In his book, G Sampath weds topicality with humour. He talks to Eram Agha on the evolving genre and how television is a moronising mechanism
How to Make Enemies and Offend People
Author: G Sampath
Publisher: Penguin, Rs 399
Tell us about the events that encouraged you to write the book, How to Make Enemies And Offend People...
I have been writing humour for a long time, and wanted to bring the pieces out in book form. Penning a regular humour column gives you the impetus to write regularly. I am comfortable writing humour, even though my editors often prefer that I do serious pieces. So, I often resort to satire, which allows you to combine the two.
To what genre does this book belong, and how important is the news elementIJ
The book’s genre would be humourous non-fiction. It is an evolving genre in India. Much of humour is necessarily topical, and for someone like me, who writes for the news media, it has to be. But humour, even when topical, tends to have a long shelf life, because the absurdities of modern life and the foibles of human nature do not change. If you’ve seen Jay leno, the humour is all topical, but you watch it on Youtube one year later, and it’s still funny.
Your book covers the 2G scam, farmer suicides, etc. Do these incidents make you angryIJ
Humour is often sublimated anger. Some things do irritate me. For instance, I don’t understand this mindless adulation of individuals, be it Sachin Tendulkar or Salman Khan. So in this book, for example, you will find a piece that asks 10 not-so-funny questions of Sachin. After a point, you can’t be angry about the events happening around you — you are rolling on the floor laughing.
There is a chapter, “How much entertainment does a man needIJ” Tell us more about this.
Ours is the quintessential entertainment age. There is social media, and other screen-based activities which are much more entertaining than reading. TV is a crucial medium of entertainment, one that encourages us to spend more time consuming entertainment than engaging with the real world. We are not left with any time to think, ask questions, it retards thinking. It is basically a moronising mechanism, and an ideal vehicle for keeping the masses under control.
What are the challenges of writing non-fiction humourIJ
You cannot expect to be popular if you keep poking fun at people. For instance, one of my pieces on Sunny Deol irked his fans so much that my inbox was flooded with abuse. One easy way to writing non-fiction humour is you just go out and report what’s happening. So how do you differentiate between news and humourIJ
Define the art of offendingIJ
Just speak the truth and you will offend people.
Tell us about the authors who influenced youIJ
Mark Twain has always influenced me. His book, The Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, is extremely funny and satirical. I idolise James Thurber. I was obsessed with him for a long time. David Sedaris is one of the funniest writers I have come across. Sedaris’ humour has an element of sadness that I find strangely appealing. In life, a lot of laughter originates in desperation; the only way to keep sane is to look at the funny side of it and laugh.
How important is it to have a sense of humourIJ
It is the most important thing. I would say if a person doesn’t have a sense of humour, you should be wary of him or her. It is also important to be able to laugh at yourself. There is, however, a difference between sense of fun and sense of humour. People tend to confuse the two. Throwing a banana peel and then laughing if someone slips on it and falls is having a sense of fun. Slipping on a banana peel yourself, in front of a potential girlfriend and your boss, breaking your nose, and still being able to laugh it off is having a sense of humour.