(A Lockdown Lack of) Pints with Alan Davies

A Q&A Session with the Author and Comedian

If you have not had the chance to read Just Ignore him then please put this memoir from Alan Davies on your list. It is likely that you recognise the name from his stand-up comedy or from QI, but, for those of you from my generation, you will know him as Georgia Nicholson’s Dad in Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging – an iconic cinematic masterpiece.

On Wednesday, 4th November, I decided to resist the lure of one last pint in the pub before lockdown 2 and signed up to a creative writer’s evening put on by Goldsmiths with a Q&A session from Davies. What was, at the time, an attempt to be sensible, actually turned into an extremely emotional hour with the Goldsmith alumni. At times I listened with a lump in my throat then laughed it away the next moment.

For those who haven’t had the good fortune to read his latest book, please allow me to enlighten you. You wouldn’t know it from his jovial tone and comedic tv persona, but Davies had a very traumatic childhood. I find this is often the case that those with the most warming presences have suffered the most.

This book is a memoir of the abuse that Davies experienced as well as some of his adulthood. Surprisingly it only touches briefly on his celebrity with a mere one chapter devoted to it. In Davies Q&A session when asked why not he said that he was worried that his book would be published for his name and not the quality of his writing which I completely respect.

He was questioned about whether he thought his memoir would affect his comedy and, after a thoughtful moment, he replied that he has been using a scripted set for a while and, if he integrated the memoir into his stand-up then, there might be some resistance as there is a lot of back and forth with the audience. It is difficult to be emotional using this medium, but he looks forward to his next show to see if there are any differences that he notices.

Humour can still be expected in this book, however, as Davies believes that it is a good counterpoint to the heavier parts of the book. He also added that the juxtaposition of the two also made these parts even sadder, but that he found it to be a good device to get his readers involved. To him, there was never a question of whether he should be humorous or not as it always has and always will be important to him.  

When speaking of the writing process he decided against fiction as, in doing so, he realised the writing was no longer about him. There was an artificiality to the narrative voice, as if he was doing his best to write but it no longer sounded like him. He spoke to one of his tutors at Goldsmiths and they spoke about utilising his stand-up comedy voice. Perhaps he could use this voice that he is extremely confident with and use it to address more difficult issues.  

The use of this voice brought the writing closer to home and it took on the form of a memoir. His stage voice took on a more sober and less performative tone as he established his narrative voice for this book. The chapters of Just Ignore Him are also not written in chronological order which helped Davies to balance his memories and, therefore, his material. This coupled with the novelistic narrative arc that Davies says he uses to encourage people to read his work and the incredibly honest, yet harrowing, history of Davies is why this book is an incredibly unique memoir.  

When asked how he began writing down memories as difficult as the ones he had, Davies spoke about a course he had taken at Goldsmiths with Claire Keegan. She told him, when writing, go towards the loss. Everyone who has felt this, which would have been everyone in the room, knew what this meant. If the writing was difficult then you must be doing it right. Get the memory down, keep writing, and you should have pages which will give you something to work over.

To round up the Q&A session Davies was asked whether he was melancholic about the release of his book but he simply sighed and told us that he was more saddened about the inability to go and see comedy at the moment or to go to The Walrus after a face to face Q&A session for a pint with some of us. But, no, he is not melancholic about the release of his book. He is pleased to finally see his writing in physical black and white. He can live better now without this burden.

I know that Davies doesn’t want us to consider his fame when talking about his writing, but it is incredibly rare to have a celebrity talk so frankly about their life, and on topics that are often considered taboo. It is incredibly encouraging for other writers and people who might still be too scared to narrate their histories. But do consider Davies a role model, give his book a read (it truly deserves the time!) and then put fingers to keys and go towards the loss.

CREDIT: Photos from Amazon