Comedy / Interviews
Interview: Andy Zaltzman
As seen on Matt Forde’s Unspun (Dave) and half of global hit satirical podcast The Bugle, Andy Zaltzman returns to plot his planet’s path to and/or from preservation and/or perdition. In his latest show Plan Z (which he brings to the Comedy Box on Thursday, Feb 2), Andy addresses a range of issues including the past, the present, the future, body surfing – and the unending volcano of confused fury that is modern global politics.
2016 must have been a rich year for satirists. Do you revel in times like these – or do they make you work harder because everyone’s feeling a bit satirical about the state of the world?
No revelling. I would happily have seen Trump lose and Britain stay in the EU, and made jokes about Battenberg cakes and snooker instead. But it has been an interesting year for political comedy. Brexit, in particular, has been a challenge. There were, clearly, good and bad, true and false arguments on both sides. The nature of the campaign and tone of debate were ominous. We won’t really know how it will all pan out for decades. It is a difficult matter to understand, let alone write jokes about.
In many ways, actually, it has been a bad year for satirists. The vast majority were against Brexit and Trump. American TV satire attacked Trump remorselessly, effectively and deservedly. He still won. I even made some anti-Trump jokes in rooms with 100 or so British people in, and, unbelievably, that had no effect on how the USA voted.
More generally, does our need for laughter become more acute in dark/difficult times?
I don’t know. People always like laughing. It can have a therapeutic effect in difficult times. I think that is probably the most common end result of satirical comedy, therapeutic laughter for people who already agree with any points being made.
Which particular moment(s) from the past year were most ripe for comedy?
Boris Johnson’s face after winning the referendum. You could write a doctoral thesis on that.
Events like Brexit and the US election must have quite an impact on you, as their results decide in which direction you’ll have to take a whole new lot of material… correct?
Correct. Both have been major subject in my shows this year – attempting to decipher them, make them funny, find new angles from which to approach them, and avoid predictability.
Andy Zaltzman brings his new show Plan Z to the Comedy Box at the Hen & Chicken on Thursday, February 2. For more info and to book tickets, visit www.thecomedybox.co.uk/site/301.asp?catID=1488&ct=date
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