Ben Elton thinks it's "very difficult" to make comedy look easy.
Ben Elton has revealed his secret to comedy success
The 64-year-old star previously enjoyed huge success as a writer of 'The Young Ones' and 'Blackadder', and Ben claims that "sincerity" is a key part of successful TV comedies.
He told The Times newspaper: "Comedy is difficult. And making comedy look easy is very difficult. And the bigger the comedy the more you have to play it as if it is absolutely real.
"Look at the greats, from Charlie Chaplin to Mike Myers: if you are playing it large you have to play it with absolute sincerity."
Ben also wrote the Queen musical 'We Will Rock You', which premiered in London's West End in 2002.
The production was initially panned by critics, and Ben believes that he became an easy target for criticism at one stage in his career.
He said: "Everyone was saying it was s***. Maybe there was a bit of 'Ben Elton and Queen need cutting down to size'. Maybe that's a British thing."
Meanwhile, Ben recently ruled out a 'Blackadder' reboot.
The iconic sitcom ran for four series between 1983 and 1989 - but Ben doesn't have any plans to revive it for the time being.
The stand-up comedian - who co-created the show with Richard Curtis - told the Daily Star newspaper: "'Blackadder' isn’t coming back.
"We’re all still very good friends, all of us, genuinely, and I think one of the reasons for that is because we don’t do a ‘Blackadder’.
"There’s been a couple of half-a**** bits and pieces of revivals and I think they’re all pretty s*** to be honest so I don’t think so."
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