RICHARD Herring is a comedian and writer and the self-proclaimed “world's premier semi-professional self-playing snooker player”. He was previously part of the double act Lee and Herring with Stewart Lee, but now tours with his solo act. He is also an avid blogger and podcaster. For more details visit www.richardherring.com or follow him on Twitter @Herring1967

What was your first car?

I learned to drive when I was 25, but spent so much on lessons that I couldn't afford to buy a car. I bought my first car when I was about 33. It was a brand new VW Golf automatic. I think it cost about £17,000 and I had it for 13 years.

How many times did it take to pass your test?

I passed first time, mainly because my driving instructor from the BSM gave me an unnecessarily huge amount of lessons. Almost like he was just trying to milk me for as much money as possible. The driving instructor character that I did in Fist of Fun was partly based on him. I imagined him rolling around naked in piles of my money. My dad gave me one lesson when I was 18, but we argued so much that I never tried that again.

Who would be your ideal fantasy passenger and where would you go?

Education Secretary, Michael Gove, below. I would drive him over a cliff. It would be worth the self-sacrifice.

The Northern Echo: PLAN: Michael Gove

What is your dream car?

I don't have one. I don't really care about cars beyond their ability to get me from one place to another and never found them interesting in the erotic way that some men - and women - seem to.

How would you describe your driving style?

I am generally pretty sensible and safe, if a little bit prone to going fast if it's late and I need to get home. But if I get stressed or am being observed I can go to pieces a little bit.

Tell me one driving anecdote from your past?

I came close to crashing two years ago on the way back from a gig. I looked down at my passenger seat for a second looking for something and when I looked up there was a car right in front of me that seemed to have appeared from nowhere. I managed to steer to my right and then thought I'd hit the central barrier, but managed to pull the car back into the road. My reactions were very good in the heat of the moment - even if this was initially my fault - and all the stuff in my car jumped around. It was a little scary, but luckily that's the closest I have come to disaster whilst traversing this country's motorways.

What are you listening to?

The Northern Echo: Kirsty Young was overcome interviewing Aung San Suu Kyi for Desert Island Discs

I like to listen to podcasts in the car, Desert Island Discs, above presenter Kirsty Young, and the Infinite Monkey Cage are favourites, but I also enjoy Comedian's Comedian.

What do you drive now?

I have another VW Golf. I regret that I don't care enough to know about any of the specifications, but it's a lot more swanky that the one I used to drive and I can connect my phone up to the media player and listen to my own stuff which is as about as good as it gets. The sat nav that comes with the car is **** though.