6 saturday review Saturday June 11 2022 | the times
The last TV programme that made
me cry (and laugh)The Marvelous Mrs Maisel made me cry
and laugh. The last episode of season
four with her [Rachel Brosnahan] and
Lenny Bruce [Luke Kirby] was perfect.The lyric I wish I’d written
“Hanging on in quiet desperation is
the English way,” in Time from
The Dark Side of the Moon by
Pink Floyd.The poem that saved me
“Come to the edge./ We might
fall./ Come to the edge./ It’s too
high./ COME TO THE EDGE./
And they came./ And he
pushed./ And they flew,” by
Christopher Logue. Perfect for
the many comedians I’ve
taught to ski and snowboard at
the Altitude Comedy Festival.Advice from Strangers: Everything I Know
from People I Don’t Know by Rachel
Parris. She hasn’t read mine yet so I
think it’s OK.My favourite film
Our whole family has watched the
American road comedy Vacation (2015)
with Ed Helms and Christina Applegate
many, many times. It is obscenely funny
and I love it.My favourite play
Les Misérables. It’s about a lot of people
dying in a failed French revolution.
Perky stuff.The box set that I’m hooked on
I just finished Severance [the American
science-fiction series about a sinister
technology corporation] on Apple TV,
with Adam Scott. Absolutely
phenomenal. We are spoilt for great TV
these days. Succession. The Marvelous
Mrs Maisel. The Morning Show. Peaky
Blinders. Stath Lets Flats. Call My Agent!My favourite TV series
This Is England by Shane Meadows. The
film and TV series. Funny, troubling,
heartbreaking and so beautifully acted
by the entire cast, I have rewatched it all
four times.My favourite piece of music
It Never Entered My Mind from Workin’
with the Miles Davis Quintet.vive la revolution Top: Les Misérables. Above left: Rachel Brosnahan in The Marvelous Mrs
Maisel. Above right: This Is England. Below: Vacation; Louis ArmstrongThe instrument I play
The trumpet. Badly.The instrument I wish I’d learnt
The trumpet. Better.The music that cheers me up
The Sidewinder album by Lee Morgan.If I could own one painting,
it would be...Sold — and the money used to buy
things I would better appreciate. Cheese,
jazz records and ski trips.The place I feel happiest
In the bath or in the sea. The bath is
warmer but the sea is full of adventures.My guiltiest cultural pleasure
I refuse to feel guilty about any of my
cultural pleasures. Although Vacation got
almost universally terrible reviews...I’m having a fantasy dinner party,
I’ll invite these artists...Miles Davis, Lee Morgan, Louis
Armstrong, Clifford Brown and
Dizzy Gillespie.And I’ll put on this music...
A live bass, drums and piano, then I’d
just listen.The concert I’m looking forward to
I have tickets to see the Cure in
December. I cannot wait. I’m dying to
hear Lady Blackbird play live too.I wasted an evening watching...
Kinky Boots the musical.The film I walked out of
The American crime film Inherent Vice.
I never walk out of anything — I stay
until the end because you never know.
Right? Sometimes the things you dislike
prove as interesting as the things you
love. But Inherent Vice was not for me —
and I stayed for Act II of Kinky Boots.Overrated
Nothing is really overrated. Is it? It’s just
stuff other people like
and I don’t. All crap
stuff gets found out
in the end. I do
think that films and
telly about the mafia
are oddly popular.Underrated
Jazz FM [Brigstocke fronted
The Cabinet of Jazz, Jazz
FM’s first comedy show,
until Christmas last
year].
Marcus Brigstocke
performs at the
Cambridge Club
Festival, today.
His new stand-up show
Absolute Shower is at the
Pleasance, Edinburgh,
August 3-28, and he is at
Altitude Comedy Festival in
Austria, April 3-7, 2023My favourite author or book
I, An Actor by Nicholas Craig aka Nigel
Planer [he played the character of Neil
Pye in The Young Ones and Ralph Filthy
in Filthy Rich & Catflap]. It’s one of the
very few books I’ve read more than once.
It always makes me laugh like a fool.
The book I’m reading
Kleptopia: How Dirty Money Is
Conquering the World by Tom Burgis. It
is making me wild with anger. I don’t
know if that’s a good thing, but that is
what’s happening.
The book I wish I had written
The Bible. It’s an absolute bestseller, so
I’d be quids in! I’d also edit the stuff
about women, children, sex, slavery and
the celebration of mass murder. It’d be a
good deal shorter with more gags.
The book I couldn’t finish
Moby-Dick. The odd thing is I was
enjoying it and I like fishing. I’ll go back
to it.
The book I’m ashamed I
haven’t read
I haven’t quite finished my wife’s book,
my culture fix
The comedian lets us into his cultural life
Marcus
Brigstocke
DONALD COOPER/ALAMY