Richard Herring is on a roll at the moment, having just filmed a part in a new indie movie
and - spoiler alert – won the latest series of Taskmaster. But before
these momentous landmarks he also published this book, which, like his
previous book, Emergency Questions,
is small and neat and full of giggles. This one also has a more serious
subtext though and is not just about ridiculous questions such as “If
you had to invent a fifth season, which two other seasons would you put
it between, and what would happen during it?â€
The book came out of Herring's annual gargantuan task of spending
March 8, International Women's Day, responding to troll-shaped gammons
of all ages who ask on Twitter, "when is international men's day?" For a
decade Herring has obsessively replied to everyone - many pithy replies
reprinted here – by explaining repeatedly that there is indeed an
international men's day already, it is on November 19. And he raises
money for charity in the process.
This stocking-sized volume moves on from mere comic repetition –
although there is plenty of that too – and among other things wonders
about the mindset of the kind of people that think that they are the
first person ever to come up with this inane, unoriginal joke.
At one point Herring even considers if this was an early
foreshadowing of what has happened more recently with certain people
reponding to the Black Lives Matters campaign by saying "White Lives
Matter" or "All Lives Matter?" Did Herring pick up on an early sign of
the global mass madness that has ensued recently?
The Problem with Men: When is it International Men’s Day? (and why it
matters) is one of those deceptively smart books that makes a serious
point by taking the piss. One can imagine academics spending years to
come to pretty much the same conclusion without being anywhere near as
funny.
