Steve Punt

[on Hugh Dennis] I saw Hugh in a student comedy show. The thing that stood out a mile about him was his visual, performance-based comedy. He did lots of different voices, none of which the rest of us in the Footlights could do. Compared to our static, smart-arse monologues, you just thought: this is amazing. The thing that glued Hugh and me together and made us successful is that I was able to write jokes for a far wider range of voices and accents than I could do myself. Hugh didn't write as much, but was great physically, so we started off as a writer who performs and a performer who writes. But Hugh grew more and more confident as a writer. We spent a lot of time in cars together and our friendship became strong. Hugh, having studied geography, was always particularly fond of working out shortcuts and plotting out the quickest routes. He likes to point out items of geographical interest, too - he's always been like that. On our way to Manchester recently he said: "Ah marvelous, we'll be near the limestone escarpment of Malham Cove!" It would be very difficult to do comedy with someone you don't find funny, and I certainly find Hugh funny. But he's frighteningly organised. He remembers lines much better than I do, mainly because my head is full of rubbish. I'm sure I drive him up the wall by forgetting things and missing deadlines. He's incredibly trustworthy, and I like to think we've been there for each other as friends throughout. Hugh's been married twice and it's always a big test of friendship when something like that happens in terms of who you rely on and who you talk to. We've been going 25 years. Our relationship is a marriage in itself.