This audition took the form of a breakfast meeting, a “chat about comedy” with two young men, then members of the Cambridge Footlights, now a popular British TV double act. I don’t remember what it was that I said. I remember only strained smiles, the silent consumption of scrambled eggs, a feeling of human free fall. And the conclusion, which was obvious to us all. Despite having spent years at the grindstone of comedy appreciation, I wasn’t funny. Not even slightly.
Not sure how I didn’t read between the lines the first time I came across “Dead Man Laughing” (collected in Changing My Mind), but Zadie Smith was rejected by Mitchell & Webb!
(If you don’t know who they are, the sketch “Send Us Your Reckons” and basically all of the BBC series Peep Show are required viewing.)
Jan 4, 2012