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The comic, who gained a following playing another teacher, the sadistic Mr Gilbert in The Inbetweeners, adds that he is surprised that people warm to Dan – after all, he’s innately selfish.
“We’re all trying. Dan just puts all his energies in the wrong place. We’ve all done that at some point!’” Greg, who also stars in the BBC Three sitcom Cuckoo and Taskmaster on Dave, admits
that, when writing the series, he considers what he finds funny as much as the viewer. And he’s open about the fact that his sense of humour is often puerile. “I’m fairly unapologetic about
that!” says the comedian, who is currently in the middle of his nationwide stand-up tour, You Magnificent Beast. The performer spent 15 years as a dissatisfied secondary school teacher
himself, before fulfilling his long-held dream to become a stand-up. But Greg says he has the highest regard for teachers. “Career teachers, the people who took a positive decision to be in
that profession, are a different breed. "If you and I listed our favourite teachers, they would be the people who made the choice to do that as youngsters. I have nothing but
admiration for teachers.” The comedy in Man Down is semi-autobiographical. Greg admits that Dan is not that far removed from the teacher version of himself and confesses that, at the time,
he was “an absolute man-baby.” “During my years of teaching, there were three of us who really shouldn’t have been in charge of children. We used to do things that were so childish.
"For instance, we would burst into each other’s classrooms in the middle of lessons and do animal impressions. We were lost idiots!” Of course, it was those experiences that gave Greg
great material for the show. And for that, I’m sure we are all pretty grateful. _MAN DOWN, COMING SOON, CHANNEL 4_