A biography for Simon Amstellhasn’t been written yet.
“If you are the sort of comedian who's interested in sort of the mundane, then there's something in that and then it's wonderful to take the opportunity to discuss the mundane, and when people do that well, it's beautiful.”
“Part of my defence mechanism is humour, so sometimes when I'm being funny, it's just as a way of stopping people from getting in.”
“I'd really like to be able to play the piano.”
“I had a good relationship with my grandmother. She used to really validate me.”
“I'm such a joyful, brilliant weirdo that to not be able to express that because people are in a rush seems a shame.”
“I used to think like a presenter in real life: ok, we've got five minutes, this has to be a great five minutes... Mania.”
“I've always felt that comedy doesn't just come from misery. It comes from an absurdity around that misery.”
“I took over a show with 'Buzzcocks.' And also, I was younger and I didn't know what I was doing. It's always sweeter, when people mention 'Popworld.' There's a bit of nostalgia there.”
“When you are a person trying to impress people publicly on a big scale, you forget that you actually love what you do.”
“As I was about to turn 40, I realised it wasn't going to be possible to carry on being in my 30s. And that was a major crisis!”
“I'm always more scared of things not changing, of not being as alive as I could be.”
“As a teenager, I found a lot of courage through people on the television being funny or subversive.”
“I got my first job in television when I was 18, on the kids' cable channel Nickelodeon, introducing the 'Rugrats' and other programs. It was really thrilling.”
“I'm continuing to peel away all these layers of shame and finding more and more freedom and confidence and just being able to joyfully be my actual self, rather than worrying about what anyone thinks.”
“Everything I try to do is about slaying that dragon of shame.”
“I think when I started doing stand-up properly, at 21, I had a feeling like... I wanted to be a comedian before I wanted to be a 'gay comedian.' And so, the way you do that is you avoid giving people too much material that would suggest you are the 'gay comedian.'”
“I think I may be a determinist.”
“I've felt like I've been on a long journey to feel okay in the world, and it turns out the world isn't ideal.”
“I'm really into comedy where you're not sure whether you're supposed to be laughing or crying.”
“I used to think that laughter would solve everything and I would never be lonely.”