The Dullest Blog: Comedy ramblings to inspire the most tedious minute of your week

When looking at the odds made up by my comedy colleagues for the last two Scottish Comedian of the Year Finals, my heart has sank as I’ve been joint favourite in each of them. There’s something so much more fun about being able to consider yourself an underdog. Consider the terms used for underdogs; “plucky”, “brave”, “defiant”… Now consider the terms used for people with a supposed advantage over the underdog; “domineering”, “bullying”, “Nazi stormtroopers taking Poland…”.

I think it’s that the term underdog allows for a much greater importance to be given to bravery, spirit, and artistic impression. Winning is about results. It’s about strength. It’s about power. It’s about functionality. Once you’re not expected to win something, you can approach it with more emphasis on expressing artistic freedom.

To use football as an example – which is the only way I can ever truly understand life – teams who know that victory isn’t expected of them can concentrate on playing with style, knowing that will provide some reward for their supporters. Tony Mowbray utilized this approach to great effect while manager of Hibs. Now he’s at Celtic, he’s expected to put results before style. Time will tell if he can do this.

As a Rangers fan, I’ve always had some kind of inherent guilt at supporting a club so built on success. Perhaps that why I’ve favoured those players of a more ‘maverick’ style. The ones who played as much in an aesthetically pleasing manner as in a functional and effective way. I’m not sure many of my fellow supporters share this view. That would explain why over the years the likes of Charlie Miller, Alexei Mikhailitchenko, Shota Arveladze, Claudio Canniggia, and Chris Burke beating a man with a beautiful piece of skill then promptly giving the ball away drew “oohs” and “aahs” from me, and shouts of “fucksake!” from the people around me.

There’s a Catatonia song in which they offer the line “coming second best is close to ideal”. There’s a lot to be said for that. You demonstrate talent & ability, but avoid any of the responsibility of being expected to turn it into success. Then again, I suppose a comedian finishing runner-up in the last two Scottish Comedian of the Year Finals would say that, wouldn’t he? So hopefully, if I’m lucky enough to make the final of next year’s competition, my peers will finally take into account my three-time loser status when coming up with their odds,  and afford me the underdog credibility that my soul so craves.