writer about serious things and a serious documentary—maker. you've already told me a little bit about yourjewish family history, you've explored in documentary form holocaust denial. you have written a book — this one, jews don't count, which looks at what you see as the failure of the progressive left, particularly in the uk, to take full account of anti—semitism as one of the discriminatory prejudices that taint society, you think somehow... ..as your title suggests, jews don't count. is it easy to tackle these serious subjects when your reputation is that of a very funny man? i don't know. i mean, for some people, it will be. for me, it isn't. the book has got quite a lot ofjokes in it. i don't really see clear boundaries between funny and, i guess, intelligent or whatever you might call it. that wasn't a very intelligent sentence, so it doesn't bear that out very well. but what i mean is