First appearing on BBC TWO's The Sunday Show, Pennis's image (Woody Allen crossed with Johnny Rotten) was immediately striking and he soon became well-known for his ability to corner unsuspecting celebrities at premieres and parties, firing questions at them which ranged from ridiculous to highly insulting.

This technique had been pioneered in the 1970s by Australian comedian Garry McDonald, in his guise as fictional TV host Norman Gunston.

Even so, in the increasingly celebrity-obsessed 90s, Dennis was a breath of fresh air and he was soon given his own TV format.

Anyone for Pennis mixed new interviews with the pick of his segments from The Sunday Show, together with links that usually involved Dennis in a slapstick pratfall of some kind.

Perhaps the show's greatest asset was his sheer audacity, enabling him to bombard victims with his (often cruel) barbs while maintaining a straight face.

While it's true that his ability to get close to the big names wasn't always matched by his material (written by Kaye and his friend Anthony Hines), each episode was peppered with revealing glimpses of celebrities caught off-guard: some would keep smiling politely, while others would respond with a volley of abuse.

Through the course of the series, his victims included such luminaries as Hugh Grant, Liz Hurley, Madonna, Clive Anderson, Ian Hislop, Angus Deayton and Edwina Currie.

Most captivating was Dennis's ability to get close to 'A list' Hollywood stars who were perhaps misled by his BBC status, and in his follow-up series (Very Important Pennis) he was given license to travel to Cannes and Hollywood in his quest for even bigger prey.

After a political spin-off (The Enormous Election with Dennis Pennis), Kaye eventually killed off his alter-ego in 1997, citing a tiredness with both the character and with the effort of obtaining usable footage.

Yet only a year later, another spoof celebrity interviewer appeared on TV and started grabbing headlines…a certain Ali G.