Life imitates art as coronavirus forces comic to sign on

He shot to fame as a man pounded by the bureaucracy of Britain’s benefits system.

And now, in a cruelly ironic example of life imitating art, comedian Dave Johns has been told to sign on for real after all his work dried up because of coronacirus.

‘I’ve just been told to claim employment and support allowance,’ the sixtysomething stand-up wrote on Twitter.

‘This is going to be a laugh when I walk into the job centre.’

In Ken Loach’s 2016 Palme d’Or-winning drama I, Daniel Blake, Johns plays a joiner who is deemed fit to work  despite the medical opinion of his cardiologist. And because he refuses a job, he loses his benefits.

#CoronaVirusUpdate #work cancelled. I’ve just been told to claim employment and support allowance, this is going to be a laugh when I walk into the job Center : pic.twitter.com/BkJSN8P2El

— Dave Johns (@davejohnscomic) March 20, 2020

Published: 20 Mar 2020