Lee Mack's sit-com writing tips

Comedian Lee Mack has some unusual words of advice for writers hoping to follow in his footsteps. Mack swapped a successful career in stand-up comedy for sitcoms and scored an immediate hit with Not Going Out, which returns for a new series on Friday. But he said it was far from easy, and his ability to write scripts full of quickfire gags came from his onstage experience. Mack said: "If you think you're funny and you want to write a sitcom, my tip to you is: don't do it. "Because if you're funny and you're a stand-up, you can be funny within six months. If you want to be funny in a sitcom it's going to take five years from thinking of it to finally getting it in television. "Make life easier for yourself and become a stand-up comedian. But once you're there with a sitcom it's great."

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ITN | January 26, 2009

Tags:. .quickfire. .sitcoms. .gags. .mack. .onstage