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A lively game of tennis to start the day. I took the first set 6-0. but then for the first time my opponent won four games in a row. Would he win his first set against me ever? I could hear my mum's voice in my head (not literally I don't think I can imagine voices so it was probably my voice) telling me to let him have it. After all this time, let him have his victory.
But I wouldn't want to short change him like that. It only means something if he beats me trying my best. So instead I tried harder and won the set 6-4. But his day will come.
And I think you could call this 6-0, 0-4, 6-0 if you wanted to make it a three-setter where everyone got a bit bored in the middle.
I had a visit from esteemed comedian Robin Ince this afternoon, who was in Hitchin doing a book event at the excellent Next Page books. He's got a new book out (he seems to do about four a year) so we took the opportunity to talk about the Future of Jokes, at a time where hopefully a significant sea change is occurring.
Robin is a remarkable man, driven my work and his strong beliefs and seemingly always doing a thousand projects at once. I told him he should try to do a bit less, but he pointed out that you could say the same about me. We fill our time with our niche nonsense, because some things are more important than anyone seeing your niche nonsense. As he rightly points out, when your work speaks to someone who needs help in that moment, it can be a beautiful thing.
There are comedians who certainly don't deserve your time and money, but Robin is one who does.
We talked a bit about what creature was the first to laugh and what the last laugh ever will be. I expect laughter evolved from a fear response, or maybe a relief response once fear has passed. Something shocking can still make us laugh before we've even had a chance to work out what it was.
I know the Universe is very big, but I wonder if laughter is exclusive to this planet and a few connected species who live here. You'd hope that when aliens arrive they will find farts amusing (if they have them on their planet) but they might treat them with a religious reverence. It'd be sad if an intergalactic war starts because humans laughed at an alien's fart. But it'd also be funny. Which would make things even worse.
If that's the reason I die then I will definitely die laughing. Which will be on in the eye (if they have them) for the aliens killing me.
Robin, like me, just loves comedy. When it is done with love and commitment and originality. He quotes Kurt Vonnegut in his book, "We are here on earth to fart around and don't let anyone tell you any different." I don't think he literally means fart there, but I also don't think he doesn't mean fart.
I had offered Robin dinner in return for doing the Book podcast, but he wanted to get on his way. He claims he's happy eating a cold tin of lentil soup in a Premier Inn after gigs and maybe he likes it so much that he insists on doing it, even when proper food is on offer.
He is an unusual man, thank God for that (though Robin might thank the Big Bang and the stars that exploded to make him). He is one of the good men though.
