[3] In an interview with MusicRadar Hughes said he became obsessed with Iron Maiden in 1982 and "the pounding drumming of Mr Clive Burr" and was also heavily influenced by Black Sabbath and Dio drummer Vinnie Appice, particularly his work on Dio's first 2 albums, which he would repeatedly play while attempting to play along.

In 1989[citation needed] Hughes joined Mortal Sin[7][9] While he did not appear on any of the band's albums, he played drums for them during their European/American tour in 1990.

[18] After his work with Mortal Sin, Hughes formed a rock band called Presto, releasing 2 CDs.

"[24][25] While Hughes has focused on his comedy career since the early 2000s, he said in a 2010 interview with Post Modern Ink magazine that music remained his first love.

[8][11][28] Hughes has also cited having been influenced by the comedy of Richard Pryor, Dave Allen, George Carlin and Eddie Murphy.

[8][11] Hughes' comedic style has also been influenced by the political and subversive humour of Bill Hicks, as well as the spoken word performances of musicians Henry Rollins and Jello Biafra.

[13][30][32][33] Hughes comedy sets often contain social commentary[34][35] including criticisms of political correctness,[29][36][37] religion,[38][39] war,[31][40] drug laws,[29][37] health and safety policies,[29][36] colonialism,[35][37] corporate capitalism,[35][39] and technology.

Hughes' stand-up has been featured on television shows such as the BBC series Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow in 2009[23][24][42][48] and Live at the Apollo in 2011.

[48] Hughes also played drums during the episode while host Paul McDermott sang the song "Hanging on the Telephone".

[48][58] In 2015 he starred in the Australian short film Brainless Killers as the mayor of Zombridge, a fictional town inhabited by zombies.