The theme?

“The acorn that grows in the tree of the series is the fact that one of the few laws of social media, which looks a bit like the Wild West, is the mantra ‘don’t feed the trolls’,” he explains. he.

For David, social media trolls are nothing new.

In fact, they are little more than rowdy hecklers with internet access and comedians have dealt with THEM for centuries.

“If you’re deeply into sarcastic comedy, you may find Twitter uplifting,” says David, who uses movies and screens on a show designed to challenge that “just ignore them” approach.

“There’s no difference between someone yelling an insult in the dark when I’m on stage and someone doing it on Twitter.

“Never get angry – kiss him!”

David started retweeting jibes on social media, adding a joke and claiming he was kissing the tweet’s message while tearing it down.

“I make comedy out of anger and rage and abuse, rather than ignore it,” he says wryly.

David’s tour actually started in January 2020 and lasted two and a half months before, like others, had to be put on the back burner.

The hiatus gave him a chance to polish it and reflect our experiences over the past sixteen months.

“If anything, it’s a little better,” he said.

“It was pretty hard to remember to want to do a show. You have to have a certain mojo.

“I did a few warm-up gigs and after the initial sluggishness (from myself, not from the audience) it was really great.

“It’s about the social media madness.

“Its intensification and grip have increased in the pandemic.

“I added pieces and cut some jokes about Donald Trump.

“They’re still funny – but I couldn’t do that now that he’s not president and not on Twitter.”

For David, the real crux of what he has to say is how identity merges with opinion.

“People can’t say something they believe in without others getting angry about it.

“I often make a joke about how Scottish Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon, in a photo, looks like Lulu surrounded by backing vocals.

“I’m getting run over by SNP trolls.

“You think it’s the death of comedy, but it gets funny on the show because it’s so over the top and so crazy.”

For David, there are different types of troll: The classic; The ‘very high moralizing people who reprimand me in an instructive way; And people “who can’t understand a joke at all.”

“It’s hilarious how people don’t understand what a joke is.

“People are so afraid of saying the wrong thing on social media that some get very literal with comedy.

“Comedy is deliberately saying the wrong thing for a laugh.”

Northampton Derngate. Fifth concert in six days. I look good on it, I think. pic.twitter.com/7lx2MHMGHO

– David Baddiel (@Baddiel) September 27, 2021

When he crosses the Solent, David will come out of the Dartford and Dorking concerts and as soon as he is done, he will leave for Brighton, London and York.

This week, he posted a selfie after a show in Northampton – his fifth gig in six days.

Part of the problem with having to stop, he says, is that it has gone from “middle age to late middle age and I don’t have a lot of time to do a two hour show every day. in the evenings and make people laugh. ”

“There is a passage in the show where I dance.

“Last night I said, ‘I can’t go on.’

“It made me laugh a lot, but it allowed me to catch my breath and I had to sit down a bit.

“I need to get these gigs!

“I won’t be able to play standing up any longer.”

You might know the 57-year-old as half of the comedy duos Newman and Baddiel and Baddiel and Skinner, or as one of those guys who sing Three Lions (no, there won’t be a sequel, have- we asked), or as a cranky story reader in a dressing gown and nightcap on Horrible Histories, or as an author.

David is very clear on how he earns his crust: “My job description is that of storyteller.

“It sounds like something out of a fairy tale, but it’s true.

“I only do one thing – tell stories in many different forms.

“If I do a comedy show about trolls, it’s a form of storytelling.

“If I write a book on anti-Semitism, it’s another.

“Making a documentary, or being in Horrible Histories, that’s others.

“A joke is a story and a lot of my stuff is telling true stories.”

The next step in David’s storytelling journey is a musical version of his first children’s novel, written with the musical genius behind Everyone’s Talking Jamie.

“There’s something totally awesome about writing something that people sing and dance to on stage,” he said.

He’ll probably tell you about it on Twitter soon.