Comedian, travel-writer and columnist Dom Joly has been entertaining us since the year 2000. An alumnus of The Dragon School in Oxford, after university Dom worked as a diplomat in Prague before moving into comedy with the hugely popular Trigger Happy TV.
Dom’s latest book, The Conspiracy Tourist was published last November, and he has travelled the globe looking into some of the strangest and most bizarre theories out there, and believe us, they are out there. This February he takes the book on tour, and will be performing at The Oxford Playhouse on 18 March. We wanted to know
What Makes Dom
Happy?
My dogs, I’ve got two black labs. Animals really make me happy, I’m not very good with humans but I’m really good with animals. There’s nothing purer and nicer.
Sad?
I’m quite confused about sad because I’m an ex-Goth so I kind of find beauty in sadness. I think what really makes me sad is when I think constantly about my dogs mortality. And bigotry and bullying make me sad and angry.
Reflective?
I don’t know. I mean I’m reflective about everything, isn’t everyone? Conspiracies make me reflective because I really, really can’t get my head around normal people believing such crazy stuff and that’s why I wrote my book which was to look them in the eyes and say do you really believe this or are you just doing it for online clicks? So, conspiracy theories make me reflective but in a sad and suspicious way.
Angry?
Oh god, right, this is quite a long list. Bureaucracy, automated customer services, personalised number plates, the current government, bad architecture, shit customer service, I only eat one meal a day so if that meal is bad I get hangry, I could go on for the rest of my life really about what makes me angry. Idiocy really.
Confident?
I’ve learned that confidence comes with preparation. I riff a lot of stuff, you know all of Trigger Happy was made up on the spot. I kind of love that and I felt that was my magic dust but actually the more I get older and the more I do things like public speaking and doing a tour, occasionally it would be brilliant but a lot of the time it wouldn't work and also I’d just be so nervous about it. I’ve realised that it’s about preparation and putting the work in.
Optimistic?
Well, I’m very optimistic at the moment. Show business and careers go in waves as far as I can see and I’m on a big wave at the moment so it’s really nice. Personally speaking, I have lots of things going on and I’m very excited about it. Creating make me optimistic and excited but then I have the crash of stopping and having to think about the next stuff.
Dom Joly – The Conspiracy Tour will be an anarchic look into the world of conspiracies in which Dom will be revealing his findings into some of the strangest theories he has come across on his travels, like Did JFK commit suicide? Is the earth flat? Are Q Anon mentally ill? He will be joined on stage by the respected theorist Dr Julian Northcote. Or will he?
