Dan Clark interview

A chat with How Not To Live Your Life star Dan Clark ahead of his UK tour.

Dan Clark answers your questions

We put your questions about How Not To Live Your Life to Dan Clark and here are his answers...

We're fully behind Dan Clark's BBC Three sitcom here; it's funny. The trails might not convince you, but it really is very good. Make sure your comedy snob hat's not on and you'll be all right (just remember to put it back on by the time Peep Show's on tonight so you can pretend like it's not getting a bit rubbish now...)

Ask Dan Clark a Question

Is Dan Clark really like Don Danbury in real life? Does he secretly love wearing that pink, granny's dressing gown? If you've got a burning question for Dan Clark, then now's your chance...

The third series of Dan Clark's sitcom continues. Tonight's plotline has the reliably offensive Don partake in a double date with Jason and two "posh birds", Harriet and Felicity, and wind up at Felicity's parents' country manor, where her dad takes an instant dislike to Don. Things aren't helped by some bedroom hi jinx. Typical BBC3 fare; whether that's a good thing or not depends on your tastes.

The Final Filming Diary

The last few weeks of the shoot for How Not To Live Your Life were in the studio. Don's house is a brilliant crafted set built in a less-than-desirable studio in the town of Dumbarton, just outside Glasgow.

There was an eye-rubbing, no-it-can't-be-him moment in the monstrously lame How Not To Live Your Life. Could that really be Noel Fielding of The Mighty Boosh fame, reduced to a dodgy cameo in which he has to stare at a bloke's manhood in a lav and make jokes about 'that's a really good tip'?

I didn't want to believe it, I waited for the credits hoping for a monstrous piece of mistaken identity and that he hadn't been involved in this parlous state of affairs. But yes, Fielding it was.

Inexplicably, this sitcom, built around zero-charisma writer/'star' Dan Clark as Don Danbury, has reached a third series. Don is one of those characters you're supposed to love to loathe as he loafs his way through life, a kindred spirit to Neil Stuke's agoraphobic in Game On. But he's just pure loathe.

There is no justice in the world, clearly. Otherwise, why would the dreadful sitcom How Not to Live Your Life be allowed to survive into its third series? More to the point why does its charmless star/writer/producer, Dan Clark, have almost total creative control, like he's Woody Allen or something?

He plays a feckless, gaffe-prone berk who constantly finds himself in sticky predicaments, usually in an effort to impress his attractive female housemate. This premise could probably provoke a few laughs in the hands of a more talented comedian, but Clark is terminally uninspired. The latest episode even featured a cameo from Noel Fielding, just to seal the comedy vacuum.

Lazy and obvious, the only fun it provides is in seeing how often you can predict each punchline.

It shouldn't be funny. It's on BBC3, the intelligent critics hate it and it has a cameo from 'Happy Shopper Russell Brand', Noel Fielding. Still, tvBite can't help but laugh at it.

Star and writer Dan Clark has clearly tried to widen his writing for the third series: there's a dodgy subplot involving his attractive flatmate Laura Haddock, but if you ignore that (and it's easy to do) there's plenty of actually funny jokes, including a brilliant slo-mo montage set to Dire Straits and a good line about a roundhouse punch. It's not perfect, but there's talent - and a sense that everyone involved is really enjoying themselves.

How We Met: Dan Clark & Noel Fielding

'I used to say, "Dan, you're so funny at a party, you've got to try to get that into your comedy"'