We're welcoming Robin Ince back to DCB to talk about jokes, past, present and future, to read us poems, and be his fizzy excitable self.

Drop City Books Author Party - Robin Ince: THE FUTURE OF JOKES

📅 Date: 4th November 2026

DOORS- 6.30pm

EVENT START - 7:00pm

📍 Venue: Drop City Books, 74-78 Piccadilly, Hanley, ST1 1HX

⚡️NOTE THIS TICKET DOES NOT INCLUDE A COPY OF THE BOOK

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

We're very excited to welcome Robin Ince back to DCB to celebrate the launch of his new book The Future of Jokes , Robin Ince is, a comedian, broadcaster, author, and bibliomaniac,. He's a friend to bookshops and weirdos and a populariser of scientific ideas. If you've never seen Robin speak before expect a night of gorgeous tangents, unexpected segways and the warm, inclusive vibe that makes you feel like actually it might all be ok.

ABOUT THE BOOK

When did laughter become part of our universe? Were we the first planet to have a sense of humour? What was the first joke? Was it made by a chimpanzee or a crow?These are just a few of the questions comedian Robin Ince considers in The Future of Jokes, bringing in elements from science, technology, politics, philosophy and culture to probe just why we need jokes. What can they teach us about ourselves and our future? Comedy means different things to different people: it can be an act of rebellion, and it can be an act of reinforcing the status quo. It can be expression and it can be repression.

You’ll like this if you like -

Excitable fizzy brained people

Asking why about absolutely everything

Pub quiz facts to take home in your pocket.

"a witty and thoughtful short read on the importance of jokes and humour, and a romp through the comic landscape of the past, present, and possible future." Logan Murray, comedian and author of Get Started in Stand-Up Comedy'Do we really need another book about the mechanics of jokes? If that book is written by Robin Ince, yes. This is a spiky, refreshing, original, characteristically thoughful canter through the field of joking, and how and why we do it.' Professor G Neil Martin, author of The Psychology of Comedy

ACCESSIBILITY INFO:

Please get in touch (hello@dropcitybooks.com) if you have any specific access requirements we can help with.

The shop is wheelchair accessible, with a double wide front door.

This event will involve sitting on a chair, with comfort breaks whenever you need them. We encourage standing up and stretching, fidgeting, wiggling around, this isn't school, humans need to move.

The toilets are on the same floor as the venue and are gender neutral .

There will be amplified sound at low levels.

Description supplied by the event organiser.