A disgraced politician once promised his followers he’d win so much they’d get tired of all the winning.

“Always remember any idiot can win,” Hugh Laurie’s father, an Olympic rowing medalist, told his son. “What he meant,” said Laurie, “was that winning doesn’t really teach you anything. If you’re a constant winner, you go through life without really being touched…, without ever learning anything or reconfiguring yourself.”

Tish Harrison Warren describes a “Ted Lasso” episode in which Lasso is publicly attacked by erstwhile friend Nathan. Lasso takes it good-naturedly, regaling the press with a stand-up bit making himself the butt of the joke. Warren writes: “He turns a moment of conflict into a moment of levity, even joy. This…exposes Nathan’s pettiness. In Ted’s weakness is his strength, while Nate’s grasping at strength reveals debilitating weakness.”

Sources
“Hugh Laurie,” interviewed on James O’Brien’s podcast “Full Disclosure,” 4-5-23.
Tish Harrison Warren, “Ted Lasso, Holy Fool,” New York Times, 4-30-23).

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