Convinced you know your Vanilla Ice from your Leonardo da Vinci?
Thought you know your X-factor from your X-men?

Think again!

Prepare to enter Vic Reeves' world with THE HUMOUR BOOK OF 2009...

At last, one of Great Britain's funniest and most idiosyncratic minds presents his personally illustrated guide to our world as he sees it, from Asparagus to ZZ Top.

Vic Reeves – the only man to have met King Kong – sees things a little differently to you and me. Here, he takes us on a vast visual romp through his world – a place of exploding jellyfish and revolving toupees.

Dive in at random, and you might find that everything you think you know turns out to be just a little bit wrong.

Vic Reeves' Vast book of World Knowledge is an illustrated education, a revelation, a celebration, a pontification, and a magnificent aberration...

Vic Reeves is one of our best-loved and enduring comics.

James ‘Jim’ Roderick Moir, more commonly known as Vic Reeves, was born in Leeds. He is most famous for this work alongside Bob Mortimer, in TV shows including Vic Reeves’ Big Night Out, The Smell of Reeves and Mortimer, and the comedy quiz show Shooting Stars.

Although primarily known as a comedian, Jim Moir is also a successful artist. His paintings have featured in his television shows and he exhibits on a regular basis around the world. He lives in Kent.

Vic Reeves Q&A

We've probed Vic with some interesting questions about his new book and the world in general:

When did you first start drawing?
The first marks I made were upon my mothers grieving face, with a discarded protractor.

Did you always want to be an artist?
I didn't engage in any urges to be until I was old enough to consider the options laid out for me by my nursery tutor, then I chose art over a legal career.

Where do you get your artistic inspiration from?
Various weights and measures drawn from the bowels of insignificance.

Is there a connection between your work as a comedian and your art?
It's all and the same. The Big Night Out was a piece of performance art that became the emperors new clothes.

Where did the idea for the book come from?
I have a vast knowledge that needs to be imparted, hence that book emerged.

What’s been your favourite aspect of working on the book?
I enjoyed the connections twixt paint and words.

Do you draw everyday?
Yes, without prescribed threat or direction, simply compulsion, especially upon toilet walls.

Have you ever had been scared of the blank page?
I am only scared by blank people. Blank pages are a rousing challenge.

What artists do you admire or feel inspired by?
I get inspiration from all art, barbers shops, West Indian grocers, Louise Bourgeois, Soutine, David, Goya, mainly figurative, I suppose, but then again, no, I like de Kooning, Karel Appel, the Dadaists, you know.

Which is easier – writing a sketch or painting a painting?
It's much of a sameness, once the wheels start to engage, and the spark produces a flame, suddenly the fire consumes the barn and voila, the fire engine of invention has arrived to put out the fire, but the charred remains of design can never be totally dissolved.

Who’s been your favourite contestant on Shooting Stars?
Bill Blueberry.

What’s your favourite…
Movie? Un Chien Andelou and Sinbad
Book? Dictionary
City? London
Food? Onions
Animal? Human
Comedian? Bob Mortimer
Member of Girls Aloud? The one with no name

What was the hardest part of creating the book?
The beginning and the End. (and the middle)

Can you confirm that with this book you have indeed captured all world knowledge?
YES!

How have you found the publishing process?
With Atlantic, beautiful, like being a simple foster child with a new and enthusiastic family who really want you to succeed.

Then you become part of the family and perform your best party piece, and they like it, so you eventually feel an undiluted connection. What more could one ask.

Are you planning any other books?
Yes, I'm currently working without diversion upon a 'follow up' book about Great Britain, in the same vain as The Vast Book. The paintings are more complex and yet simpler, and the writing is indecipherable.

You’re a comedian, an artist, a writer, an actor and a pop star – any new career directions planned?
Pygmy.

Here's Vic in his garden, chatting to us about his new book:

Thanks to George Miller for the video!