...so I don't have to endure TV

Eric Sykes says he's glad he has lost his sight and his hearing - so he doesn't have to endure television.

In another of what is fast becoming a trademark complaint against the state of modern entertainment, Sykes said: "Watching television is worse than not being able to see."

"Television is very pathetic now," he added. "It's all run by accountants who couldn't spot good comedy if it dropped in front of them.

"And canned laughter. Don't you hate canned laughter? We never used canned laughter."

In an interview with the Independent, 78-year-old Sykes added that comedians were often troubled because they could never be sure why they had talent.

"With the great comics, you laugh at the whole person, and not at their jokes, and that's why some of them are so miserable. They don't know why they are funny, you see. They don't have a column of figures to add up or tangible assets to reassure them, so that is bound to be worrying."

Sykes has also been moaning about working with Ray Cooney in his West End farce. Caught In The Net. He told The Mail on Sunday's Nigel Dempster: "Ray was giving me instructions the other day and I told him 'I'm an actor - don't tell me what to do.' The problem with Ray is that he ruins his plays by giving himself the star role when he can't act."

Published: 11 Feb 2002