Brabant- with Nish Kumar

Getting Emotional

Welcome back! It's a new season of Getting Emotional and it's a bumper episode! This week we're talking about the word 'Brabant', invented in the 80s by writer Douglas Adams (author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) and TV producer John Lloyd. Yes, it's the name of a principality of the Netherlands, but it's also the word for the joy you feel in pushing someone's buttons. It's a fun game- how far can you push them, will you get them annoyed, and will they appreciate this teasing?

So I tried to find someone who was good at pushing boundaries. Basically, I needed an expert, a prefessional button-pusher. Then I remembered: comedians! They do that all the time! Sure, they're funny, but they also exist to make us think, annoy us, be a bit provocative. So I found a really good one to talk to- Nish Kumar.

In our chat we talk about all types of comedy- from Tim Vine to Stewart Lee, The Simpsons to The Office. They all use button-pushing, in various ways and for different reasons. Nish tells me about how he pushes the audience when he's on stage; teasing them, but also making sure he doesn't tip over into just being mean. Because there's a fine line between 'teasing' and 'cruelty', as he tells us here in a story from his early stand-up days. Plus, there's just no sport in it. So Nish and I take a deep-dive into how to how he manages, and holds, an audience effectively.

But teasing isn't just for comedians- it's for the school joker, the undeniable flirt, the squabbling siblings. And because of that, I think there's something quite sweet about it. Maybe the joy of teasing doesn't come from annoying the other person, but from knowing that you both have the shared in-jokes, history and sense of humour with the other person to make it possible. It's a bond, a connection, a warmth.

Isn't it..?

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