Statistically, I'd say comedy writers are perhaps the sanest category of show people. And why not? They make big money, and although it's not an easy trade - particularly when you're at your galley oar five days a week - it's easier on the nerves and the psyche than living with the brain-squeezing pressure and cares of being the Star.

Brief Encounters: Conversations, Magic Moments, and Assorted Hijinks (ed. Henry Holt and Company, 2014) - ISBN: 9780805099782