Hugh Laurie may describe his stratospheric career as just ''rattling along like a pinball'', but his legions of fans know better.
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And the fact that these fans span at least three generations - from those who watched and loved Blackadder in the 1980s, Jeeves and Wooster and A Bit of Fry & Laurie in the 1990s, and the hugely successful House in the 2000s - never enters his thinking.
''Well, obviously, I'm flattered to have made any kind of impression - but it's not really the way people think about what they do,'' he said.
''Sometimes you hit the clown's mouth and score double points, sometimes you don't.''
He was speaking to The Canberra Times in advance of his appearance at the Royal Theatre next week in his current guise, as a blues singer.
For those confused by the notion of a man who, for many, is the very epitome of Englishness, even despite his role in the US show House, he has a ready explanation.
''I don't really think of it as blues - don't even use the word much,'' he said. ''To me it's just music, songs that I've loved since I was a small boy. And I'm pretty sure I always will. I don't see a dubstep phase on the horizon.''
And he saw no contradiction in the idea of an Englishman playing the blues in the American tradition.
''I don't accept the term appropriation - that implies denying something to the original owners, which is meaningless in music. And many other things too, come to that, whether it's a Korean playing Rachmaninoff, a Chilean making wine, an Australian playing cricket - all culture belongs to all people,'' he said.
''What I do mind is the idea that jazz music only has value as a quaint, sociological exhibit - that its proper place is in a glass cabinet. Much of this music has as great a right to be considered 'art' as anything in the classical repertoire. I also know that, as an Englishman, I would be thrilled and honoured if a Swede or a Nigerian would try some Morris dancing.''
But he was well aware of the apparent incongruity between his comedian and acting persona and his musical career. On stage, performing music was where he felt most at home, he said.
''I don't struggle with it - in fact, I feel completely at home - but I understand if audiences do,'' he said.
''I decided right at the beginning that the only way to prove my sincerity is to keep going. So if I'm still lucky enough to be doing this in 10 or 20 years, I might be able to win some people over.''
Hugh Laurie & the Copper Bottom Band are playing at the Royal Theatre on April 22. Tickets through Ticketek.