all has to pass through my filter. I have to really buy that what someone has decided is funny is actually funny.

How well known am I on a scale of one to 10 . . .I dunno, six, maybe? It veers between five and six depending on where I am. Five is when I'm in Ireland.

I have never nicked, even subtly, any ideas or lines from either my comedy icons or my favourite comedy shows . . .Maybe the spirit of things, though. For example, I always thought Fawlty Towerswas just the model of what a sitcom should be. Big, big set piece moments, funny dialogue, and visual gags, too.

I think the best training for a writer . . .is a blend of self-belief, luck, application, skill and actually being quite funny. So all of these, but especially reading, reading, and reading. You can't be anything but a mediocre writer if you don't love reading.

Some people say that comedy is like music . . .that there's no originality any more, just variations (however enjoyable) on certain themes. Well, as the world changes, so does comedy. The world is changing crazily fast at the moment so I think comedy will be in good shape.

I am still as into music as I once was . . .I don't subscribe to the belief that it's "not as good as it used to be". Field Music, M83, Metronomy, Evangelicals, John Maus . . . All of them produce startling, beautiful music, and none of them sound like anyone but themselves.

The Ladykillersis at the Gielgud Theatre, Shaftsbury Avenue, London, until April 14th. See boxoffice.co.uk/ ladykillers-tickets

In conversation with Tony Clayton-Lea