Thank you for a glorious memoir- I think you should put writer first in your quadruple threat with singer, actress and comic following in no particular and equal order.
THANK YOU!
What playlist should the shops be playing on release of My Brother’s Ashes Are In A Sandwich Bag?
I actually have a few playlists listed in the book. Maybe the horny one with all the 90’s bangers? Or the one to listen to on a train whilst being the main character. Honestly it’s gonna be some sort of like brat/chappell mix for me.
Who should play you, if not you, in the limited Netflix series that surely must be coming?
It’s 100% me but should I be injured I would be happy with Danny Devito.
It is such an interesting format. Glimpses and grenades rather than a straight narrative- was it always going to be so?
I wrote the show a little bit like how I like to write for TV or live shows. I want people to be able to taste different things at different times. Every meal should be tapas and I like art that feels that way. If I have done it right you should be able to pick up the book and open it to any page like a tarot reading. The chapters should stand alone and sing together. I hope I have done that. I don’t want any chapters to have to lean on the ones before.
I don’t recall a memoir with such a strong theme of kindness and empathy. It’s clearly genetic but did you deliberately set out to create a balm to the tough stuff life can throw up?
A lot of tough stuff came into my life at the same time as first wave mindfulness. I think there are a lot of podcasts that I have to be grateful for but I also have always been pretty obsessed with being nice to people and talking to strangers. I just think it makes your life so much more pleasant. I was a huge child. HUGE. And in kindergarten I would walk around and pick up all the bullies as they were bullying people. I would simply pick them up and remove them from their victims. I have an inflated sense of self-importance and an overactive altruism centre and so I think I’ve grown up into this kind of hybrid narcissist. I’m so convinced I can make a difference. I’m so convinced everyone can. I’m just enough of an egomaniac to not be afraid to try.