The banter flows on Take Me Out, but off screen, Paddy McGuinness is not known for spilling the beans on his own life - until now.

Ahead of his new game show Benchmark, Susan Griffin gets the TV host and funny man to share his thoughts on fame, fatherhood and old-school catchphrases...

On... being a proud Bolton boy

"I still live in Bolton. I've never lived in London. I'm down there a lot because of my work but I get the train, dear God! Don't get me wrong, people think I have a problem with London - I don't, but I just love getting home to my own bed, knowing my supermarket's there.

I'm a real routine sort of person. While filming my new show Benchmark in Manchester, I can get up in the morning, do the breakfast for my kids [he has 22-month-old twins, Leo and Penelope, with wife Christine], take them to nursery, do the show and then get home at 9pm."

On... having twins

"I think if we'd have had one child, we would've definitely said, 'Let's try again!' Having two at once, and one a boy and one a girl, people say, 'Oh you're lucky', but there's having kids and then there's having twins.

It was, and still is, very difficult. It's tiring. Everything's double; double nappies, double teething, double sleepless nights, so I think we're kind of happy at the minute. There's definitely no chatting about having more kids!"

On... fame and anonymity

"In Bolton, within my own town, people purposely don't speak to you when you're famous because they're like, 'Who does he think he is?!' They think they're teaching you a lesson and, actually, I like that. They'll purposely pretend they've not a clue who you are, which is fine by me! It's when I'm in London I get it."

On... cheesy catchphrases

"I wanted Take Me Out to be a little bit cheesy and a little bit low-rent. You know when you used to watch Blankety Blank and the prizes were shocking? The, 'Let the whatevers see the whatevers', and, 'No lighty, no likey' [two of his favourite Take Me Out catchphrases], have seemed to catch on. I'm quite proud of it really."

On... turning down work

"I probably turn down about 70% of the stuff offered to me. But anything I do, I stand by, because I think there's something in it.

Take Me Out's quite a hard show to do. It's long days and you probably only see about 10% of the questions I ask the girls. With Benchmark, it's two recordings a day. I've never done that on anything and I think that's my maximum."

On... prime-time quality

"I remember when I used to be at college and I'd come home and watch Chris Evans' TFI Friday and it felt like you were getting a treat, or when Paul O'Grady was going full-steam ahead with his teatime shows. I like shows where you go, 'This feels like it should be on a bit later but we're getting it now'. Benchmark's a gift for me really, you get your certain contestants where you just build a rapport with them, and the way it's edited, it's a prime time-looking show."

On... the joy of banter

"I couldn't do a show like Tipping Point, and just go, 'Question one, what's the capital of this country? Well done, move on'. It's just not me. I have to be moving about and getting involved."

On... TV nerves

"I've been doing TV now for 18 years, and when I bring my friends and family to anything, they're so excited, and I go, 'It's only a studio'. You just get used to it, but with Benchmark, Take Me Out or when I'm a guest on another show, just before I walk on, I always get a little bit of that feeling in my stomach."

On... reuniting with Peter Kay and co

"I think the Phoenix Nights reunion with Peter Kay and the rest of the cast for Comic Relief in February was just a one-off thing. We all do different bits for charity and you raise money here and there, but we thought if we all get together and do one big push, we can tick a lot of boxes at once. We never thought we'd raise £5.5million or sell out 16 nights, so it took us by surprise, really. It was fantastic to do."

On... returning to his stand-up roots

"I start a tour in September called Daddy McGuinness. It'll be a bit full on, but I'm looking forward to it, funnily enough. It's very seducing being on stage with an audience. I can't stand the travelling and being on the road. A lot of young comics think it's great and I used to love it. My last tour was my arena tour four years ago, and I just never felt the urge to do it again, but certain things started happening and I just thought, 'Yeah, I need to do one again and get out there'."

On... keeping things in perspective

"What are my future plans after stand-up? Rehab. Straight in there! I don't know. Honestly, I've never been one for planning that far ahead. You do think differently when you've got kids and what have you. You do think about schools and their future and everything else. It puts things in perspective."

Benchmark begins on Channel 4 on Monday, June 1