Simon Evans: Comedy and Spiked
KEY MOMENTS
0:00 – Intro, book news, and sponsors
3:52 – Owning more books than you'll ever read
6:56 – Shakespeare and Company and literary pilgrimages
10:10 – Midnight in Paris and golden-age nostalgia
12:48 – A meditation retreat in Nepal and fear of change
15:20 – The Beatles: Get Back and Paul McCartney's genius
18:44 – Why artists need room to experiment and fail
21:25 – Philosophers who got it wrong and incremental invention
24:27 – "Are you a doctor?" and appeals to authority
27:43 – Risk, fear, and moral panics
33:14 – Masks as the new normal
35:47 – Jordan Peterson on disgust and authoritarianism
39:47 – Djokovic, Rogan, Trump, and Boris Johnson
43:54 – The Masque of the Red Death and Australia
48:46 – Christopher Hitchens and what he'd say today
52:21 – Parkinson's law and naming things
56:22 – David Sedaris, Jackie Collins, and audiobooks
1:00:04 – Tim Dillon's Patreon and new definitions of success
1:05:01 – Michael McIntyre's sold-out Radio City show
1:07:40 – Jugglers, impressions, and close-up magic
1:11:08 – Derren Brown and fake explanations
1:16:29 – Louis C.K. and public forgiveness
1:19:37 – Social justice as a Peloton leaderboard
ABOUT THIS EPISODE
Comedian and Spiked columnist Simon Evans joins Lou to talk about The Beatles: Get Back, owning more books than you'll ever read, the fear of change, and risk and moral panics.
We also get into Shakespeare and Company and Midnight in Paris, a meditation retreat in Nepal, Paul McCartney's genius and why artists need room to fail, appeals to authority, masks as the new normal, Jordan Peterson on disgust, Djokovic and Rogan, The Masque of the Red Death, what Christopher Hitchens would say today, Tim Dillon's Patreon, Michael McIntyre at Radio City, Derren Brown and close-up magic, Louis C.K. and public forgiveness, and social justice as a Peloton leaderboard.