Howard Jacobson on Philip Roth, Woody Allen

"I still think Philip Roth is the most wonderful writer but he has essentially stopped being funny. He is perfectly within his rights to have stopped being funny, but I feel: ‘Now more than ever I want you to be funny... now that you are in the toils and at any moment you're going to die and you are fed up with everything and everybody.' I feel the same with Woody Allen: ‘Fine, it was easy before. Joke now.' It's never too serious to laugh."