Nick in Edinburgh: Andrew Doyle

We’re 40 episodes old! To celebrate, it's another of the 'Nick in Edinburgh' interviews. This time, Nick chats with Andrew Doyle.

Andrew is a comedian and writer, probably best known for his fictional creations, Jonathan Pie and Titania McGrath. He also writes a column for Spiked and runs the comedy club, Comedy Unleashed.

This is a long chat (or two long chats with a break for tea) that takes in Edinburgh, comedy, free speech, democracy, Brexit (Andrew is pro-Brexit, unlike most comedic voices), being told you’re right-wing, alt-right or ‘alt-right adjacent’ when you’re left-of-centre, and what's happening/might end up happening, to the 'Woke' movement.

The Flat Earth

Is the Earth flat? No. So why do some people think it is?

Nick and Carey watch the documentary 'Behind the Curve' so you don't have to (although feel free to; it's quite entertaining). It turns out they already know one of the people featured in it.

Why do some people hold completely false beliefs? What can be done about it? Should anything be done? Does it really matter?

Episode 26: Dave Gorman

Apologies for the hiatus! Usually we'd put something like, 'Nick and Carey manage to get hold of Dave Gorman and grab an interview, etc.' but it would be more accurate to say, 'Carey manages to grab Nick and Dave' as Nick's been supporting Dave on tour for the past 3 months. It's not a long episode, recorded as it is in the dressing rooms, pre-show at the Royal Festival Hall, but Dave is, as ever, interesting, analytical and funny. Among other things, we discuss how Dave developed the genre that leads to other shows being described as 'Gormanesque', moving from the club circuit to doing your own thing, and Dave's favourite complaint from the previous tour.

Language!

In this first-ever outdoors episode, Nick and Carey make some corrections and Nick apologises for using the N-word about the wrong cinematic dog. They then go on to talk about offensive language, and, towards the end, triggers and trigger warnings. Which should probably have come at the beginning. It should go without saying that there's strong language (it should go without saying, but it doesn't).

Episode 2: School uniforms and 'your mum' jokes.

Nick and Carey totally intend to talk about Centrism but don't at all. Instead, they talk about how far back their resistance to tribalism goes, encompassing school uniforms, religious upbringings, tattoos, anti-Americanism, Trump, Bush, and 'your mum' jokes. The book we talk about is 'The Righteous Mind' by Jonathan Haidt,