Saturday, December 27, 2008

A Bit of Fry and Pinter

Right now there's another Englishman in this country I've been following avidly: Stephen Fry. I've always liked Stephen's stuff, he's a darned clever fella, but on our most recent trip to England to spend time with my folks, I watched the first couple of episodes of his BBC series Stephen Fry in America. My only regret was that he was not able to spend more time in each place. For example, his coverage of my adopted home state of New Jersey was limited to visiting a casino in Atlantic City.

Having recently started using Twitter myself, I was pleased to find Mr. Fry was an avid Twitterer. Not only that, but he's been spending the holiday season here in the States. He's been pretty much Tweeting a running commentary of his time first in New York, then on the West Coast. He's been sending photos of his travels. He visited Saturday Night Live to watch his friend and comedy-partner Hugh Laurie guest-host the show.

And he's been busy. He judged a competition to come up with original or the best Wildean remarks on December 1st, designated Oscar Wilde Day. He covered a hotel room in computers, telephones and cables to write a comparative review of smartphones. But he's been apologizing for spending so much time walking and shopping.

Go visit his website if you get a chance. Entertaining and interesting.


Finally, like Stephen, I was saddened to hear of the loss of English playwright and activist Harold Pinter to cancer on Christmas Eve. The writer of such classics as "The Birthday Party", "The Caretaker" and "Betrayal", his only serious rival was Samuel Beckett. He'll be missed.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oscar Wilde Day??? Hooray!!!
What would I do without you?
Sit around being ignorant....

Still looking for B's side of this.

Anonymous said...

PS: When I saw the title "A Bit of Fry and Pinter" I assumed it was about something British that was fried and went well with a pint.

I'm serious.

Graham said...

I do my best to educate as well as entertain, Alison! And if I got off the computer once in a while, B. might be able to post some responses!

Graham said...

Incidentally, the title of this entry "A Bit of Fry and Pinter" is a reference to "A Bit of Fry and Laurie", a British comedy show featuring Stephen Fry and his comedy partner Hugh Laurie, better known in the US as "House" from the TV series.

Lexie said...

I'm sure no one is going to pay attention or reply to this so I feel free to say that...I like Hugh Laurie (yes, I know, irrelevant):P

Graham said...

I like Hugh Laurie too. Watch this space - at some point I plan to do a little article on him.

Bella said...

I love Stephen Fry. He's so clever and funny. Remember "Peter's Friends"? He's lovely.

And your blog is fun. :)

Graham said...

Peter's Friends was a great film! You know, I'd forgotten all about that one. I should see if I can find it.

Unknown said...

SF is the most entertaining man communicating in the english language today. (although I am not all that taken with his novels if I am honest)

I am thoroughly enjoying your blog. Lived in Virginia for 3 years in my teens and have visited frequently since, so it all makes sense! Keep it going Foucault

Sally29

Graham said...

Good to see you here, Sally! Is there a medium Fry is not working in? Hmmmm....does he paint? ;)

I wish they would show QI over here. Saw that when we last visited the folks, and I loved it.