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When I was cutting up the box to make it and sticking the map to the sides of it, I thought, 'This is my job - it's ridiculous, but I love it."With Jeremy interviewing those who shape the world and Tim using sticky tape to do that, it's not likely that you will see their paths cross on television. Although the age difference is less than two years (Tim is 37; Jeremy, 39), the comedian concedes: "He's more grown-up. I'm essentially making a living from mucking about; his is a more sensible route. The other day, I was doing this joke where I was asking: 'Is it possible to change the world?' and I say, 'Yes, I've changed the world', and I take out this cube-shaped world.
He has fond memories of his dad waking him up late at night so that they could watch Sgt Bilko together. In fact, childhood memories are never far away for the comedian. "I'm still a home boy: I live a few miles from my mum and dad, in Cheam My house is a bit like a teenager's bedroom. The kind of pictures you have hanging up on your wall say a lot about you. I've got ones of Evel Knievel, Elvis and Starsky and Hutch, signed by David Soul." It's this deliberately prolonged childhood that keeps Vine in the parallel universe where his jokes live: "It's the real world, just spelt differently," he says.It is a case of parallel Vines when it comes to his relationship with his brother, Jeremy, the broadcaster who took over from Jimmy Young on Radio 2, shared the limelight with Jeremy Paxman on Newsnight and is tipped to succeed David Frost on his Sunday-breakfast slot. You ask him how he is, and he'll reply, 'Happy to be in show business.' I'd love to still have that attitude at his age."Phil Silvers also figures on Vine's list of favourites. He's an absolutely inspirational person; his enthusiasm for the whole thing still is fantastic.
"I remember talking to a comedian in Australia who was saying how great Cooper was and then started quoting my jokes back at me." There were plenty of unwelcome reminders back home, too: "It was annoying at the time. Chris Evans would be reading them out on his radio show, or Richard Whiteley on Countdown, all unattributed to me."Vine is now a little flattered by the episode, but Cooper is not on the highest rung of the comic influences he chooses to name - though there are plenty of nods to the old school, as you would expect from a comic with his traditional feel. Among them are Jackie Mason, Frankie Howerd, Larry Grayson, Norman Collier ("I did a gig with him recently), Basil Brush ("Not so much now, but I still like his attitude") and Jimmy Cricket "I know Jimmy and his family quite well. My act does seem to have gone that way, though, and I don't really know why. But people did enjoy the record attempt - they laughed." And how important those laughs were, given that the record rules actually require a laugh after every joke for it to count. "I told the audience that we were all in it together," Vine adds, "but the laughter was genuine.
