Tim Minchin and the lure of the better offer

On 30 April 2012, comedian Tim Minchin announced that he would no longer be appearing at five events over the summer. These were, presumably, confirmed bookings and yet, with regret, he had to cancel. Fortunately for Tim, his reason for cancelling was a happy one – someone had made him a better offer.

Where does this leave his fans? To judge from the comments on his website, his fans are delighted. They know that he “would never do this unless [he] really had to”. They tell him that his “talent is more than deserving” and that it was “awesome that [he] personally broke the news to everyone”.

Either no one felt irritated or their view was not added to the site.

Personally, I find him a funny comedian. His songs, at their best (which they generally are) strike me as “thing[s] of jaw-dropping wonder” (as the Daily Telegraph would have it). I didn't have tickets to see his show this summer anyway. I probably will watch the American television show in which he will appear and so his actions will give me more entertainment, not less.

And yet, this rankles precisely because he has put his career above his fans, pulled out of shows for which tickets have been bought and hotels booked and train tickets purchased and baby-sitting organised. Some people will be out of pocket, even if they can obtain a refund (and even if that refund includes the booking fee and administration fee – which there's a good chance it won't). He has decided not to give some people a show which they have been looking forward to. Instead he will advance his own career.

In the song “I'm In A Cage”, after stating that “nothing ruins comedy like arenas”, he uses the lyric “this is not about you, this is all about me [...] and selling DVDs” I thought he was joking.

Obviously I am risking a backlash*. When Phil Daoust had the nerve to write a very bad review for Tim Minchin back in 2005, Tim responded (after some years) with a song, in which he hoped that a range of extremely nasty things would happen to Phil, some in front of his children. In my opinion, this song is not one of his finest compositions.

Clearly I will never reach Tim's heights in musical comedy but I wondered whether a better song and a better joke could have been made by constructing a song around all the good things that Tim could do to make Phil's life better and happier. If I ever bother to write a sample verse or two, I'll add it.

* I think there is little chance that Tim (or any member of his team) will even see this article, let alone respond to it. However, if I have caught his attention...

Hello. I bought one of your DVDs. Would you reciprocate and buy one of my books? Books for children and books for adults...