Jack and Jeremy have been magpies, pulling things from all over the place. "They're not parodies, or variety, or sketch shows, or sitcoms," he maintains "They're quite distinctive programmes I wouldn't want to pigeonhole them. Dee and Hardy are wary of joining the cannibalistic ranks of The Day Today, Alan Partridge, Mrs Merton and French and Saunders "There are enough TV spoofs already," Hardy reckons "I wouldn't want to add to them. Replicating something that exists has been done so often already."Despite the fact that the programmes utilise the form of Modern Times- type fly-on-the-wall documentaries, Cassidy is not convinced that Jack and Jeremy's Real Lives are straight spoofs.

As a punter, I get irritated if I'm expected to follow suit and find something funny just because the performers do. Some comedians take a lot for granted."Some comedians also feed on other parts of the TV schedules for laughs. "You know the sort of thing - 'Can I do my song now?'""For a long time, I've lamented the lack of collaboration between comedians," Dee continues. "As soon as you've got 20 minutes' material, you're launched on this intensive solo career But working together is healthier You can push each other much further. The demand for stand-up on television is insatiable, but I fancied a change. This gives vent to a lot of ideas you can't put across in stand-up."They are anxious, however, not to become too "in" as a duo.

According to Dee, "The danger is that we might become self-indulgent and not care about the viewers..." "Which seems to work for others," Hardy finishes the sentence, like a double-act partner should."Because we share each other's comic shorthand," Dee carries on regardless, "we risk leaving the audience behind. You always have to think, 'is this only funny because we know what makes each other laugh?' That's something you have to watch out for. "I don't fancy the thought of being Grumpy and Wimpy, or Bully and Victim, a hilarious end-of-the-pier double act forever," Hardy sighs "I expect that'll happen eventually," Dee chips in. Relaxing over coffee and croissants upstairs in the Groucho Club, Dee and Hardy contemplate life as the Laurel and Hardy of the 1990s. They're very different as comedians, but when you examine it closely, they're both quite dry and ironic in how they express things. Jack has taken the beetling of the brows and the moroseness to new depths, and we've not seen that play off someone else before Jeremy, on the other hand, has a naive stupidity He's more the ingenu He's the one who's happier with the world. He's unburdened by thought." Dee may be more used to interacting with penguins on his John Smith ads, and Hardy to joshing with his fellow-panellists on R4's News Quiz, but they work well as a pair (viewers may remember Police Four, their arresting Crimewatch send-up last year).