So who is this Dave Gorman, and what has he done to deserve such adulation from crowds of adoring fans?



Dave has a strange tendancy to do odd things for no good reason. Fortunately for him, he usually ends up making stage show or writing books about the weird stuff he gets up to. This is fortunate because it ultimately keeps his bank manager happy. And your bank manager is always a good friend to have on your side.



So what, specifically, has he done?



He asked people to give him ideas of how one man could make the world a better place, and then described his attempts to follow that advice in the stage show Better World.



He made a drunken bet with his good friend (and at the time flatmate) Danny Wallace that he could find 54 other Dave Gormans beside himself. The story of their adventures in this search are were related in the Are you Dave Gorman? book and stage show, and The Dave Gorman Collection on TV.



He followed his horoscope to the letter for 40 days, while his twin brother ignored the same horoscope at the same time, just to see who would come off better. You can find out the results in the Dave Gorman's Important Astrology Experiment TV show.



Most recently he discovered the simple joy of the googlewhack. His currently touring around about the place telling the world what came out of that discovery at the in his new show Dave Gorman's Googlewhack Adventure. Check out his site to see when he'll be near you. Though if you can't get to the shows don't worry too much, its going to be the subject of his next book too!



He has also written the forword for the Book of the Future book. This may not seem a big deal to you, but I've got some work in that book, so I am published in a book for which Dave has written the forward. And not only me! Caper Plip is in there too, with her piece on Rubber Ducks.



It must be noted that in the perpetration of most of these acts his bank manager became very unhappy. But now Dave has placated him with money, so that's okay.

New news!

As opposed to that old news that gets so boring if you've heard it before....

Dave has many forks in the fire at the moment. On the one hand he has a DVD coming out in November called Dave Gorman's Googlewhack Tour, which, as you might guess, is a recording of his Googlewhack show. I've also heard that he is working on a show for Radio 4 called Genius which appears to be about great inventions not yet invented. And it looks like there's another book coming, though this could be duff info, so be wary. There's a book listed on Amazon called Have I Got A Match For You! with Dave's name on it, due out in January 2005, though I've not heard of it anywhere else, so it might be another Dave Gorman. There do appear to be a few about.

Danny has been working hard too. There's a book coming out in November called Random Acts of Kindness credited to Danny Wallace and his Karma Army. The write up says that it details 365 individual acts of kindness perpertrated by him and his Army, which could be interesting. Amazon also lists something else against his name too. In this case it's a book called Yes Man though there's no release date given, so this could just be a vauge hope rather than a definate object. One thing that Danny definately signed up for though is a new series on BBC2, due out next summer. There's no indication what that is going to be about yet though.

Avowed fannish-type persons

If you like Dave Gorman and all his works, or at the very least think him to be vaguely amusing, then tell me and I'll shove your name here. Even if you just saw him walking down the street one day, I'm mention you. Whether you consider yourself a fan or not doesn't really bother me, just whether you think he occasionly manages to be half-way funny. Admittedly, many of the folks below think he's drop-dead, laugh-out-loud, rolling-on-the-floor funny, but don't let that put you off - they're generally decent people otherwise.

Do you think we ought to be aiming at a specific number? It would seem to be in the Gormanic spirit to do so.

And there are some other people who have not yet asked me to record they're names that I know to be Dave fans, so I'm putting them here anyway!

Hopefully some (or all) of them will pop in soon.

Some other places to visit

Firstly, because, well, just because really - Dave's site. Go and join his mailing list. Read his news. Check his tour dates to see when he'll be near you.


Secondly, for equally self-evident reasons, Danny's site. I am now in possession of a copy of Join Me. To correct earlier information I feel bound over to say that he didn't start a cult just because he was bored. He started a collective. He was still bored though.


Also, you could (he plugs shamelessly) read my article on his Gormanness. It's now in the Guide proper. See it in all it's edited glory. Some people seem to like it.


Witty Ditty's piece on the Are you Dave Gorman? book has now been edited. It's very good. Go read it now!


Sometimes I feel that ol' WD is just too busy a person. She's collaborated with several others in analysing Ian Dury and the Blockhead's 'Reasons to Be Cheerful', following in the footsteps of...er...that bloke. You know - him. The 3rd and 4th words in the title of this page. Yeah, that fella.


Two guys, after reading the Are you Dave Gorman? book, were struck by an equally strange idea - to collect the initials of other people who have read the book. Who is more mad, the comedian that leads or the seriously deranged people he leaves in his wake?


Hootooers are not immune to Gormanisation either. Though no-one went so far as to meet namesakes, many of us did do web searches for them. And discussed the results here¹.