I'm an author who prefers to write in cafés. It's less lonely and the coffee is better. One morning not long ago, I was sitting in my local coffee-shop, when another regular, a guy I'd noticed several times before, came up to speak to me.
The Funnies
“Every day I see you here and you're writing,” he observed. “Write, write, write, every day! Nothing but write. What do you do for a living?”
“I’m a writer,” I replied.
“Oh,” he said. And walked away.
Now I could have felt insulted and said, ‘aren’t you even going to ask me what I write?’ Or been disgruntled that a total – and rather nosy – stranger had interrupted my work. Instead I found it so funny that the coffee I was drinking suddenly came out my nose.
I'm not unique in this reaction. (Finding it funny, I mean. Not the coffee-ejection). Having a sense of humour is what keeps us all going, helps us to stay sane. And allows us to maintain friendships, relationships and – most of all – perspective.
I'm very fortunate in that I've been able to turn my own particular sense of humour into a career that has helped me to support myself and my family. First with BAFTA- nominated BBC series (May to December, So Haunt Me, My Hero) and plays for radio and TV (Losing it, starring Martin Clunes). And now with well-received novels and stories (In the Matter of Isabel, A Meeting in Seville, The Art of Listening).
Which helps to explain why I had to write my new novel The Funnies (The Book Guild, 2020). It's a novel written for children aged 9 upwards, but with a subtext I believe most adults will find both resonant and chilling.
What if a society – an unnamed state or government – discovers a way to remove a person’s sense of humour? And they do it to every single citizen in the land – at their very birth, if possible. Because they figure this would make the population more manageable. They'd be less argumentative and questioning, more able to be controlled and manipulated without fear of dissent. And humourless people would work harder too, because they wouldn’t always be stopping to tell or send each other silly jokes!
Imagine a world where babies don't laugh, children don't smile, grown-ups can't ever see the funny side of things? With a government that makes sure absolutely no-one escapes the net.
Yet our hero, a twelve-year old boy, known only as Marius K, has by some quirk of fate eluded the ‘zappers’. Avoided being de-humoured. And now – as the frenzied diary he is writing tells us – he is on the run. From the Fun Police, who are anything but fun and want to put right what they clearly failed to do at his birth.
His only refuge is the forest, which is dark and scary. He feels very alone.
Then suddenly Marius is captured. And dragged blindfold to a dusty clearing, where he meets not the expected Fun Police but creatures he at first finds infinitely more scary.
There's a curious person in a clown’s outfit, although Marius doesn't know this, as he has never seen a clown. Especially not a white-faced, red-nosed one doing crackpot somersaults and falling over. Nor has he ever met a young girl who can imitate the voice of anyone or a man who communicates only in mime. One by one these strange, ragged beings introduce themselves by the particular type of humour they represent.
Clown – Mimic – Pun – Mime – Slapstick – Sarky – Corny – Chicken ‘n Egg – Dummy (a ventriloquist with her owl-like puppet Too-Wit) – Sick – Poo – Stand-Up…
Marius – meet The Funnies!
People of all types and ages but with one thing in common. They’ve each managed to hold on to their sense of humour. Now they're determined to keep every type of it alive. If Marius wants to stay alive himself, he had better join the gang!
He does, and The Funnies is about his efforts to help his new friends overthrow the system, restore humour to their blighted land.
For young people, I'm hoping this is a fast-moving and comic adventure that will stimulate their minds and provoke discussion. Even as they're having a good old laugh. (Jim Smith, Roald Dahl Prize-winning creator of Barry Loser, pronounced it ‘very funny’.)
But this is far from just a kids’ story. Think North Korea or other countries where the spirit of individuality is suppressed. As David Lister at The Independent says, ‘Paul A Mendelson creates an exciting and very funny children’s tale with a sinister, Orwellian subtext that will keep adults intrigued too.’
I hope that even if The Funnies doesn't make you splurt coffee out your nose, it at least makes you smile. And think.
The Funnies is available to buy from Amazon, The Book Guild and all good bookshops.
MORE: Six steps for telling the story of your life by Paul A Mendelson