October 21, 2024 • 12 mins
Stephen Fry is a man of many talents.
He’s an award-winning comedian, actor, presenter, director, and has claimed the title of ‘bestselling author’ multiple times.
His latest work is the final instalment of his Greek Myths series, ‘Odyssey’ retelling the tale of Odysseus from Homer’s epic poem.
Along with this, Fry is bringing his live show to New Zealand stages, offering an unforgettable evening filled with entertaining stories about his journey through life and show business.
He’s been in the business for nearly five decades and told Mike Hosking that he still sometimes finds it difficult to believe.
“I still think of myself as a little boy watching Parkinson interview comedy stars, and film stars, and so on, and just dreaming of the amazing idea of being famous."
“It’s extraordinary,” Fry said.
“You'd think after all these years, it would have lost its lustre, but actually it hasn't.”
Questions are welcome at Fry’s live show, the second half of the show being entirely filled with questions from the audience.
“People are free to ask questions as serious as they like, but also as frivolous as they like.”
“I’m not someone who finds it difficult to talk.”
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Stephen Fry, who's been talented and lucky enough to shape
comedy for a generation, is on his way here for
a show, author, raconteur, actor of course, Blackheaded Gospel Park,
Fryan Lorry, the Hobbit, and then you get to the books,
the latest which is the final part of his four
partner on Greek myths. This one's called Odyssey. Anyway, Stephen
Fry is with us from Britain.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Good morning, good morning to you to make.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
I tell you what, I'm very disappointed I haven't interrupted
you at the Garrick Club, you know, with a small
glass of something of an evening you're stuck in a hotel.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
I am. It's not all glamour and old fashioned English
gentleman's clubs, you know. There is the occasional need to
do work in that on doing some work for Australian
Well in two days time. I'm currently recording a second
series of Jeopardy, the American Quizhow, which I do in Britain,
and I do a version for Australian television as well.
(00:50):
And so I'm doing eight shows for Australian Jeopardy starting
on Friday, Saturday, Saturday and Sunday.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
What is your attitude giving you raise that you know
to work generally, because I haven't ever seen a person
work more.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Yes, I mean the sort of lazy thing I say
in messages and emails in conversation when people say, is
that really what you're doing this week or whatever? And
when I explain why I can't get to a party
or whatever, and I always say, well, I suppose I
must like it or I wouldn't do it. And I
(01:24):
think that's true. I am fortunate in that I don't
need to work that hard just in order to put
bread on the table, so it must just be some desire.
It's like I suppose. I mean, you know, I've got
a big waistline because I'm greedy and I really like food,
(01:45):
and I've got a fat diary because I'm greedy and
really like work. That's the best I can do.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
The flip side of that, I guess you're in demand.
And that's a wonderful thing.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
It is. It's incredibly touching, and you know we all
have I guess I don't know a human being that
doesn't have a touch of imposter syndrome somewhere. Sometimes too much,
and sometimes you feel it isn't enough in some people,
but we all wonder whether we really deserve it, and
we have to pinch ourselves and that doesn't go away.
Even after maybe five decades of doing this, I still
(02:20):
kind of think, can it be true? I still think
of myself as the little boy watching Parkinson interview comedy
stars and film stars and so on, and just dreaming
of the amazing idea of being famous and you know,
working in television and you know it's extraordinary. I think
(02:40):
after all these years it would have lost its luster,
but actually it hasn't.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
What about the breadth of work which sort of you know,
brings me to your show, which is why you're coming
to the country when you put a show together for
your life's work. I mean most of it isn't even
in there, because I mean otherwise it'll been not like
nine hours long.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
Yes, yeah, and most of the course is very dull.
You know. You turn up an on the appointed date
and do the job and then go away and there's
not much to say. There aren't stories, you know, And
then hilariously Ronekinson exploded, you know that actually hasn't happened.
We just sort of get on with things. But as
(03:20):
it happens, I have had a life of some interest.
Particularly when I was young. I was constantly being expelled
from schools, and then I went to prison. And I'm
sort of aware that I have an affect, I suppose
it's the smart word for it. A demeanor, a look
(03:42):
of feel that is confident, English, old fashioned, and so
this wild frankly Australian kind of or indeed New Zealand
kind of slightly more akin or whatever your wild colonial
boy sort of. I wasn't exactly ned, Kelly. I mean,
(04:05):
I essumed violence, but I was a rebel as a child,
and so much so when I went to prison. As
I said, so there's some strange stories about what rescued me,
and and so yeah, and even once I was rescued,
I had an extraordinary running with my own mental health
(04:27):
and drug use and things again that I don't come
across as being like that. But so for you know,
for all that, for all that I work on, and
I'm very lucky and very fortunate, I also sometimes feel
I'm always ready just to tip over and do something
incredibly stupid.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
Interesting, now you're talking about your frailties stayment just before
the break, but without putting you on the psychiatrist Coutch.
I mean I remember distinctly it was the nineties. You disappeared.
I mean, you went off to Europe. You just vanished,
and I thought, what the hell has happened there? And
yet the funny thing is, you put yourself out in
front of people, you ask for applause or acceptance or
(05:08):
you know, whatever the case may be, and yet there's
a fragility there. How do you explain all that?
Speaker 2 (05:14):
I mean, I've become more confident in explaining it, not
necessarily in unraveling it and giving reasons, but in understanding
that it is a part of a lot of people's
lives that I'm hardly alone in having this propensity to
lose faith in the purpose of existence. That's so dramatic
(05:35):
put that way, but that phrase that one can utter,
what is the point? You know, we're right to you know,
it's like, if you want to get an intellectual about it,
it's like sort of existential or as Sam Beckett or
you know, this sense that the absurdity and the meaningness
of life, the fatuous nonsense of existence that is born
(05:57):
to decay and ruin and and you know, just oblivion
generally to the v LEVI the nothing, and mostly we
sort of don't mind. We know it. We know life
is pointless, but we find meaning in relationships. We find
(06:17):
meaning in self fulfillment. I mean goodness. I haven't really
thought this through, so I don't know how I'm going
to end saying this, but generally speaking, I find fulfillment.
And maybe that's why I work so hard what we
began with that I'm trying to delay the realization that
it's all meaningless and pointless. I've got to the age
(06:40):
now where people actually that. I was at school university
where some of them have died of natural causes and
you know, cancers and things that are early, perhaps in
the mid sixties. These days, it's quite I don't expect
to die necessarily, but you know people are starting too,
(07:00):
and she must face. I see, you know, every year
my nipples go another three inches further south, the mechanisms
of age, and you know, it's so crazy when someone dies,
how quickly they've forgotten. I don't want. Of course, I'm
(07:23):
trying to sell my show now, and I gather tickets
are going very well, so it's nice, but if people come,
I'm not going to I'm not going to bring the
whole evening right down by talking like that. But though
I'm very open to talking about things like that, because
the second half of the show, I'm not quite sure
having in to do it. I've done it before with
QR codes in the beginning and at the interval, so
(07:45):
people point their cameras and then that takes them to
a site where they can ask a question. And then
in the interval I triarge the questions and answer them
because I don't like stage shows. There's someone with a
torch going up them and a microphone going up the
rows and passing the microphone, and it's almost disaster and
it's sort of eggy. So I'll have a nice basket
(08:08):
full of slips of paper with the questions which we've
been written on during the interval, and people are free
to ask questions as serious as they like, but also
as frivolous as they like. But as you've discovered your despair,
I'm not someone who finds it difficult to talk.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
No, no, not at all. We're loving every moment. Can
I ask you just quickly to explain the Austrian situation
of people don't know you now have full Austrian citizenship.
Does that mean you can vote, and did you vote
in the recent election.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
Yes, I do have Austrian citizenship. It's a you know,
they have this fast track for descendants. I think up
until great great grandchildren. I did think great great but
great grandchildren. I'm a grandchild of an Austrian citizen, but
particularly Jewish.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
Descendants who whose ancestors were expelled but persecuted to killed
in the case of my great grandparents. Uh.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
And they offer citizenship and it was done quite quickly.
And I spoke to my mother about my mother still
with us and having to say and she obviously was
her mother and father who were from Central Europe, and
she has no bitterness towards Austria and the Austrian people
in one particular Austrian citizen of it, obviously, But but
(09:36):
so she she thought it was a nice idea, you know,
she loves the culture as I do. And I was
pleased at they're doing it, and I like the idea
of having another passport. That just sort of struck me
as appealing. But currently, yes, there is this worry of
the the FDO, the f PO and that which is
the far right party that has gained quite a lot
(09:58):
of seats and the recent election in which I verted
as I have the full right to do now, and
it struck me, as you know, it's always a duty
in the democracy, isn't it, And so I, yes, it
seems a strange time to choose if there are anti
Semitic elements in that party, and I'm not fully informed
(10:21):
enough about it to know, but I wouldn't be surprised
because far right parties attract even further fringe people to them,
as some of whom have really revolting views on race,
and so it may seem a strange time to join.
But on the other hand, I think it's also a
kind of commitment to believe in people that one wants
(10:46):
to belong to their country. And this is the country
of Mozarts and Heighten and Schubert and Freud and Mather
and Senberg and Spike, you know, the most unbelievable artistic
center in the world for certain periods, and you know
you can't you know, if you make the mistake of
(11:06):
thinking this culture and these people are rotten, then you're
making the same racist mistake as those who say that,
you know, all Jews are rotten, are all black people
are rotten? The point is we're all all sisters under
the skin, as Radio Kipling put it, and so I
don't know, it's it's I mean, some people find it
(11:28):
mysterious that I would do that, and maybe it is
part of my trying not to be the quintessential Englishman
that people always accuse me of, if it is an accusation.
And also, you know, I suppose you realize life is
short and this, and the longer you live, the more
experiences you have, and so a fresh and new experience
(11:51):
is all the more welcome. So suddenly belonging to a
new country is it's rather exciting, exactly.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
I'm not surprised.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
Listen.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
Been lovely to talk with you, and I appreciate time
very much, and we'll look forward to maybe catching up
when you're in the country and for the show, and
we'll we'll fill the basket full of interesting questions.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
That would be wonderful. I really look forward to that.
Thank you so much, mate.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
Great Pleasure. Odyssey is the book, the last of the
four and the Greek Myths. The shows there are three
of them.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
For more from the Mic Asking Breakfast listen live to
news Talks. It'd be from six am weekdays, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio
Stephen Fry, who's been talented and lucky enough to shape
comedy for a generation, is on his way here for
a show, author, raconteur, actor of course, Blackheaded Gospel Park,
Fryan Lorry, the Hobbit, and then you get to the books,
the latest which is the final part of his four
partner on Greek myths. This one's called Odyssey. Anyway, Stephen
Fry is with us from Britain.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Good morning, good morning to you to make.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
I tell you what, I'm very disappointed I haven't interrupted
you at the Garrick Club, you know, with a small
glass of something of an evening you're stuck in a hotel.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
I am. It's not all glamour and old fashioned English
gentleman's clubs, you know. There is the occasional need to
do work in that on doing some work for Australian
Well in two days time. I'm currently recording a second
series of Jeopardy, the American Quizhow, which I do in Britain,
and I do a version for Australian television as well.
(00:50):
And so I'm doing eight shows for Australian Jeopardy starting
on Friday, Saturday, Saturday and Sunday.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
What is your attitude giving you raise that you know
to work generally, because I haven't ever seen a person
work more.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Yes, I mean the sort of lazy thing I say
in messages and emails in conversation when people say, is
that really what you're doing this week or whatever? And
when I explain why I can't get to a party
or whatever, and I always say, well, I suppose I
must like it or I wouldn't do it. And I
(01:24):
think that's true. I am fortunate in that I don't
need to work that hard just in order to put
bread on the table, so it must just be some desire.
It's like I suppose. I mean, you know, I've got
a big waistline because I'm greedy and I really like food,
(01:45):
and I've got a fat diary because I'm greedy and
really like work. That's the best I can do.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
The flip side of that, I guess you're in demand.
And that's a wonderful thing.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
It is. It's incredibly touching, and you know we all
have I guess I don't know a human being that
doesn't have a touch of imposter syndrome somewhere. Sometimes too much,
and sometimes you feel it isn't enough in some people,
but we all wonder whether we really deserve it, and
we have to pinch ourselves and that doesn't go away.
Even after maybe five decades of doing this, I still
(02:20):
kind of think, can it be true? I still think
of myself as the little boy watching Parkinson interview comedy
stars and film stars and so on, and just dreaming
of the amazing idea of being famous and you know,
working in television and you know it's extraordinary. I think
(02:40):
after all these years it would have lost its luster,
but actually it hasn't.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
What about the breadth of work which sort of you know,
brings me to your show, which is why you're coming
to the country when you put a show together for
your life's work. I mean most of it isn't even
in there, because I mean otherwise it'll been not like
nine hours long.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
Yes, yeah, and most of the course is very dull.
You know. You turn up an on the appointed date
and do the job and then go away and there's
not much to say. There aren't stories, you know, And
then hilariously Ronekinson exploded, you know that actually hasn't happened.
We just sort of get on with things. But as
(03:20):
it happens, I have had a life of some interest.
Particularly when I was young. I was constantly being expelled
from schools, and then I went to prison. And I'm
sort of aware that I have an affect, I suppose
it's the smart word for it. A demeanor, a look
(03:42):
of feel that is confident, English, old fashioned, and so
this wild frankly Australian kind of or indeed New Zealand
kind of slightly more akin or whatever your wild colonial
boy sort of. I wasn't exactly ned, Kelly. I mean,
(04:05):
I essumed violence, but I was a rebel as a child,
and so much so when I went to prison. As
I said, so there's some strange stories about what rescued me,
and and so yeah, and even once I was rescued,
I had an extraordinary running with my own mental health
(04:27):
and drug use and things again that I don't come
across as being like that. But so for you know,
for all that, for all that I work on, and
I'm very lucky and very fortunate, I also sometimes feel
I'm always ready just to tip over and do something
incredibly stupid.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
Interesting, now you're talking about your frailties stayment just before
the break, but without putting you on the psychiatrist Coutch.
I mean I remember distinctly it was the nineties. You disappeared.
I mean, you went off to Europe. You just vanished,
and I thought, what the hell has happened there? And
yet the funny thing is, you put yourself out in
front of people, you ask for applause or acceptance or
(05:08):
you know, whatever the case may be, and yet there's
a fragility there. How do you explain all that?
Speaker 2 (05:14):
I mean, I've become more confident in explaining it, not
necessarily in unraveling it and giving reasons, but in understanding
that it is a part of a lot of people's
lives that I'm hardly alone in having this propensity to
lose faith in the purpose of existence. That's so dramatic
(05:35):
put that way, but that phrase that one can utter,
what is the point? You know, we're right to you know,
it's like, if you want to get an intellectual about it,
it's like sort of existential or as Sam Beckett or
you know, this sense that the absurdity and the meaningness
of life, the fatuous nonsense of existence that is born
(05:57):
to decay and ruin and and you know, just oblivion
generally to the v LEVI the nothing, and mostly we
sort of don't mind. We know it. We know life
is pointless, but we find meaning in relationships. We find
(06:17):
meaning in self fulfillment. I mean goodness. I haven't really
thought this through, so I don't know how I'm going
to end saying this, but generally speaking, I find fulfillment.
And maybe that's why I work so hard what we
began with that I'm trying to delay the realization that
it's all meaningless and pointless. I've got to the age
(06:40):
now where people actually that. I was at school university
where some of them have died of natural causes and
you know, cancers and things that are early, perhaps in
the mid sixties. These days, it's quite I don't expect
to die necessarily, but you know people are starting too,
(07:00):
and she must face. I see, you know, every year
my nipples go another three inches further south, the mechanisms
of age, and you know, it's so crazy when someone dies,
how quickly they've forgotten. I don't want. Of course, I'm
(07:23):
trying to sell my show now, and I gather tickets
are going very well, so it's nice, but if people come,
I'm not going to I'm not going to bring the
whole evening right down by talking like that. But though
I'm very open to talking about things like that, because
the second half of the show, I'm not quite sure
having in to do it. I've done it before with
QR codes in the beginning and at the interval, so
(07:45):
people point their cameras and then that takes them to
a site where they can ask a question. And then
in the interval I triarge the questions and answer them
because I don't like stage shows. There's someone with a
torch going up them and a microphone going up the
rows and passing the microphone, and it's almost disaster and
it's sort of eggy. So I'll have a nice basket
(08:08):
full of slips of paper with the questions which we've
been written on during the interval, and people are free
to ask questions as serious as they like, but also
as frivolous as they like. But as you've discovered your despair,
I'm not someone who finds it difficult to talk.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
No, no, not at all. We're loving every moment. Can
I ask you just quickly to explain the Austrian situation
of people don't know you now have full Austrian citizenship.
Does that mean you can vote, and did you vote
in the recent election.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
Yes, I do have Austrian citizenship. It's a you know,
they have this fast track for descendants. I think up
until great great grandchildren. I did think great great but
great grandchildren. I'm a grandchild of an Austrian citizen, but
particularly Jewish.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
Descendants who whose ancestors were expelled but persecuted to killed
in the case of my great grandparents. Uh.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
And they offer citizenship and it was done quite quickly.
And I spoke to my mother about my mother still
with us and having to say and she obviously was
her mother and father who were from Central Europe, and
she has no bitterness towards Austria and the Austrian people
in one particular Austrian citizen of it, obviously, But but
(09:36):
so she she thought it was a nice idea, you know,
she loves the culture as I do. And I was
pleased at they're doing it, and I like the idea
of having another passport. That just sort of struck me
as appealing. But currently, yes, there is this worry of
the the FDO, the f PO and that which is
the far right party that has gained quite a lot
(09:58):
of seats and the recent election in which I verted
as I have the full right to do now, and
it struck me, as you know, it's always a duty
in the democracy, isn't it, And so I, yes, it
seems a strange time to choose if there are anti
Semitic elements in that party, and I'm not fully informed
(10:21):
enough about it to know, but I wouldn't be surprised
because far right parties attract even further fringe people to them,
as some of whom have really revolting views on race,
and so it may seem a strange time to join.
But on the other hand, I think it's also a
kind of commitment to believe in people that one wants
(10:46):
to belong to their country. And this is the country
of Mozarts and Heighten and Schubert and Freud and Mather
and Senberg and Spike, you know, the most unbelievable artistic
center in the world for certain periods, and you know
you can't you know, if you make the mistake of
(11:06):
thinking this culture and these people are rotten, then you're
making the same racist mistake as those who say that,
you know, all Jews are rotten, are all black people
are rotten? The point is we're all all sisters under
the skin, as Radio Kipling put it, and so I
don't know, it's it's I mean, some people find it
(11:28):
mysterious that I would do that, and maybe it is
part of my trying not to be the quintessential Englishman
that people always accuse me of, if it is an accusation.
And also, you know, I suppose you realize life is
short and this, and the longer you live, the more
experiences you have, and so a fresh and new experience
(11:51):
is all the more welcome. So suddenly belonging to a
new country is it's rather exciting, exactly.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
I'm not surprised.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
Listen.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
Been lovely to talk with you, and I appreciate time
very much, and we'll look forward to maybe catching up
when you're in the country and for the show, and
we'll we'll fill the basket full of interesting questions.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
That would be wonderful. I really look forward to that.
Thank you so much, mate.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
Great Pleasure. Odyssey is the book, the last of the
four and the Greek Myths. The shows there are three
of them.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
For more from the Mic Asking Breakfast listen live to
news Talks. It'd be from six am weekdays, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio
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