Robin Ince – Petworth Literary Festival

As a connoisseur of comedy, Robin Ince has spent decades mining human eccentricities to create gags – and watching other strange individuals do the same. And for years on Radio 4’s The Infinite Monkey Cage he has sought – sometimes in vain – to understand the world around us. In his new book, he unites these pursuits to examine the human condition through the prism of humour.

Why do we make the choices we do in life? Where does anxiety come from? Where does imagination come from? Why are we like we are? And is it all our parents’ fault? Informed by personal insights from his own life as well as interviews with a bevy of A-list comedians, neuroscientists, psychologists and doctors, Ince’s take is a hilarious and often moving primer to the mind.