Interview - The Wall

Rhys Thomas is one half of the world's most gorgeous comedy TV duo, having teamed up with Alexa Chung to present BBC Three's The Wall.

We hooked up with Rhys for a quickie.

Comedy’s not a proper job is it? How did you end up doing it for a living?

Not really, although too many people (comedians) treat it like one and take it so seriously, they stress over it and go into so much detail and sometimes you just want to say to them, 'Come on! It's only a laugh. Get over it!' It's mainly due to insecurity. All of the good comedians I know aren't like that.

I started at Sixth Form making comedy sketches with my friends (who both write and appear on The Wall, Tony Way and Steve Burge) , I managed to get a job as s a runner on Shooting Stars, whilst working on that, I gave Bob Mortimer the tapes we filmed and he liked them and it went from there. I ended up writing for Shooting Stars, voicing Donald Cox the fox and then worked on The Fast Show, also as a runner/actor.

Who are the three funniest people in the world and why?

I can't do three, have to do six: Simon Day [Fast Show];  Reece Sheersmith [League of Gentlemen]; Paul Whitehouse; Bob Mortimer; Tom Baker; Lucy Montgomery [Titty BangBang]. They are equally funny as performers on screen and when you meet them. Michael Winner also makes me laugh.

Your wife, Lucy Montgomery stars in the show as a man. In fact, she seems to dress up as a man all the time. Doesn't it interfere with your sex life?

One time she was dressed as Tom Cruise whilst filming TittyBangBang and I hadn't seen her all day. I met her in a car park where they were filming and gave her a massive kiss, with tongues and lots of passing members of the public wondered what the hell was going on. It only interferes when she insists on wearing a strap on and doing me up the spout.

You're both in the industry, but do you think women are ever as funny as male comedians?

I hate that question. Of course they are. There are just a few too bad female comics around, but no more bad women than men.

The Wall has a lot of virtual audience participation;  how do you choose what goes in?

Pick the funniest bits. I tend to like things that are so bad they are funny, which isn't really what the Wall is about (well, depending on what you think of it!)

The new show is for the young and trendy – how do you keep in touch with the yoof?

I don't really. It's terrible of me, I don't know who any of the bands are , I listen to Queen and Genesis, so I'm a bit out of touch. I listen to XFM sometimes, and listen to 30 seconds worth of the top ten downloads on iTunes and that's about it.

Is being a presenter better than the pretend-alien fighting job you had on Torchwood? 

I never actually fought aliens, I was in a dull episode with none in it and was cut out of the final programme! Ha! I'm on the DVD outtakes though.

Alexa Chung looks like a bit of a handful – how was working with her?

She's very nice and funny. She makes it easy as she's in it for fun and she helps me with autocue buts which I can't do.

Finally, congratulations on the new baby. How do you feel about being a father?

It is the best thing in the world. Everyone says 'oh it's difficult, sleepless nights ' and all that, but we've just found every moment wonderful. Sorry not to give a funny answer. We take Polly to the BBC with us every week when filming. It's strange to think she's only two weeks and she's already had a BBC dressing room and a parking space right out the front of stage door. You put life in perspective and realise what's important. And she had no defects - I was worried that she'd have my short legs.

Rhys hosts The Wall with Alexa Chung on BBC Three, Tuesdays at 11pm.
You can get involved, post your funny stuff on The Wall online, you might just end up on the show.