Kenton Allen: My Life In Media

'Every time your favourite joke in the script fails to get a laugh, a little bit more of you dies. I am technically dead'

What inspired you to start a career in the media?

I was given a Goon Show script book aged 12 - the proper old-fashioned sort that reprinted the original scripts with all the cast's notes and scribbles. That got me hooked on comedy writing and combined with a passion for music it landed me a job as a BBC studio manager when I was 18.

When you were 15, what was the family newspaper and did you read it?

A fine Wolverhampton-based publication called The Express and Star featured heavily, principally for the Aston Villa coverage.

What were your favourite TV and radio programmes?

Must-see were The Two Ronnies, The Goodies, Morecambe and Wise and Rising Damp. The TV was strictly rationed. We had more jazz and comedy playing in the house, things like The Goon Show, Billy Connolly, Bob Newhart, Woody Allen and Miles Davis. I did try to explain to my father that there was a musical revolution going on called punk.

What media do you turn to first thing in the morning?

I wake up to the Today programme, though recently my wife has taken to shouting violently at the 8.10 interviewee. I shower to Five Live and then we do Nat Kaplinsky and Lozza Kelly over breakfast.

I listen to Danny Baker and Chris Moyles on the congested drive to work, while reading the Media Guardian and daily Variety email updates on my BlackBerry. I wouldn't recommend doing this.

Do you consult any media sources during the working day?

I try to speed read all the newspapers in the morning and then actually read The Guardian in the evening. I occasionally like Holy Moly for scurrilous sex-based celebrity gossip.

Father Ted writer Graham Linehan has a weird blog that is full of things he's found on the net when he's supposed to be writing comedy.

What's the best thing about your job?

Spending time with the cleverest and funniest people in the world.

And the worst?

The fact that there is no such thing as an instant hit in comedy, and the moment when your favourite joke in a script fails to get the laugh you think it deserved. Every time that happens a little bit more of you dies. I am technically dead.

What is the proudest achievement in your working life?

The Royle Family was a unique experience. I spent nine months in a writers' room with Caroline Aherne and Craig Cash. They would improvise dialogue, playing all the characters, and I would try to scribble it down while dementedly laughing and chain-drinking latte. That's the best comedy school in the world.

And your most embarrassing moment?

I am not remotely embarrassed by it, but I think The Shane Richie Experience was an "interesting" time. An entertainment show where you had an engaged couple playing to win their dream wedding with the bride straddling a 12ft hen that fires eggs out of its arse towards the groom. It was four years before Big Brother. Those weren't the days.

At home, what do you tune in to?

We now seem to watch everything we want to watch via the joy of Sky+. Can I have my free 160Mb upgrade now please?

What is your Sunday paper and do you have a favourite magazine?

We buy all the Sunday papers. And we always have the same conversation after three hours. Me: "Have you found anything interesting to read yet?" Wife: "No. Nothing." Word is genius, and Vanity Fair still entertains and fascinates me. I always read Private Eye and occasionally Viz, and I find myself trawling Heat, Entertainment Weekly, The Hollywood Reporter and Time Out every week; although I'm trying to make room for these things called "books". Apparently, they're making a comeback.

Name the one career ambition you want to realise before you retire

An Oscar would look nice in the downstairs loo.

If you didn't work in the media, what would you do?

I would probably like to open a yacht chandlery in Ibiza. Sailing is the new yoga.

Who in the media do you most admire and why?

I like people who really understand talent: Andy Harries, controller of drama at Granada, Bernie Brillstein, the American agent turned producer who was behind The Muppets, Saturday Night Live and the Blues Brothers and built the company that produces The Sopranos, and a bloke called Michael Grade. He's done it all, and among many things, is the undisputed king of the showbiz anecdote.

Funland is on BBC3 tonight at 10.30pm

The CV

1983: Starts BBC career as trainee studio manager at Pebble Mill

1986: Joins Radio 4 to produce Loose Ends before becoming Radio 1's youngest ever producer

1989: Asked by Jonathan Ross to join Channel X as producer on shows including Tonight with Jonathan Ross

1994: Produces The Shane Richie Experience, Stars in Their Eyes and The Mrs Merton Show for Granada and becomes head of development

2001: Co-founds Shine Entertainment with Elisabeth Murdoch

2003: Returns to the BBC as editor, comedy, and sets up BBC Comedy North in Manchester

2004: Nominated for third Bafta for the film Six Shooter