Stephen Fry on Who Do You Think You Are ... Wednesday 25 Jan BBC2 9PM

[spacedonkey]

I can't wait to see this tomorrow - the man is a complete treasure!

[Marina]

And doesn't he know it SD...come on, admit!
Those Twinings ads bring me out in hives and QI would work so much better on radio, if we didn't have to see Stephen Fry's face. Or Rory McGrath's. Or John Sessions'. Or Alan Davies. Quite Smirky...
But yes, he is super-brainy, and unafraid to be intelligent, and he gave us a peerless Jeeves.

[spacedonkey]

Agreed, the Twinings ads are an aberration

[georginars]

I like his smugness too. agree it's unpleasant to see Rory McGrath (under any circumstances) though. I watch QI but without looking at the screen (leave my glasses off) and it's rather good like that! (I put them on when it's Bill Bailey though)
I love Jeeves and Wooster, have been rewatching them on ITVsomething, they're brill, so I can forgive Stephen anything.

[spacedonkey]

I always get the feeling he is embarrassed by this "national treasure" label (but obviously not embarrassed enough to disappear from public life and spend the rest of his days learning humility in a monastery)

[spacedonkey]

I can forgive him anything owing to:

a) A Bit of Fry and Laurie (which, incidentally, comes out on DVD this week I think)

and

b) the Harry Potter audio books

[Marina]

Georgina, I get out the Hubble telescope for Mr Bailey. What a cutie! Best thing on QI by a mile.
Harry Potter also conceded SD, but again, no sign of face.
Can I please also remind you all of the horror that was Peter's Friends ?

Soupy Twist!

[Marina]

That's dh's birthday sorted out then. Fry and Laurie were brilliant. I don't think either of them cuts it quite as well solo. Hugh Laurie in danger of going all weird and sentimental mushy like Steve Martin before him IMO.

[spacedonkey]

I can't hear a word said against Laurie!

[Marina]

House is a good one for starters SD. Emmy, Schemmy. Too formulaic for such a lovely talent.
And you will probably have escaped the schmaltz-fest that is Stuart Little One and Two...

[georginars]

I love a Bit of Fry and Laurie. they show that on Paramount Comedy (not that I watch a lot of TV or anything...)

Haven't watched this House malarkey though, so not up to date with Hugh Laurie now. He looks identical to my brother in law so I find that quite tricky.

I just adore Bill Bailey, did you ever watch Black Books Marina?

[spacedonkey]

OK, I will give you the Twinings adverts, and Peter's Friends, and (although I haven't seen them) Stuart Little 1 & 2. And yes, House is formulaic, but HL's character is brilliantly misanthropic.

But apart from that ... I can't hear a word said against em!

[Marina]

I love them really SD. I just feel they've let themselves down a tad latterly with stuff like House and tea commercials, that's all
I missed Black Books for the most part Georgina but loved what I saw.
At least we can all rejoice in the fact that "auteur" Kenneth Branagh's film career is where it belongs, down the toilet. In the Bleak Midwinter! Dead Again!!

[tortoiseshell]

I will forgive Stephen Fry anything. Not for Jeeves and Wooster (fantastic though it is), not even for Harry Potter audio books, but for his reading of Paddington on CD, acquired by me at Paddington Station, which ds now listens to every single night in bed - it is the only thing which keeps him in bed, and therefore I have to acknowledge SF is a god!!!!

(Seriously he reads them really well!)

[Blandmum]

I love SF because he is proud to be clever! How wonderful to see someone delighting is something they are good at, not ashamed because they are intelectual.

His readings of the HP are superb, and help my form learn their punctuation as they have slient listening/reading once a week! And this allows me to clear the mountain of paperwork in Form tutor time.

[katierocket]

tortoiseshell - the paddington CDs are fantastic aren't they? he puts such great characterisation into all the voices. DS loves them.

[shrub]

i adore him. has anyone read 'moab is my washpot'?
i thought there was a certain amount of jealousy when he was on last weeks 'just a minute'. they wouldn't let him speak!

[spacedonkey]

Yes, Moab is my Washpot is one of my other reasons for loving him, after A Bit of ... and Harry Potter.

The write up about tomorrow's programme begins:

'As "quintessentially English" Stephen Fry is quick to point out, his ancestors aren't really "made largely of tweed"'

[alexsmum]

i liked peters friends.....

[shrub]

spacedonkey
hausfrau - i vaguely remember him in an interview years ago very eloquently arguing against the ridiculousness of what we think to be offensive in the english language. i'm sure he used the word c* as an example and lots of latin. is this what you were referring to?
wish i could remember what he said - think it was on parky.

[spacedonkey]

I vaguely remember that too, but can't place the specific programme or year even.

Does anyone remember him on Saturday Live in the 80s?

I'll never forget a sketch he did with HL, a parody of Antiques Roadshow set in the future. He was evaluating a "supollardalbum" and a "polystylene cup". How I laughed!

[RTKangaMummy]

IMHO SF is deffo brill

and I love Jeeves & Wooster