Town's fury at Ince's jibe

The angry backlash came after Ince said the New Town in the shadow of Gatwick Airport was a 'low point' of his recent tour.

Under the headline A Cheap Laugh, the local Observer newspaper hit back, calling Ince a ‘comedy rent-a-gob’ who ‘rose to fame on the coattails of Office funnyman Ricky Gervais’, who he supports on tour.

Resident Elaine Wilson told the paper: ‘You would hope people were above cheap shots like this.’

And council leader Bob Lanzer whinged: ‘Some people in the world of entertainment and humour have a poor stab at comedy and humour.’

The fury arose from an offhand comment Ince made in another local newspaper in nearby Epsom about his Robin Ince Isn't Waving tour.

He said: ‘Crawley was a low point. I'll get a week that goes Paris, Milan, Rome, Crawley.

‘When you're walking around Rome, even when you're looking at a statue of Mussolini, you can think, “Wow, this guy had big dreams, big thoughts”. When you arrive in Crawley you just think something has gone awry.’

After the storm of protest his comments raised, Ince said: ‘I wonder if I should go to Crawley and apologise in the style of Boris Johnson bowing to Liverpool.

‘Perhaps the people of Crawley do not see that there is a little culture shock going from one of the most fabulous cities in the world where much of modern civilisation grew and flourished, to Crawley.’

Townsfolk also became angry with comedians last year, after a story that hackers managed to change car park signs to say ‘fuck off’ rather than the number of available spaces featured on Have I Got News For You.

After Paul Merton and Ross Noble cracked gags about the story, the mayor moaned: ‘I cannot see where they get their opinions from. I would like them to come and visit our town. I would be only too pleased to show them round so they can see how lovely it is.’

However, local teenagers posting on the website Knowhere also give a different impression of the town. To pass the time, they suggest to their peers: ‘Meet your mates, get stoned and as drunk as you like. Annoy the local residents. Drive stolen cars, trash the bypass fence.’

Published: 5 Mar 2007