Stephen Fry (placeholder)

I’d love to meet Stephen Fry so I could start a conversartion with him and see where it leads, I bet he could teach me a lot (knowledge wise…..nothing rude)

I don’t actually want to meet Mr. Fry (I’d probably just tell him I loved him and ask him to marry me, and that’s just weird), I just admire the hell out of the man is all.

So I can bundle him into the boot of the nearest car, hotwire it, and take him back to mine. I’d be really nice to him and he could tell me lots of interesting things and he’d grow to like me eventually. Like in The Collector. Except I’d take good care of him, honest guv.

Oh, and he could read Harry Potter to us. :)

Aside from his obvious wit, talent and intelligence, I was deeply impressed with his frank and honest show discussing manic depression. I found it both informative and very touching.

I’d love to meet him; he’s fast becoming quite a hero of mine. The more I see of his work the more I admire him.

HE can be very funny, but has anyone ever seen ‘a bit of Fry and Laurie’? Honestly, that was the worst show I’ve ever seen, so reason why id like to meet Fry:

1. Hit him a punch in the face.

2. Laugh at him

3. Tell that I still like his ‘other’ comedy.

I was asked recently who I would invite to a dinner party, and Mr Fry would certainly be there. Unfortunately I am a poor cook, so it isn’t going to happen. I love his writing, and QI is one of my favorite TV shows.

I met Stephen Fry and got his autograph at the Seattle premiere of “Wilde.” It was awesome!

I want to meet Mr Fry because I’d like to tell him that his book Moab is My Washpot helped me in understanding what I wanted to be, by showing me what I did not want to be.
Moab is My Washpot turned my perception of the white, privately educated middle classes that I so longed to be completely on its head. For Stephen was rich and witty and clever and all the things I wanted to be, yet he was deeply unhappy, criminalistic and essentially a rather unlikeable character. Made me realise that glorious intelligence and witty sparkle without morality is worthless.
And I think that A Bit of Fry and Laurie is well funny.

Mr. Fry was good enough to provide this interview to me several years ago while I was struggling to start a local entertainment magazine (which no longer exists, but that should not be taken as a reflection on his participation—I blame the fact that Hugh Laurie never responded, but that’s a different matter). The article is as follows:

Stephen Fry is to British entertainment what, well, he really has no equivalent in the US. He is much more prolific than Woody Allen, his comedy more cerebral than Robin Williams, and his love for the English language, erudition, and eclecticism is only approximated by Dennis Miller. Fry made his mark relatively early with a wildly successful stage adaptaion of “Me and My Gal”. He has authored six successful books, written dozens of successful series for BBC television and radio, including his own series “Saturday Night Fry”. Fry has performed in a multitude of movies and TV programs including the leads in “Wilde” and Robert Altman’s “Gosford Park”. Stephen has also appeared in a few editions of the orginal british version of “Who’s Line Is It Anyway?” (that are now beginning to appear on our shores) where his 6’ 4” stature is rivalled only by that of Ryan Stiles. He is the director of “Bright Young Things”, which he also wrote as an adaptation of “Vile Bodies” by Evlyn Waugh. For P.G. Wodehouse fans, he personified the famed butler Jeeves in the video series “Jeeves and Wooster”.

Mr. Fry was good enough to interrupt his frenetic activities to respond to the BAC standard 20 question interview, despite having never been to, nor until now, heard of Pensacola.

THE TWENTY QUESTIONS:

1. So, what’s the deal with you?
Um … er … good question. One I keep asking myself. The answer may have something to do with language. Not sure.
2. What do people least suspect about you?
My indolence. My inner depravity. My ordinariness.
3. Boxer, brief, bikini or thong?
Oh, brief I think. yes. Brief. Brevity is the soul of it. As Polonius so nearly said.
4. What one thing should a visitor to Pensacola Beach absolutely not miss?
An opportunity to ask the inhabitants where they are. What state (of the Union) they’re in and whether Pensacola is a real place or a kind of soda.
5. What do you think people should be more proud of?
Their desires.
6. Describe your favorite brush with fame or someone famous?
Stood in a lift (elevator, you Pensacolans would say) with Clint Eastwood in Edinburgh. Stood in a lift with Laurence Olivier once too. No conversation ensued in either case. Michael Jackson once said to me, “My you are tall.” I replied, “Yes, pointlessly tall.” He looked at me with wonder and whispered, “No—it’s a blessing.” Mmm … all very odd.
7. What’s your recommendation to revive mind, body and spirit after a long day?
Eat a cucumber salad dressed with dill while receiving a foot massage.
8. Exactly how does one make a Pensa-colada?
Take coconut and pineapple and apply thought to them.
9. If you could make up your own Zodiac, what sign would you be and why?
Skepsis: I am a true skeptic, born under the noble sign of skepsis, the sign of the man who knows that all astrology is absolutely and without reservation the bullest of bullshit that ever there was. It is a senseless delusion that does not even have the benefit of being harmless fun. It is a harmful bore. Harmful to the human spirit, harmful to the dignity and wonder of the real universe and
the real power of the mind to think for itself. I hate astrology with a fervor that is almost frightening.
10. If I’d only known, I would of….what?
That claret was so good, I would have started drinking earlier in life.
11. Love is….
Never having to quote anyone else.
12. What three pieces of advice would you give to your children?
My siring children is a remote contingency indeed, but I would tell them, as I tell my squadrons of godchildren: never listen to the advice of your elders (including this piece of advice)—do not squander your youth with worries concerning the future (money, pensions, career and other such preposterous irrelevancies)—taste every fruit of every tree in the garden at least once. It is an insult to creation not to experience it fully. Temperance is wickedness, as every Zoroastrian will tell you …
13. John or Paul or George or Ringo or John Paul II or Slash or Sting or Elvis?
John, every time for me, I fear.
14. What are you listening to these days?
Wager and Wagner. With a hint of Schubert on the side.
15. What are you reading these days?
A Confederacy of Dunces (since I’m adapting it for screen)—The Lemon Table, by Julian Barnes—Black Tom, the biography of a Victorian educationalist and divine whom I am playing in a television film.
16. What are you watching these days?
Cricket, snooker and soccer. Very English sports, I’m afraid, but I’m quite hopelessly addicted.
17. The most important thing I’ve discovered in the past three years is….
A video store in Notting Hill, London that has everything that you want,
everything that Blockbuster doesn’t have.
18. What guilty pleasures would you recommend to a friend (books, CDs, videos, wines, food, etc.)?
Tony Bennett’s two recordings with Bill Evans. White truffles. Pipe tobacco.
Wagner.
19. Favorite Joke?
Q: How do you make God laugh? A: tell him your plans.
20. Favorite Quote?
It’s a toss-up between Wilde’s “We are all of us in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars” and whoever it was who said, “If you want to know what God thinks of money, just look at the kind of people he gives it to.”
Any parting words?
Farewell, dear Pensacola. I leave you in body, but in spirit I carry you with me always. Wherever and whatever you are.”