As someone who was put forward by his girlfriend for his first gig and therefore not influenced to do it by any ‘heroes’, I had never really thought about this before. However, there really only has to be one choice: Frank Skinner. My first memory of him isn’t even comedy related, it was at Euro ’96 with the fantastic ‘Three Lions’ song. Even today, that song is solely responsible for me hoping England only lose every game 1-0, as opposed to a 5-0 thrashing.

Back to comedy though and it was his Baddiel and Skinner Unplanned show that first made the 12-year-old me think, ‘Is that all comedians have to be: funny with their pals? I could do that …’ He might not be the most original and thought-provoking of comedians but he has been remarkably consistent for the past 25 years and aims only to make the punters laugh with his cheeky, immature lad style. As much as I love his silly jokes and sharp observations though, it’s his ‘Osama Bin Laden song’ that’s my current favourite as it shows he’s still on top of his game.

A normal, modest guy that always gives audiences their money’s worth, and can make the adult me laugh as much as my 12-year-old self did, is all I could ever hope to achieve in comedy. That’s why Christopher Collins (aka Frank Skinner) is the man. I even find myself defending his nonsense ‘anti-atheist’ rants of late, which proves how much I admire the guy.