Contrary to popular myth, Americans can do irony. They're quite capable of saying the opposite of what they mean, and doing it with a knowing twinkle. What they almost never do is sarkiness. Shallow, facetious humour, served with a sneer, is so contemptible to most Americans that they simply blank it out. For Joe Lycett, that's a problem. His whole act is based on being sarky. He's the comedian who told Laura Kuenssberg, on BBC1's Sunday politics show in 2022, that he was 'incredibly right-wing', while shouting encouragement to fellow guest Liz Truss. He briefly changed his name by deed poll to Hugo Boss, just to wind up the German fashion company, and published false 'leaks' on his Twitter account, including a faked resignation letter from a Tory minister, Nadine Dorries. None of that is very funny, which is why Joe was struggling as he arrived in the U.S. at the start of his tour of the United States Of Birmingham (Sky Max). His plan was straightforward: to visit every town and city called Birmingham in the whole of North America, all 18 of them, including the one in Canada. He took a few gifts, with sarky intent: some paperbacks by Birmingham-born novelist Barbara Cartland, a cushion emblazoned with the face of Birmingham's uncrowned queen, Alison Hammond, a tin of Bird's custard, that kind of thing. But when he sauntered into a diner in Birmingham, New Jersey, and prepared to take the proverbial out of their best-selling burger, he got no laughs at all. The family who ran the place gave him blank, uncomprehending looks, unable to believe he'd come all that way with the intention of being rude. To his credit, Joe soon recognised that his usual schtick wasn't going to work. Perhaps this wasn't the first unamused audience he'd ever encountered. Switching tack, he praised the burger, slurped a red-white-and-blue shake, and asked a local man about activities in Birmingham. 'I'm a guy,' said the guy, 'so . . . guns.' Joe headed to the nearby armoury, where the last vestiges of his sarkiness were banished. Mocking America's beloved Second Amendment, the right to carry firearms, while standing in a warehouse full of assault rifles and heavy-calibre pistols, is simply asking to make yourself suicidally unpopular. And for all his snide jokes, Joe clearly wants to be popular. His garish outfits, all primary colours and pom-poms, are proof of that. He's an old-fashioned entertainer at heart. An afternoon on the shooting range convinced him that his best option was to give in to America. By the time he'd visited two or three Birminghams, he was visibly moved by the warmth of his welcomes. He came to mock, and ended up having fun. We already knew the road trip was destined to go well, because at the start of the hour we got a foretaste of its end result — an international celebration of Brummies, with special guests from the bands Black Sabbath and UB40. 'That's bostin'!