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Interview

Dom Joly p2

Another interesting humor book from the recent Lifeline Bookfest was Here Comes the Clown by comedian and travel writer Dom Joly.

It’s a 2015 memoir recounting his life in showbiz. Among many other tv appearances and shows, he had a candid camera-style show in Britain, called Trigger Happy TV. He would prank people by pretending to be strange personalities, like a spy in a trenchcoat carrying a mysterious briefcase, a crazed gardener, or weird sea captain. One of his characters was the traffic warden. This prank involved him wandering around London giving people tickets when they didn’t deserve it. For example, his traffic warden would hail a bus and slap a ticket on the windscreen, telling the bus driver he couldn’t park there.

He writes of one prank: I was now ahead of Sam [who concealed himself and filmed the pranks] and walked onto Old Compton Street. There was a fire engine in the middle of the road and firemen were unravelling a long hose and running into a nearby building. I didn’t hesitate. I pulled out a fake ticket and slapped it onto the windscreen of the fire engine. Passers-by and firemen looked on in disbelief. Finally the lead fireman came up to me:

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” he asked.

“You are parked illegally, so I have issued you with a ticket,” I replied in a monotone.

“This is a bloody fire engine, we’re putting out a fire..” gasped the stupefied fireman.

“There’s always an excuse…” I said, wandering off, “…and you’re still here when I get back I’ll get the clampers in…”

See Here Comes the Clown by Dom Joly, Simon and Schuster, 2015.