A horrible job is good for the soul

Frank Skinner is in a coffee shop on a bitter January lunchtime trying to choose between a five-cheese toastie or an oat pot "thing" and musing on some of the "terrible" jobs he had before finding his niche in comedy.

- EMILY RETTER

Now 66, he is about to go on the road in a stand-up tour, and can't wait. He loves performing, and has always been a grafter, but remembering grim jobs he had as a young man also keeps him going.

He says: "My dad had a big thing about working hard. When I got a job as a labourer, the other labourers would say to me, 'Hey, slow down, you're making us look bad'.

"What has been great for my motivation was doing some terrible jobs.

"I worked in a glass factory, and one thing I had to do was take wheelbarrows of broken glass and tip them in a hole in the floor into a skip below, and a cloud of glass dust came up.

"I used to have to drop the wheelbarrow and run away, but I was still breathing in that glass. You always had blood running off your finger tips.

He's as upbeat about comedy now as he was when he started out 40 years ago. In fact, he's upbeat about most things, including that oat pot he finally decided on. He says: "My partner says I have high serotonin.

David Baddiel, 59, his old comedy partner, close friend, and now neighbour in North London, is very different.

They became mainstream with their Fantasy Football Show in the 90s, peaking with their collaboration with The Lightning Seeds for Three Lions.

Frank says: "When I worked with David I never thought he enjoyed it as much as he should have done.