Armando Iannucci on the creative dilemma he's facing

Armando Iannucci has admitted that trying to be funny during a pandemic is causing him a profound creative dilemma.

While he admits that his concern ‘isn’t worth a macaque’s anus set against the daily trauma being faced by millions’, he has vividly described how his usual optimism struggles to cope with a society in limbo.

And he admits that he’s finding the normal terms of reference he uses for his comedy jars against the real work.

‘Much of my career has been spent writing comedy about how people who sound like what they’re talking about don’t necessarily know what they’re talking about,’ he wrote in a frank article for this week’s Big Issue magazine. ‘I’m not sure if I dressed that message up in punchlines now that it would help people pull through.

'Do people really want gags from someone like me who's running low on good cheer?'

The creator of The Thick Of It also described uncomfortable parallels with his latest comedy, Avenue 5, and the real world - which is making it hard to write the second series.

‘It’s set in the future and involves 6,500 people on an eight-week space cruise round Saturn suddenly finding out, because of a glitch, they’re going to be stuck there for eight years.

‘Looking ahead to what we’re planning for season two – a chaotic fight for survival led by a broken leadership among dwindling supplies – I’m wondering whether people are ready for jokes about death lotteries.’ he said.

• The full article, entitled How Can I Be Funny When There's Nothing To Laugh About, is in the new edition  of The Big Issue, which is  available on an app on Apple and Google, as well as in stores as vendors are not able to sell the magazine on the streets. The charity is also asking for donations, or urging people to take out subscriptions, so it can continue its work with the vulnerable.

Published: 21 Apr 2020