Jack Dee on Rick Spleen: ‘A lot of comedians don’t have a sense of humour’

Jack Dee created, co-wrote and played Rick Spleen. While doing a lot of standup and working with other comedy writers he became interested in the relationship between writer and performer and wondered what would happen if the writer was funnier than the performer.

He raised the idea with Pete Sinclair and BBC4 commissioned a pilot. The world they built shows Spleen trumped by everyone: his wife is more successful, Magda the Polish cleaner is more logically intelligent, his daughter and her boyfriend are cooler and his writer is funnier.

Dee describes Rick as a ‘‘what-if’’ version of himself — the life he might have led, deluding himself that success was just around the corner. Some episodes draw on his own experience, for example a corporate do where everyone is waiting for awards, everyone is drunk and nobody has come to see you.

United Kingdom

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