Nerd podcast #15 with Dick Zijp: 'Humour usually follows power, and is more effective in it than serious expressions.'

With His opinion piece in the Volkskrant he drew the ire of gein manufacturers like Bert Brussen and Hans Teeuwen. In no uncertain personal attacks, 'Suck My Dick Zijp' was accused of having a 'gender-neutral rotten head', which showed that 'woke' people had no humour. Reason enough for the woke nerds, Marijn Lems and I, also known as the Nerdpodcast's laughers, to give humour expert Dick Zijp a hard time.

Zijp speaks to us over the phone from his hidingholiday address. It is about The interview with comedy innovator Ilse Warringa in the Volkskrant of 10 July this year, in which, besides a warm plea for more warm understanding for each other, she also expressed her dissatisfaction with people who felt that you should not make jokes about certain vulnerable people. According to the creator of De Luizenmoeder, making jokes about minorities is actually a form of recognition.

So humour is not leftist

That was reason for Zijp to climb into the pen, he says, because humour, he says, is not at all so left-wing, as a means of making people feel appreciated by a wrong joke. Humour, he explains, is usually a touch right-wing or reactionary, and meant more to confirm existing relationships. Something Hans Teeuwen then agrees with him completely.

Anyway, of course there is plenty to mumble about that, and so we do, 50 minutes long, with another fun role for our Afrikaans-speaking Warringa robot. Listen before bed, because it's guaranteed to be sleep-inducing!