Greg James: Alan Sugar is my favourite least-favourite interview of 2016

Greg James is probably Radio 1’s most energetic DJ, with features such as Rent A Greg, Popstar Parents Evening and Gregathlon in 2016 keeping him busy all year long.

We caught up with Greg (almost certainly before he rushed off to do something super exciting) to talk about his highlights of 2016 and why interviewing someone as miserable as Sir Alan Sugar is such an absolute joy.

"The thing that sticks out for me is the Sport Relief challenge. We did a whole week of shows where I did five triathlons in five days in five different cities and I was raising money for Sport Relief, mainly focused around the refugee crisis.

"My favourite thing I’ve ever done on the radio was managing to communicate the stories of refugees in Jordan, for example, and telling those stories in mainstream Radio 1.

"That is quite a hard thing to get across to the listeners but we managed to raise more than a million pounds, we just managed to communicate these stories and humanise the crisis that was going on.

"I think that was my proudest moment of being on the radio and having the freedom to talk about that difficult stuff and also make it entertaining and silly because I was putting myself through hell."

"The great thing about Radio 1 is that the listeners trust you to do all the stupid, funny stuff and then because you do that, sometimes you can say 'Actually, it's not always about wacky things' and sometimes you can communicate good stories."

"The most ridiculous part of Rent A Greg was when we did three in a day. We did a Super Saturday where I baked some cakes for a pensioner's 80th birthday. Then we went on to be a groundsman at a cricket ground in Birmingham and finished the day with Dev where we DJed someone's wedding in Rugby.

"The cakes thing was odd, just going to a granny's 80th, but I really enjoyed it all."

"I think there were quite a lot of stag dos, which would have involved a lot of nudity and naughty activity, which under the umbrella of the BBC unfortunately I couldn't do, although I would have enjoyed some of them.

"There were quite a few people who wanted me to go on dates with their daughters and sons, which also didn't feel appropriate to exploit it as a dating opportunity but apart from that it was all above board."

"The one I’m really proud of was to be able to host a bit of Children In Need this year. I felt like a real challenge and something I’ve wanted to do for a while. I'm pleased they gave me the opportunity to go and be on BBC 1. It felt like a big deal, to be on that.

"It's one of those things that are a big part of the BBC and a big part of the country. I've been fascinated by it since school so it's a privilege to be part of that and to host a concert in memory of Terry Wogan, who's one of my absolute radio heroes."

"My ongoing saga with Ricky Gervais, I love. Any time he's in is fun. He's amazing. Matt Damon was so cool, so relaxed and would happily talk about anything and just seems a normal, down to earth guy.

"Considering how successful, famous and well known he is you expect an entourage - especially with the American guests. He just turned up with one guy. He started talking about taking his kids on the school run and the gigs he'd been to in the UK. He was going to take his kids to see Adele. He is a very down to earth guy and I liked him a lot."

"We've been talking about it for three years now. When we found out the David Brent reunion was happening I said to him surely the missing link in the story of David Brent as a recording artist is that he's got to come and do a Live Lounge. So finally, we've got him to agree to it.

"Since the early days of watching The Office and watching him do Free Love Freeway, to have it happen at Radio 1 on my watch is bonkers."

"Oh! I forgot about Alan Sugar! Forget what I said about Matt Damon, he can p*** off. The best guest isn't Matt Damon, it's not Ricky - it's Lord Sugar. It's my favourite least favourite interview. He's amazing because he is just unfailingly miserable and if it is a mask, it never slips.

"He never seems to rise to my stupidity so it's perfect for me because I just keep going at him. He just keeps batting it away, he never gets riled. He just stays at the same level of annoyed the whole time. I really enjoy it because I can say what I like to him and his responses are great, even if he just grunts.

"Putting him on Snapchat with the dog filter - I’ve done some good stuff over the past few years I’m proud of, but there's not many things I’m more proud of, of putting that filter on him and him being so miserable, that I am that proud of."

"I think she'd be alright, my mum. I think she would probably reveal how much of a loser I am and was at school, in terms of the stuff I used to get up to. I used to quite like mowing the lawn and was quite obsessed with lawnmowers. I liked cricket and being a grounds man, she'd probably tell everyone how useless I was with girls, even then.

"But nothing I wouldn't volunteer myself, like now. I think I would get everything out there before she had a chance to say anything."

Listen to Greg James from 4pm on Radio 1 every weekday, Monday to Friday.