"That's fine, we like that," says Merton. "Live comedy is what keeps the TV work sharp, otherwise you can go a bit soft."
As a strictly private person, though, he's careful about which offers he chooses both on and off screen.
The makers of I'm A Celebrity or Big Brother, for instance, needn't apply.
"I don't want that, but equally I don't think they would ask me anyway. Although ..." he muses, "there are all sorts of things you could do.
"If I went on Big Brother I think I'd pretend I had a gun and start threatening people. I think everyone on that programme should be given a gun with one bullet in it, so that they can either shoot themselves or someone else but they can't go on a massacre.
"You could up the entertainment but limit the carnage."
* Paul Merton is at the Royal Court as part of the Liverpool Comedy Festival on Thursday July 7. (Tel: 0870 787 1866).
