If you've seen Simon on the television before – either presenting the music news show Popworld or the popular BBC music quiz show Never Mind the Buzzcocks, you'll probably be under the impression that he is just a man who doesn't mind saying what he really thinks in order to get a laugh. This devil-may-care attitude has landed him in the middle of several controversies, the most famous being causing Britney Spears to cry on Popworld. But as Do Nothing reveals, there is far more to Simon than meets the eye.

Amstell is well-known for his homosexuality and his relationships with other men play a key part in this award-winning stand-up. This show reveals a completely different side to him, as he talks through his awkwardness, insecurities and inability to act normally in front of people he fancies; we get a sense that this show is a form of therapy for him. That is not to say that it isn't funny – it is side-splittingly hilarious all the way through. But it is the awkwardness that accompanies that humour that the audience dwells on and relates to, and that makes this show especially unique. Who among us hasn't felt like we wanted to rewind the last five minutes and meet that person again, only this time, present an image of ourselves which is half-competent and attractive? Amstell taps into this extremely well, keeping us thinking while we're laughing.

His observations on today's society are equally as amusing and worth thinking about, as he lampoons everything from sex to living in the moment. But even here, there's not much in the way of the forceful aggression that Simon so often purveyed for the shows he presented on BBC2 and Channel 4. Swearing is kept to a minimal, and the honest way that he delivers his observations keeps the audience entirely on his side.

Of all the many varied forms of comedian that have come and gone in the history of stand up, from the brash in-your-face Eddie Murphys to the razor sharp joke-a-minute Jimmy Carrs, there is one type that seems never to go out of style: the self-deprecating comic. There is just something about seeing another person who is prepared to tell you the worst about themselves, while being confident enough to do it on a stage and funny enough to do it for a paying crowd, that makes us all feel better about ourselves. By opening themselves up to their worst self-observations and sharing them in public the self deprecator lets us know it is OK for us not to be perfect and invites us to laugh both at their and our own failings. It is the comedy of inclusion and it is the power behind some of the funniest comedy quotes of all time.

There's nothing better than a great comedy film when you're in need of a laugh. Whether it's Some Like It Hot, Airplane, There's Something About Mary or Bridesmaids everyone has a favourite funny flick and often it is one scene, one exchange or one line that does it for them every time they re-watch it. Here are some of the all-time greatest comedy quotes from some of the all-time funniest films. 

• Don’t fall over. Ever. Especially when drunk and on camera.

• Don’t try to act cool if you are not. If you are a nerd; embrace it.

• Don’t use cheesy pick-up lines, such as, ‘is it hot in here, or is it just you?’ This guarantees immediate rejection and hearty laughter at your expense.

• Stay away from the dance floor if you cannot dance. Don’t let alcohol can make you believe that you’re the next Rihanna.

• Karaoke should be done with close friends who will laugh with you, and not at you. And leave the high notes to Mariah Carey.

• Don’t write love letters in class or in the office. If you do, make sure that the teacher never catches you. He/she will probably read it out to the whole class.

• Similarly, if you are bad-mouthing your boss to a co-worker in an e-mail, do not hit ‘send all’. Most people on your mailing list will be forwarding it to other people. You will be the butt of office jokes for weeks to come.

• When you wear pants with a belt, try not to pull them as high as you can, unless you are trying to get into the in-crowd at your local science fair or a Simon Cowell impersonator.

• Never discuss any of your bodily functions on a first date. You will not get a second one, and your date will be telling all of his/her friends about it for weeks to come.

• When you have to make two trips to get the groceries from the car.

• When people with an atrocious voice insist on singing along to the terrible song playing in the supermarket.

• People who have the amazing quality of interrupting a class or a meeting only to divulge some blatantly unnecessary nugget of information just so they can ostentatiously prove their knowledge.

• Girls who purport that ‘tangerine' is a natural skin pigmentation.

• People who know their headphones are too loud, but pretend it's in their normal decibel range.

• When you forget to remove the liquid liner on the back of your hand before you go out.

• When someone sets your iPhone to Norwegian.

• When you ask for no cheese - and you get cheese, melted into everything so it's impossible to remove… and you've already driven out the drive-through twenty minutes ago.

• When Facebook tries everything to tempt you to change your mind as you try to delete your account, i.e. ‘what about your best friend?'

• Retail employees that clearly have no interest in customer service but have somehow gotten a job in a shop anyway.

• The amount of passwords, secret answers, usernames, emails, and the plethora of other information you have to recall on a daily basis just to live, or use your iPhone. No I don't remember my second dogs first initial of his last name!

• “Sorry that username is already taken”…and the search continues.

• “Your password must be at least eight characters long, not contain your date of birth, contain at least one number, at least one capital letter, not contain any of the following “ *, /…” and then once you've sorted that, the infamous – “your password does not match the one above.”

Comedians are supposed to be happy. They tell funny stories and jokes, whilst many are famous and make a considerable amount of money. So why is there such a high suicide rate amongst these apparently happy people who give the world so much laughter?

It seems that if you look behind the laughter, you are probably going to find someone who has faced many difficult challenges. Comedians often use comedy to cope with these challenges. Not every comedian is depressed, but it is a fact that there are more mood disorders associated with comedians than other performers.

Actor Jim Carrey has battled with depression since he was just a child. He became a comedian in order to ease this pain, but tried to commit suicide twice. In both instances he took large doses of sleeping pills. Carrey has said that he used to take Prozac to stabilize his mood, but now focuses on spiritual treatment and abstaining from alcohol or smoking because he feels it helps him manage his depressive symptoms.

Comedian Drew Carey has admitted to using food and alcohol to help him cope with depression. Actor Owen Wilson's attempted suicide made headlines in 2007, after his break up with Kate Hudson. It was later revealed that Wilson has been battling depression and taking anti-depressants for years. These are just a few high profile comedians who have admitted to depression and sometimes even attempted suicide.

Dr. Amy Alpine, who is a comedian and also a psychotherapist, believes that both depression and Bipolar Disorder are common among comedians. She goes on to state that some comedians who have Bipolar Disorder do not usually wish for it to be treated. They can't operate as comedians without their manic episodes. Jonathon Winters, Ben Stiller, and Robin Williams all reportedly have this disorder.

The other side of the Bipolar Disorder coin is the fall into deep depression. Chris Farley and John Belushi are just two examples of victims who fell too far. They both added drugs and alcohol to the mix, which no doubt accelerated their depression.

Women will never be equal to men until they can walk down the street with a beer gut and a bald head, safe in the comfort that they are super sexy.

Everyone thinks that “sex” is the answer; well, it’s not. Sex is actually the question. "Yes" is the answer.

Yes, women can fake orgasms. But men can fake entire relationships.

Men have two states of mind: ‘hungry’ and ‘horny’. If your man doesn’t have an erection, you should make him a sandwich.

Husbands and diapers have one thing in common. You should change them both regularly, and for exactly the same reason.

I once saw a woman wearing a shirt with the word "Guess" written on it...so I said "Implants?"

If sex is a real pain in the ass, then you're probably doing it wrong.

Behind every successful man is a great woman. Behind the fall of that successful man is usually a different woman.

We have more than enough gun control. What we need now is a bit of idiot control.

Women may not hit as hard, but they can always hit low.

A little boy asked his father, "Daddy, how much does it cost to get married?" Father replied, "I don't know son, I'm still paying."

If someone can bleed for five days and not die, I don’t trust them.

You should've known it wasn't going to work out between you and your ex-wife. After all, you’re a Libra and she's a bitch.

Never hit a man with glasses. Hit him with a frying pan.

There's a very fine line between cuddling and holding your victim down so they can't escape.

I got in a fight once with a really huge guy, and he said, "I'm going to mop the floor with your face." I said, "You'll be sorry." He said, "Oh, yeah? Why?" I said, "Well, you won't be able to get into the corners very well."

On the one hand, we, as men, will never experience childbirth. On the other hand, we can always open all our own jars.

Men think monogamy is something you make furniture out of.

Women now have choices. They can be married, not married; be married with children, unmarried with children, have a job, not have a job. Men have the same choice they’ve always had: work or prison.

Before marriage, a man declares that he would lay down his life to serve his wife; after marriage, he refuses to even lay down his newspaper to talk to her.

Will Rogers once said: "Everything is changing. People are taking their comedians seriously and their politicians as a joke."

George Bush Sr. has been quoted saying that he had worked alongside President Reagan for seven and a half years. They had triumphs and made some mistakes, and “We've had some sex...uh...setbacks."

Sen. Ted Kennedy, speaking about his then-fiancée, Victoria Reggie, said that she's a wonderful, wonderful person, and that they were looking forward to a wonderful and happy night. He corrected himself very quickly with “— ah, life.”

"They don't call me Tyrannosaurus Sex for nothing." —Ted Kennedy

Bob Dole remarked on working with the Clinton administration by saying that their intent would not be to create gridlock; except maybe every now and then.

"There they are. See no evil, hear no evil, and ...evil." —This was Bob Dole’s opinion of former presidents Carter, Ford and Nixon. They were standing by each other at a White House event

"Outside of the killings, Washington has one of the lowest crime rates in the country." —Said the former mayor of Washington, D.C. Marion Barry.

George Bush, Sr. was speaking to a group of students about drug abuse and was honest in saying that, because he was a president, it would be pretty hard for a drug dealer to come into the White House and start offering him drugs. But, if they did, he hoped he would say, 'Hey, get lost. I don't want any of that.'

He also spoke to the employees of an insurance company. This was during the 1992 New Hampshire primary. He said that it would be rather impossible to be president of the United States if you lacked faith. He remarked on Lincoln, going to his knees in his times of trial and the Civil War, saying that “we are blessed. So we should not feel sorry for — don't cry for me, Argentina. Message: I care."

"Please don't ask me to do that which I've just said I'm not going to do, because you're burning up time. The meter is running through the sand on you, and I am now filibustering." — George Bush, Sr.

"I am not one who — who flamboyantly believes in throwing a lot of words around." —George Bush, Sr.

Telling jokes is not as easy as comedians make it out to be. Good comedians have the ability to tell a story about something ordinary, but making sound hysterical. If you want to be the funny guy at the next party (and not by tripping over your own feet and falling into the swimming pool), use some of these techniques that professionals implement:

Be brief and get a first laugh as quickly as possible. People don’t want to know all the superfluous stuff that happened before the first punch-line - unless it’s hilarious. A strong opening will captivate your listeners and they’ll be more likely to stay interested.

It helps to write the story out and highlight the funny parts. If there are too many lines in between funny parts, try to tighten it up. Make your words more interesting and creative – especially the adjectives. For example, try and use words like “ginormous” or “colossal” which are more interesting than “big”.

Choose only the best details or highlights from your story. Keep it funny and leave out the boring parts. If a character has big ugly feet, you should portray them as the person with elephant feet. Details that lead up to the punch-line should be quirky – a story about a desperate woman coming on to a man could say, “she was all over him like a fat woman over a cupcake”. That is funnier than saying “the woman was flirting with a guy”.

It’s quite acceptable and sometimes helps the story to describe the other senses such as smells, touch and sounds. People can immediately visualise, connect and become ‘grossed out’ when they hear something like, “Her skin felt like a lizard with a bad case of acne”.

Add a few twists. Take this for example, “There was this woman with a cat… that reminds me, what’s the deal with cats anyway? My cat is like my teenage son, neither responds when I call their name. Anyway…”

Ask your audience questions as you tell the story; It keeps them invested and curious.

Exaggerate an accent or mannerism. Don’t overdo it though. You may wish to practice in front of a mirror.

Don’t tell the same jokes at every gathering. You don’t want be known as “Jack with the boring jokes”. Find and practice new material.

People usually only remember the last part of a story. If the ending is flat, it will kill the joke. Keep them wanting more.

When we think of clowns today, we remember our childhood trips to the circus - Bozo the clown with his big red nose and over-size shoes, spraying water from a fake flower. But this is a far cry from clowning’s satirical history.

The origin of the word ‘clown’ is thought to have come from the word for ‘clod’, which in Scandinavian or Teutonic means “a coarse or boorish fellow; a lout”. Clowns go far back into history and there are even traces of clowns in Greek burlesque and the Roman Amphitheatre.

During the Middle Ages, ‘fools’ and court jesters entertained the kings and nobles. They held a privileged position, as long as what they did as ordered, by amusing their masters. They were versatile and could play musical instruments, sing, dance and do acrobatics – all with a touch of wit.

The jesters from early history dressed to be the object of ridicule by wearing a hood with donkey ears and sometimes a tail. This was meant to show his audience that he shouldn’t be taken seriously. This outfit eventually evolved into a three-pointed cap with bells at the ends.

It was in old England that a clown was first used to provoke laughs and provide comic relief. Much like the clown in the modern day circus, he was not really part of the main act but was usually used to ease the tension and warm up the crowd. Shakespeare used clowns in his plays; the grave diggers depicted in Hamlet were clowns, Othello had his clown and Launcelot Gobbo was Shylock's famous clown.

In France, the clown was the Pierrot. Originally, with his signature costume and powdered face, he was a happy clown as well as an accomplished dancer. Today, we usually see the Pierrot's character as a sad figure, usually with a black tear painted on his white cheek.

The Harlequin (although French by name) first originated in Italy. He wears a black mask, shaved head, and is an expert acrobat. Harlequin clowning was popularized in Pantomime.

Pantaloon also originated in Italy as ‘Pantaleone’. It is the Pantaloon who first showed us the clown as a tragic figure, laughing even though his heart was breaking. Leoncavallo's "I Pagliacci," the popular opera, depicts this and the 1928 silent film "Laugh Clown, Laugh" was based on this very opera.