You Don't Have to Be Mad to Work Here: A Psychiatrist’s Life

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instantly memorable and spread through offices and workshops like wildfire. The sort of thing one can buy a printed sign of in a joke shop.’ Since c. 1960. Mr. Disney is never too busy to be genuinely interested in each individual. He often says jokingly: ‘You don’t have to be crazy to work here, but it helps!’”

In November 1925 a movie columnist in “The New York Times” presented a version referring to a popular energetic dance:⁵

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Feb: It is not necessary to go crazy over the work, but it helps. (Engineering student at University of Michigan) Not to mention the already overly discussed government tax on migratory bird hunting licenses. Oh well, you don’t have to be a nut to go hunting and fishing, but it helps.

Johnny Speight wasn’t racist. His work wasn’t racist. But Alf Garnett was racist. You have to write characters who are bigoted or blind, that’s comedy. Simple as that.”It is, we suppose, one of those slightly quaint British phrases that in some way tries to infer that the office in question is a frantic, fast and terribly exciting place to work, fuelled by crazy (as in fun) people and exacting deadlines. The general rule however seems to be the more mundane and sedate the office, the more likely you are to see the sign. Go figure, as the Americans say. You Don’t Have to Be Mad to Work Here explores these complicated questions from both sides of the doctor’s desk.