Hector vs The Future: Comedy Spotlight
Hector vs the Future is a new darkly surreal podcast from James Hamilton about the curmudgeonly proprietor of the Obsoleteum – a museum of the obsolete, the forgotten, the useless – and his battle to keep it afloat
The last few months’ news have been an absolute shit-show. When the apocalypse finally arrives, what could we grab from Hector’s Obsoleteum to try to save the day?
Being stuffed with old-fashioned, pre-internet technology, the Obsoleteum would probably be a pretty handy place to spend your apocalypse. You could live off the carrier pigeons by day and drink the medical whisky by night. Plus there’d be loads of books you can read without having to charge them up first.
Actually, thinking about it: the Obsoleteum would probably be the first port of call for all those vile, better-in-the-olden-days bastards who caused the apocalypse in the first place. Maybe it’s best to steer clear.
As well as Hector, we meet the curator of the Uptodateum, Biz, and her plucky robot sidekick, Phil. If you had a sidekick, familiar or daemon, what form would it take?
Bridget Christie.
One of the characters you play in the series is the keeper of the map room in the Obsoleteum, locked in a cupboard with only some scrolls and a piano for company. If you were locked away, how would you spend your time other than plotting an elaborate revenge on whoever put you in there?
I’d learn to play the piano, just like Percy in the map room can. I can’t actually play any musical instruments in real life, so it’d be a great opportunity to learn a new skill to expert level. Also: I’d record the entire experience – because my eventual elaborate revenge would be forcing my captor to listen to the whole thing in real time. Combining my revenge plot with learning a new skill to a world class standard (10,000 hours, right?) would actually be a very efficient use of my time in captivity. I suspect the irony would be lost on my captor.
All our heroes find themselves up against some powerful foes: a tech manufacturing giant, the local mayor and a masterful inventor to name but three. It seems like no matter what else changes, powerful bastards will always try to keep down powerless bastards. What else is going to last forever?
Stupid, stubborn old white men who relentlessly cling to their outdated, problematic principles of legacy and tradition and refuse to budge in the name of progress.
I’m not really as on the side of my lead character as I should be, am I?
Enough of the past: what should we look forward to seeing in our local Uptodateum? Have they figured out invisibility cloaks yet?
Sadly not. But they have invented a new strain of trees that grow bacon instead of fruit! The vegetarians are really conflicted.
Contrary to popular belief, video did not quite kill the radio star; will podcasts reverse over its twitching body and finally finish it off?
Ugh – no! Podcasts are so old hat nowadays. We just didn’t have the foresight to see they’d be completely out of date by the time we’d finished working on the series. More fool us. Hector Vs The Future series 2 is being released exclusively on Snapchat. I’m pret-ty confident Snapchat’s never gonna go out of style.
Hector vs The Future is available to stream and download now