Entertainment
David Baddiel has fair reason he continues to turn down Strictly Come Dancing: ‘I’d be bad in a way that wasn’t funny’
The comedian admits he’s a social media ‘addict’ himself (Picture: Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
Comedian David Baddiel, 57, on how there’s so much anger on social media, this year’s Bake Off shenanigans and writing a musical.
What was your most alarming discovery making your Social Media, Anger And Us documentary?
Maybe 20 years ago, if you asked people who enraged them, it’d be politicians and rich people.
Social media has created a much wider way in which people can get enraged, so that someone like Smithy, a working-class bloke who just mucks about with his family on TikTok, has four million followers and people wanting to burn his house down.
Most people think they’re doing something good, even when they’re hating some builder. They think that hate is justified.
Was there anything encouraging?
I do see love on it. The reason I put pictures of my dad on social media is I know there are other people with relatives who have dementia or are ill.
I find comfort in what they say to me and I think they find comfort in what I’m saying. That’s a beautiful thing.
You must have been proud of your daughter, Dolly, for talking about how social media impacted on her anorexia.
Yes, and it was her decision. I wanted to talk to a young person who has never known a world without social media but I don’t know any young people apart from my children.
Ezra said no, because he’s a teenage boy and embarrassed by me, but Dolly’s 20 and not embarrassed by me. It’s a very specific, constructive thing she’s trying to say.
When you’re young, social media offers you identity and recognition by your peers, even if it means saying something negative about yourself.
David’s daughter Dolly has been open about the effect social media had on her eating disorder (Picture: David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images)
Did you police your children’s social media activity?
It’s really difficult, not least because I’m a bloody addict. For teenagers, it can be properly isolating to say, ‘you’re not allowed to be on social media’.
When I was a kid, one or two friends had parents who wouldn’t let them watch TV. There was only s*** on TV then but even then I thought, ‘How awful must it be that you can’t watch Nationwide?’
Some of your most contentious tweets involve fried breakfasts.
Yeah, when you’re touring, every single hotel offers you one for breakfast. Who can resist that? I was eating them six times a week and thought, ‘I’m going to die.’ I put it out there but no one was interested in my cholesterol levels.
They were interested in the plating, architecture and mapping of my breakfast. Every so often, someone genuinely gets furious that my beans are in a ramekin.
Your first TV appearance was on Filthy Rich & Catflap. How was working with stars from The Young Ones?
It was awful. I was in London doing the Footlights show and living with my parents. I got asked to be in it because they’d seen me in Edinburgh. My plane tickets to Manchester didn’t turn up so I had to go to the airport and write a £200 cheque that I knew would bounce.
I got there three hours late and Ben Elton, Rik Mayall and Ade Edmondson hated me for keeping them waiting. I asked the producer to pay me back the £200 and he told me to f*** off. It was horrible but I’m glad I did it because it’s quite funny, looking back.
You didn’t excel on Bake Off…
I don’t agree, you’re misunderstanding why I do certain things. I like doing stuff I think I can make funny.
When I did Taskmaster, I knew I’d be terrible at every task in a way that would be funny and I knew I’d be terrible at cooking a cake but I’ve turned Strictly down a couple of times because I’d be bad in a way that wasn’t funny.
Besides, I didn’t win because actor James McAvoy worked for a baker when he was 18. He kept that from everyone!
Are you thinking about your next tour?
No, but I’m doing a Channel 4 documentary based on my book, Jews Don’t Count, and I’m writing a musical of my first children’s book with Dan Gillespie Sells. Next year, I wouldn’t mind writing and creating and not doing stand-up because it’s psychologically all-consuming.
Rob Newman isn’t keen on any future reunions (Picture: David Crump/Daily Mail/REX/Shutterstock)
No one ever thought Abba would reform and do new material. What about The Mary Whitehouse Experience?
I love Abba — Dancing Queen may be the greatest single ever released — but I’m not sure it’s gone that well. I’d worry The Mary Whitehouse Experience would be a bit like that.
Frank Skinner once said it would be like the Star Trek films where they were all about 100 but pretending to be 30, wearing girdles and toupees.
I’d be very happy to do a one-off gig, although the last time I spoke to Rob Newman, he wasn’t keen. Maybe we can get avatars, although these days, Rob and I could do History Today without any make-up.
David Baddiel: Social Media, Anger And Us is on BBC1 at 9pm tonight
