Zoe Lyons

She won the best joke of the Fringe in 2008 with her “playful” jibe at Amy Winehouse (“I can’t believe Amy Winehouse self-harms. She’s so irritating she must be able to find someone to do it for her”). Germaine Greer was not impressed, but Zoe channelled her new-found notoriety and swagger into this year’s show, Miss Machismo.

* Now working on her new show, Zoe will be hosting the first Bent Double of the new year at Komedia from 7.30pm on Jan 3. Guests this time around include Helen Keen, Cathy P and Raymond and Mr Timpkins. Call 0845 2938480.

Is there a performer that made you think, “I want to do that?”

The first comedian who really caught my imagination as a kid was Billy Connolly. It was a family tradition to get his latest video at Christmas and watch it together. I remember tears of laughter rolling down the faces of my parents and thinking how great it must be to make people cry with laughter.

Do you remember the first record you bought – what was it and where did you buy it?

The first record I bought for myself was a single by The Human League called Being Boiled. It must have cost me 70p, which was nearly my week’s pocket money. I can’t remember exactly where I bought it but I am guessing it would have been my local Woolworths ... ah happy days. I loved The Human League when I was a kid. I wanted to copy Phil Oakey’s wonky hair-do but I wasn’t allowed. He’s bald now ... shame.

Tell us about any guilty pleasures lurking in your CD or film collections – something you know is a bit naff but you can’t help yourself.

I do own Glen Campbell’s greatest hits, but there is nothing naff about the Rhinestone Cowboy!

Do you have a favourite film?

Mel Brooks’s Young Frankenstein – it is a comedy classic. It is one of my Dad’s favourites so he introduced me to it. It is beautiful slap-stick and wonderfully performed. Gene Wilder and Marty Feldman are superb. I never tire of watching it.

Which TV show couldn’t you live without?

I am out so many evenings working that I don’t watch a TV show regularly. My television-watching is usually at 1am after coming home from a gig, and it involves channel surfing through late-night rubbish. I do love Saturday Kitchen on a Saturday morning though, particularly when they show old clips of Keith Floyd drinking away and knocking up top-notch dishes. He was a legend. I am a news addict, so I do have to watch the news every day – I hate not knowing what’s going on.

Can you watch I’m A Celebrity after your harrowing Survivor ordeal? [Zoe was a contestant on the reality show, a precursor to I’m A Celebrity...]

I can’t watch it, not because of the memories I have of being in the jungle, but rather because having to watch Ant and Dec makes me feel violent. Somehow those two sum up, for me, everything that is wrong with television. I was in the US recently and they were showing their latest series of Survivor on the telly. I had to change channel, because I did have a flashback of how it felt to be in that very tense environment and in desperate need of a pizza and shower.

Is there a song or individual piece of music you always come back to?

Pink Floyd’s Comfortably Numb at full volume when driving the car.

What are you reading at the moment?

John Steinbeck’s Travels With Charley. It’s an account of his journey around the US in the 1960s in a van with his dog.

Do you have a favourite book?

George Orwell’s Animal Farm.

It is beautifully written; very simple yet very clever.

Is there a live music or theatre experience that stays in your memory?

There is a Russian physical theatre group called Derevo that has blown my mind on a number of occasions. I’m very aware that the words “Russian physical theatre” sound like a nightmare night out to some. I was sceptical when my pal first dragged me along to see them at the Edinburgh Festival years ago. But hand-on-heart, that first show I saw of theirs was the best thing I have ever seen on stage.

At what point of the year do you start work on the next show?

I’m constantly trying to think of ideas and jotting things down. I guess January is a natural time to start collecting all those thoughts I have written on Post-it notes together.

Is there a vague theme emerging yet?

I am going to write a show about how great it is to be a loser. Winners are dull... failures maketh man I think.

What’s your favourite short, clean joke?

How do you make a dog drink?

Put it in a blender.