Monday 18 November 2013

And You Thought White Poppies Were A Problem

I wish to express my love for David Mitchell.

Now, this is not a physical thing, you understand. By which I suppose I should explain that I'm not suggesting he is an unattractive man. Although with his current hairstyle and beard he does remind me of a certain math teacher I had, who was a far less attractive man, and who I didn't like at all. Not that it was his unattractiveness that I resented, it was his peculiarly negative attitude towards my complete lack of interest in what he taught, and the fact that when angered he would jump up in the air. Literally. And I really do mean literally, not the way it's commonly used. He would leave the ground. He would begin by rocking back and forth on his feet as he ranted, this would increase in speed as he got louder and redder in the face, and then at some point he would actually become airborne, ever so slightly.

At the time of course, I'd not heard of David Mitchell (who would only have been about a year old anyway) so the person he reminded me of, with that hairstyle, was Hitler, only taller. Not that David Mitchell reminds me of Hitler, you understand, and I'm suddenly really glad I'm writing this in an unknown blog and not somewhere the poor man will read it. My point in all of this is to explain that while he's no Johnny Depp, he's a perfectly respectable looking man, and also that this is completely irrelevant.

What I love is his wit. Even when he's not funny. Contrary to what some people think, wit is not always humour. No. Sometimes it's just perception. As much as I love this man's humour, I am equally in love with what he notices and how he notices it, and furthermore how he explains it.

I bring you a fine example:


Or for those of you who find all the British political references too distracting, here's something a bit more international:


Or even more general:


Or this:


It's all good stuff isn't it. Some humour, some insight, it's well thought out and well presented.

However when he's deadly serious, and slightly angry, then he is at his finest.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/nov/17/david-mitchell-remembrance-poppies-television


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