Dom Joly talks politics, pranks, and his global adventures ahead of ‘The Conspiracy Tour’

For those unaware of Dom Joly’s broad career, his origins as a student could not have predicted where he would end up. From being a widely renowned television personality, with his smash-hit show Trigger Happy TV, to later travelling the world to find the wackiest conspiracy theories, Joly’s career spans decades in the public eye, culminating in his current theatre show: The Conspiracy Tour. Notably, Joly claims that he did his life “the wrong way round”, but would never change it.

The origins of Joly’s “wrong way round” life were primarily determined by his Middle Eastern heritage, desiring to “really learn Arabic properly” after growing up in Lebanon. His studies took him to the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, which Joly admittedly regrets. “I didn’t like anyone on my course,” he states honestly, and the looming pressures of a year abroad forced him to take a more personal educational step. His lifelong obsession with politics transformed from a passion, to his university life, declaring he was entering a field he had “always been obsessed with.” After engaging in the political world, Joly decided to get a slightly atypical, serious job, becoming what he describes as the “world’s worst diplomat” in Prague. From studying Arabic, to attempting to be a diplomat, to engaging in being a foreign correspondent, nothing proved to be the right fit for him, until he entered the world of comedy.

When Joly’s serious jobs lost his interest, he admittedly started “mucking around” with often quite powerful names in the political world. Inadvertently, with the benefit of hindsight, this is the essence of Joly’s political comedy style. “I was bored,” he says bluntly, until he was met with opportunity. In a ‘Sliding Doors’ style, as Joly declared, he was made aware of a newspaper article, offering work for anyone with merely a “sense of humour”, finding talented individuals to work on a pranking show. Nevertheless, after finding this opportunity, politics still remained a strong interest. A sentiment of this was hinted when Joly let The Boar in on a part of his daily routine, getting ready to attend Prime Minister’s Questions after our conversation. Whilst an admittedly unorthodox start to a Wednesday filled with meetings and train journeys, Joly stated, “I weirdly used to work in Parliament”, exclaiming his excitement to attend for the first time.

“It wasn’t about making people angry, it was just about adding a bit of surrealism to their day”

“I remember the first day I worked on this, we had to drive various things through a McDonald’s drive thru, like a tank, a clown car and a hot dog van,” he states reminiscently, almost in awe that both his life had led to this point, and equally how this could be considered work. Life “kind of took an unusual turn” with this career starter in comedy amalgamating into his widely known show, Trigger Happy TV. Joly almost felt like this path had “always been in the pipeline,” but it took a considerable amount of time to find it.

The premise of Trigger Happy TV, airing on Channel 4 from 2000 to 2003, saw Joly taking on this pranking persona, but for his own personal show, portraying a multitude of unusual characters, hoping to entertain the general public and brighten their day. From shouting “HELLO” into huge Nokia phones whilst people went to the shops, from what Joly describes as his most famous sketch of “crawling across a zebra crossing dressed as a giant snail”, Joly evolved these outlandish characters into a British Comedy Award winning television show. He admits there were a lot of initial misconceptions about the show. “It wasn’t about making people angry, it was just about adding a bit of surrealism to their day,” he states. Joly in fact relishes this surrealism, admitting he is consistently asked how he found the confidence to play these characters, and putting himself in embarrassing situations. “I would not think twice” about performing in these skits, he says, however, the “wacky method acting” needed to play these characters could not protect him from the nerves he gets from doing live shows.

“A conspiracy really means that there’s a sort of shadowy, dark power behind everything,” which Joly admits is a “very negative view on life”

Surrealism becomes a core theme of Joly’s current career path, which he aims to explore through various mediums. In November 2023, Joly published his fifth travel book, The Conspiracy Tourist, as a follow-up to his previous compilations. “All my books are basically me going to very strange places,” he admits, however his most recent work combines his passion for travelling with his fascination with conspiracy theories. A sign of Joly’s commitment to globetrotting is evident when he stated “I have been to 108 countries,” from your generic holiday spots, to the furthest realms of the globe. “I always go to strange places and I always have a kind of purpose in my books,” declares Joly, casually recommending North Korea as a spot for all budding travellers. “It’s like every film you’ve ever seen about a sort of extreme dictatorship or cult movement’, and the closest one can ever get to experience ‘space travel’.”

From travelling to North Korea, and straying away from what Joly declares as the “homogenised world”, where “everywhere you visit is a short drive away from a Starbucks”, his travelling obsession the link between travelling and conspiracies developed. Joly’s lockdown life officially triggered this fusion of ideas; “I started arguing a lot with flat earthers, which was not something I anticipated that I’d be doing” amid the height of the Covid pandemic. From these discussions, Joly found himself wondering “do people actually believe this?”, or were these widely regarded theories merely a front to gain social media traction.

From taking a Flat Earther to the edge of the world, to uncovering whether Finland actually exists, the breadth of Joly’s explorations plans to entertain the nation on his tour

Once the idea was found, it needed to be substantiated. Joly found interest in a well-known conspiracy graph curated by psychology student Abbie Richards. From the believable to the insane, everything was listed and ranked. Even as a dedicated fan of conspiracy theory speculation, “5there were so many conspiracy theories [Joly] hadn’t even heard of”, including theories considering how Paul McCartney could be a clone. Choosing a ‘pick and mix’ of theories on various levels, Joly’s newest book idea found its feet, however Joly found himself needing to be careful in defining what a conspiracy theory really was. “There are often things people can conspiracies that are not”, including various governmental and criminal activity, states Joly, suggesting many people cover up illegal behaviour with the guise of a ‘conspiracy theory’ suggestion. “A conspiracy really means that there’s a sort of shadowy, dark power behind everything,” which Joly admits is a “very negative view on life.”

Joly’s tour, The Conspiracy Tour, offers a live show set up to his book, The Conspiracy Tourist, having started its run around the UK on the 20 September. For those wanting to attend, the tour is organised into two parts, exploring the world of conspiracy theories in staggering depth. Joly invites the audience in with the promise of an “extreme powerpoint on the weirdest conspiracy theories”, in the first act, and how he found himself involved in it. From taking a Flat Earther to the edge of the world, to uncovering whether Finland actually exists, the breadth of Joly’s explorations plans to entertain the nation on his tour.

However, the second half of his show takes a more unusual route, having invited along one of Britain’s most renowned conspiracy theorists, Dr Julian Northcote, whose book COWS: Britain’s Secret Killers, considers how 15,000 ramblers a year are killed by cows every year in a major cover up. Even from Joly’s perspective, their relationship is very fraught; “we have to tour together and we don’t get on, but it’s never boring,” Joly argues, praising the entertaining dynamic of their relationship. “I think he’s mental. I think he’s dangerous. I think he’s an idiot, but he knows that,” declares Joly, which nevertheless foreshadows the dramatic, and unconventional nature of his show, and what is to come for the upcoming tour.

The Conspiracy Tour is running from September 20 to November 7 throughout the UK, and is set to come to the Warwick Arts Centre on October 11.