When I was a kid there were three things I wanted to do when I grew up: I wanted to play guitar in a band, I wanted to be a stand up comedian and I wanted to be Batman.

2 out of 3 isn’t bad, and I’ve gone off the idea of being Batman now I have a better idea of what it entails. Beating up people with mental illness to protect the property rights of billionaires? Sorry, it’s just not for me.

When a kid dreams of becoming a superhero they think about what type they’d want to be; will they have powers, training or gadgets? Will they be a team member or operate solo? Collaborate with authorities or pursue justice outside the law? The choices are endless.

It’s similar for comedians: When you see a comic they’ve already made lots of choices. Would they be cerebral or silly? Edgy or mainstream? Work “blue” or clean? Will they present themselves authentically or speak through characters? Will they dress up or down? Will they be “loose” or “scripted”? High energy or low? Self-deprecating or cocky? Defining these factors, often referred to as voice or persona, is usually a work in progress for a long time.

I thought about what kind of comedian I’d be and 10 years later… I’m not it. My comic tastes have evolved just as my crimefighting tastes have. I was really into Doug Stanhope, Marc Maron, Louis C.K., George Carlin. I wanted to be a “smart” comedian, whatever the hell that means. I was sure that I’d be “political” and so was anyone who knew me. That was then. Now I’d rather be Batman than be a “political” comedian.

I’ve developed a distaste for what most people refer to as political comedy. I refer to the ‘topical’ kind of political humourists (Jon Stewart, Bill Maher, Dennis Miller, Stephen Colbert) who are more pundit than comedian. They go through the news every day picking through current events and provide their “hot take” on it. The jokes don’t have to be especially funny – it’s more important that the opinions are predictable.

I couldn’t imagine a more frustrating type of comedy to do. I would hate having to trawl through boring news media every single day looking for stuff to react to. I’d hate churning out disposable jokes at the same rapid rate as the disposable news cycle. I’d hate constantly writing to the formula you need for that kind of joke. I’d hate writing anything that repetitive or predictable. I’d hate pandering to my target audience and alienating everyone else

I also wouldn’t enjoy writing anything that sounds smarter than it really is. We want to do it the other way around, writing stuff that’s actually deeper than it sounds – that’s the stuff that gets admired by fans and peers alike for decades and changes the way people think about society and about humour.

Most topical comedy only pretends to be clever; Underneath the commentary is a collection of formulaic jabs, snark and smugness. It’s not designed to actually change anything, just to make people feel smart.

Don’t get me wrong: There’s a type of political comedy I have nothing but the highest praise for. It’s not topical and it won’t get anyone a regular gig on network news channels but it’s relevance doesn’t expire with yesterday’s newspapers. It’s more about about society itself than “what so-and-so said this time” etc.

George Carlin’s “Rockets and Penises in the Persian Gulf“, Jim Jefferies’ “Gun Control“, Bill Hicks’ “The War on Drugs“, Dave Chapelle’s “Never Had A Problem With White People,” Doug Stanhope’s “Abortion Is Green” or Glenn Wool’s “Big Car People” (one of my favourite bits ever) are all examples of this. They’re great bits that actually can change the way people think. They age well, and most comics would be proud of having created them.

Even though the theme of my last set was “When I’m Elected” I didn’t think it was very political – It was just a premise where I could air some grievances in a funny way. Still, I was still approached by a fan afterwards who wanted to talk about political comedy and how glad he was that I was doing it. I’m pretty happy about that because I actually do try to infuse opinion into my sets, sneaking them in like a Trojan Horse.

Nobody wants to be lectured at a comedy show, but the jokes genuinely are better if they have some substance. I also happen to believe that most everything – dating, dining, work, sex, friendships, social gatherings, alcohol, pets, parenting, neighbors, religion, travel, shopping, the weather and social media – are all political.

Not in the sense of what some politician said or did today; that’s boring politics. Relationships ; that’s interesting politics. How you’re getting on with your neighbor or your workmates? That’s politics. The frustrations of your job, or the entitlement of customers? That’s politics. What exactly does Batman do? Political. Bullshit about what parties and politicians do is the most common and superficial meaning of ‘political’. Every other aspect of being a person and living in a society is political in the most real sense.

It’s strange to me that some people say that comedians shouldn’t talk about politics. When people say it, they usually mean a comedian said something they didn’t agree with. When a comic makes political statements they agree with, it’s not even noticed. They’re also forgetting that “political” is one of the major comedy genres.

One of the first examples of comedy in western civilisation is The Clouds, a play by Aristophanes. It puts heaps of shit on Socrates and it escalates a debate about whether a father should beat their son into an all-out war on a larger scale. Arguably, comedy has always been political… even it it’s not “Guess what the Prime Minister did this week?” stuff.

George Carlin famously wrote three types of material – jokes about language, jokes about “the big world” which tackled themes like politics and religion, and jokes of “The Small World” which covered minor idosynchrasies.

“The small world is what’s in your refrigerator, how you drive, your pet’s behavior, your stuff” he said. We all consider Carlin a smart comic and he argued that jokes about farts unify us, point to common human experiences we all share but don’t discuss. Carlin could convince you that a fart joke contributed a lot more insight into the human condition than any smug comment about whatever some member of parliament just said.

As I develop more material I’m conscious that it’s all political. I’m interested in the human condition, the absurdity of life and everything about it, how we all think and relate to each other. I might not have evolved into a “political comedian,” but I really wouldn’t want to. I’m going to keep focusing on the things I find interesting about being a person in this bizarre world. Not having to read or follow the news is just a bonus.