The Beatles sang, “I don’t care too much for money / Money can’t buy me love,” and in economically depressed Liverpool, Scousers often didn’t own anything except their bodies and their sense of humour. My dad wouldn’t let anyone into the house if he thought they didn’t have a sense of humour. He would say, “Michael, your friend Mark is not welcome in this house anymore.” And I would say, “Why not?” He would respond, “ ’Cause he’s not funny. In order to come into this house, you have to have at least one good song, one good story, or one good joke.”
