Mail From A Viewer

Here's a piece of mail that arrived from a viewer recently:

I've been enjoying your "Duz Andy Know" videos quite a bit. It's hard to put into words how they make me feel though... I don't really know whether to laugh or to cry when I see them. What worries me most is Andy's complete lack of ego. Doesn't he ever get a little bit angry? Doesn't he ever feel he's being underestimated and go out to try to prove his worth? It would be healthy if he did...


Of course, it could be that deep down Andy is actually kind of hurt by this negative attention but he lacks the self-esteem to defend himself... Or he's simply too lazy... Either way, have you tried a bit of positive encouragement? It might help him. It's clear he's not inherently "universally challenged", which makes it so sad to see him throw away all of his potential, which I'm sure is there... Oh well :)

All the best,

(Name ommited for privacy)

I thought this was a very well considered correspondence indeed, so I replied:

Ah yes Duz Andy Know? Well thanks for watching that too! Your reaction of discomfort and perhaps an almost guilt over whether to laugh or not is not uncommon, I assure you. Knowing him as I do though, for 15 years, I am rolling on the floor at him by now. I have to. It's my life to put up with it, gotta laugh or I would sob. 


He doesn't get at all angry, nope.
He's so relaxed and chilled he's almost dead, lol. I think that's why he never learns anything.

No he lacks the drive to need to learn, so whatever that is that makes him ignorant, it stops him even in the videos. That and he knows that the show is going for a particular sense of humour. He's accepted that he is interesting to people I think (even if it's not in a good way) and wants to help me make a show that is undeniably unique in its content.

That's the thing, I've tried encouraging so many times in the past. I've known him for a decade and a half - and as I think about the time I've wasted/invested into ways to improve him, help him, drag him out of his crazy little world he lives in I always end up getting screwed over it, losing in time or money, or sometimes sanity. Andy has this effect on everything and everyone he touches. He drains the life out of everyone. All that is good will die by his touch, as it were.
You may think this is an extreme way of saying it, but all of his friends would agree. He just keeps letting you down and making you suffer for trying.

So I thought, sod this, he's a real unique case. Let's turn this into something interesting. Let's show the world quite what it is that I and the other people who know him have to deal with on a daily basis, lol. It'll be like group therapy, I figured. It is too, because I'm getting to talk about how frustrated we all are, lol.

Yes he does have potential. He's a very good artist for drawing things like ships for example. He lacked the drive to take it anywhere though. He lacked the interest in life and the ego to want success.

This series is a sort of testament, a warning, a message of documentary to show what happens when you allow someone to grow up as ignorant as this.

All the best to you

Rob