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It's the brightest and best sketch show you'll see on the telly at the moment. Alex Eckford quizzes the star about comedy, cars and lipstick lesbians.

"My first car was a Peugeot 106. I broke it."

Fortunately Karen Taylor has had more success with her comedy career. The 31-year-old first burst onto our screens in ITV's The Sketch Show in 2001, a brilliant ensemble piece featuring Taylor, Ronni Ancona, Tim Vine, Lee Mack, Jim Tavaré and Kitty Flanagan.

"We had a great time doing that show," says Karen. "I'm still in contact with Kitty, and I see Tim every now and then, but Lee's married with babies now, as is Ronni, so I don’t see them so much, which is a pity."

The show, whose writers included Steve Coogan and Ricky Gervais, achieved high ratings, and one particularly special award.

"It won ITV their first comedy BAFTA in 13 years, a fact I'm quite proud of," says Karen.

"Maybe we should do a reunion. A 'Best of'."

Karen's love of comedy started at university.

"I used to go to a lot of stand-up gigs – that's how I got the bug," says Karen. "I used to go to the Edinburgh Festival and see people like Jenny Eclair and Sean Lock, who I think is brilliant."

It was this love of comedy which convinced Karen to give stand-up a try herself. She performed in front of crowds all over the country, but decided to concentrate on TV work on shows like Paul and Pauline Calf's Cheese and Ham Sandwich and FAQ U.

"The stand-up tailed off a bit, really because... it's hard and it's not very nice!" says Karen. "Some people can turn any crowd into their crowd. But I was never really that person! Very, very few people can do that. That's why I admire people like Sean Lock."

After a successful pilot on BBC Three last year, the channel commissioned a whole series of Karen's show.

"The pilot was quite different; they wanted it to be pre-watershed, for all the family," says Karen. "They changed their minds and wanted something a bit naughty. I quite like that to be honest. It's more me."

Karen's driving history began soon after she passed her test.

"I didn’t have the 106 for very long. I forgot to put water in it," says Karen. "It wouldn’t have been so bad, but I did it to my next car as well. A poor little Nissan Micra. It was OK though, it only cost me about a quid, so I didn’t feel so bad."

The driving tests themselves weren't without incident.

"I passed on my third attempt," says Karen. "One time the examiner failed me because I clipped the wing mirror. Well actually, I took it off completely, but I thought they were being a bit picky."

Now some questions from Auto Trader readers. Robert Symes from Newcastle asks 'What's your favourite sketch from the new show?'

"A lot of people tell me they like Cash Cow (a spoof of late-night TV phone-in quiz shows)," says Karen. "But I really like the Lipstick Lesbians. That's a really fun part to play."

Simon Todd from Cardiff asks 'What TV shows will you be appearing on next?'

"We're waiting to hear if we've got a second series at the moment, so fingers crossed. After that I'm not sure. Something with Sean Lock would be nice. I was supposed to go on 8 Out Of 10 Cats a while ago, but it was cancelled. So we'll see…"

Touch Me, I'm Karen Taylor is on BBC THREE at 10.30pm on Monday nights.

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