1
00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:03,280
Speaker 1: Stephen Fry, who's been talented and lucky enough to shape

2
00:00:03,279 --> 00:00:05,400
Speaker 1: comedy for a generation, is on his way here for

3
00:00:05,400 --> 00:00:08,640
Speaker 1: a show, author, raconteur, actor of course, Blackheaded Gospel Park,

4
00:00:09,119 --> 00:00:11,840
Speaker 1: Fryan Lorry, the Hobbit, and then you get to the books,

5
00:00:11,840 --> 00:00:13,960
Speaker 1: the latest which is the final part of his four

6
00:00:14,000 --> 00:00:16,840
Speaker 1: partner on Greek myths. This one's called Odyssey. Anyway, Stephen

7
00:00:16,840 --> 00:00:17,920
Speaker 1: Fry is with us from Britain.

8
00:00:18,000 --> 00:00:20,800
Speaker 2: Good morning, good morning to you to make.

9
00:00:20,720 --> 00:00:22,880
Speaker 1: I tell you what, I'm very disappointed I haven't interrupted

10
00:00:22,920 --> 00:00:24,920
Speaker 1: you at the Garrick Club, you know, with a small

11
00:00:24,960 --> 00:00:27,280
Speaker 1: glass of something of an evening you're stuck in a hotel.

12
00:00:28,320 --> 00:00:31,960
Speaker 2: I am. It's not all glamour and old fashioned English

13
00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:35,440
Speaker 2: gentleman's clubs, you know. There is the occasional need to

14
00:00:35,440 --> 00:00:37,480
Speaker 2: do work in that on doing some work for Australian

15
00:00:37,640 --> 00:00:42,120
Speaker 2: Well in two days time. I'm currently recording a second

16
00:00:42,120 --> 00:00:45,720
Speaker 2: series of Jeopardy, the American Quizhow, which I do in Britain,

17
00:00:45,760 --> 00:00:49,960
Speaker 2: and I do a version for Australian television as well.

18
00:00:50,159 --> 00:00:54,080
Speaker 2: And so I'm doing eight shows for Australian Jeopardy starting

19
00:00:54,080 --> 00:00:56,200
Speaker 2: on Friday, Saturday, Saturday and Sunday.

20
00:00:56,840 --> 00:00:58,880
Speaker 1: What is your attitude giving you raise that you know

21
00:00:59,000 --> 00:01:01,400
Speaker 1: to work generally, because I haven't ever seen a person

22
00:01:01,480 --> 00:01:02,080
Speaker 1: work more.

23
00:01:03,160 --> 00:01:07,520
Speaker 2: Yes, I mean the sort of lazy thing I say

24
00:01:07,560 --> 00:01:12,600
Speaker 2: in messages and emails in conversation when people say, is

25
00:01:12,600 --> 00:01:14,680
Speaker 2: that really what you're doing this week or whatever? And

26
00:01:15,319 --> 00:01:17,919
Speaker 2: when I explain why I can't get to a party

27
00:01:18,000 --> 00:01:20,720
Speaker 2: or whatever, and I always say, well, I suppose I

28
00:01:20,800 --> 00:01:23,920
Speaker 2: must like it or I wouldn't do it. And I

29
00:01:24,400 --> 00:01:28,640
Speaker 2: think that's true. I am fortunate in that I don't

30
00:01:28,680 --> 00:01:31,520
Speaker 2: need to work that hard just in order to put

31
00:01:31,560 --> 00:01:37,200
Speaker 2: bread on the table, so it must just be some desire.

32
00:01:38,040 --> 00:01:42,000
Speaker 2: It's like I suppose. I mean, you know, I've got

33
00:01:42,000 --> 00:01:45,679
Speaker 2: a big waistline because I'm greedy and I really like food,

34
00:01:45,920 --> 00:01:49,640
Speaker 2: and I've got a fat diary because I'm greedy and

35
00:01:49,720 --> 00:01:52,680
Speaker 2: really like work. That's the best I can do.

36
00:01:52,800 --> 00:01:55,200
Speaker 1: The flip side of that, I guess you're in demand.

37
00:01:55,400 --> 00:01:56,440
Speaker 1: And that's a wonderful thing.

38
00:01:56,800 --> 00:02:01,280
Speaker 2: It is. It's incredibly touching, and you know we all

39
00:02:01,360 --> 00:02:03,240
Speaker 2: have I guess I don't know a human being that

40
00:02:03,240 --> 00:02:08,040
Speaker 2: doesn't have a touch of imposter syndrome somewhere. Sometimes too much,

41
00:02:08,080 --> 00:02:10,640
Speaker 2: and sometimes you feel it isn't enough in some people,

42
00:02:10,680 --> 00:02:13,680
Speaker 2: but we all wonder whether we really deserve it, and

43
00:02:13,680 --> 00:02:15,880
Speaker 2: we have to pinch ourselves and that doesn't go away.

44
00:02:15,919 --> 00:02:19,840
Speaker 2: Even after maybe five decades of doing this, I still

45
00:02:20,400 --> 00:02:22,720
Speaker 2: kind of think, can it be true? I still think

46
00:02:22,760 --> 00:02:27,120
Speaker 2: of myself as the little boy watching Parkinson interview comedy

47
00:02:27,160 --> 00:02:30,760
Speaker 2: stars and film stars and so on, and just dreaming

48
00:02:30,840 --> 00:02:35,480
Speaker 2: of the amazing idea of being famous and you know,

49
00:02:35,600 --> 00:02:40,600
Speaker 2: working in television and you know it's extraordinary. I think

50
00:02:40,639 --> 00:02:43,160
Speaker 2: after all these years it would have lost its luster,

51
00:02:43,800 --> 00:02:45,880
Speaker 2: but actually it hasn't.

52
00:02:46,360 --> 00:02:48,880
Speaker 1: What about the breadth of work which sort of you know,

53
00:02:48,919 --> 00:02:51,160
Speaker 1: brings me to your show, which is why you're coming

54
00:02:51,200 --> 00:02:52,880
Speaker 1: to the country when you put a show together for

55
00:02:52,919 --> 00:02:55,200
Speaker 1: your life's work. I mean most of it isn't even

56
00:02:55,200 --> 00:02:57,680
Speaker 1: in there, because I mean otherwise it'll been not like

57
00:02:57,800 --> 00:02:58,640
Speaker 1: nine hours long.

58
00:02:59,520 --> 00:03:02,680
Speaker 2: Yes, yeah, and most of the course is very dull.

59
00:03:02,720 --> 00:03:05,919
Speaker 2: You know. You turn up an on the appointed date

60
00:03:06,000 --> 00:03:08,400
Speaker 2: and do the job and then go away and there's

61
00:03:08,400 --> 00:03:11,680
Speaker 2: not much to say. There aren't stories, you know, And

62
00:03:11,720 --> 00:03:15,880
Speaker 2: then hilariously Ronekinson exploded, you know that actually hasn't happened.

63
00:03:17,400 --> 00:03:19,920
Speaker 2: We just sort of get on with things. But as

64
00:03:20,000 --> 00:03:24,959
Speaker 2: it happens, I have had a life of some interest.

65
00:03:26,040 --> 00:03:29,320
Speaker 2: Particularly when I was young. I was constantly being expelled

66
00:03:29,360 --> 00:03:33,760
Speaker 2: from schools, and then I went to prison. And I'm

67
00:03:33,800 --> 00:03:37,000
Speaker 2: sort of aware that I have an affect, I suppose

68
00:03:37,040 --> 00:03:42,480
Speaker 2: it's the smart word for it. A demeanor, a look

69
00:03:42,560 --> 00:03:48,280
Speaker 2: of feel that is confident, English, old fashioned, and so

70
00:03:48,480 --> 00:03:56,000
Speaker 2: this wild frankly Australian kind of or indeed New Zealand

71
00:03:56,800 --> 00:04:02,480
Speaker 2: kind of slightly more akin or whatever your wild colonial

72
00:04:02,560 --> 00:04:05,480
Speaker 2: boy sort of. I wasn't exactly ned, Kelly. I mean,

73
00:04:05,840 --> 00:04:10,000
Speaker 2: I essumed violence, but I was a rebel as a child,

74
00:04:10,120 --> 00:04:12,320
Speaker 2: and so much so when I went to prison. As

75
00:04:12,320 --> 00:04:15,240
Speaker 2: I said, so there's some strange stories about what rescued me,

76
00:04:15,360 --> 00:04:21,760
Speaker 2: and and so yeah, and even once I was rescued,

77
00:04:22,520 --> 00:04:26,960
Speaker 2: I had an extraordinary running with my own mental health

78
00:04:27,000 --> 00:04:32,560
Speaker 2: and drug use and things again that I don't come

79
00:04:32,600 --> 00:04:36,520
Speaker 2: across as being like that. But so for you know,

80
00:04:36,880 --> 00:04:39,240
Speaker 2: for all that, for all that I work on, and

81
00:04:39,240 --> 00:04:42,640
Speaker 2: I'm very lucky and very fortunate, I also sometimes feel

82
00:04:43,120 --> 00:04:45,960
Speaker 2: I'm always ready just to tip over and do something

83
00:04:45,960 --> 00:04:47,080
Speaker 2: incredibly stupid.

84
00:04:47,200 --> 00:04:51,080
Speaker 1: Interesting, now you're talking about your frailties stayment just before

85
00:04:51,120 --> 00:04:54,080
Speaker 1: the break, but without putting you on the psychiatrist Coutch.

86
00:04:54,080 --> 00:04:58,280
Speaker 1: I mean I remember distinctly it was the nineties. You disappeared.

87
00:04:58,440 --> 00:05:00,440
Speaker 1: I mean, you went off to Europe. You just vanished,

88
00:05:00,480 --> 00:05:02,839
Speaker 1: and I thought, what the hell has happened there? And

89
00:05:02,920 --> 00:05:06,120
Speaker 1: yet the funny thing is, you put yourself out in

90
00:05:06,200 --> 00:05:08,720
Speaker 1: front of people, you ask for applause or acceptance or

91
00:05:08,800 --> 00:05:11,039
Speaker 1: you know, whatever the case may be, and yet there's

92
00:05:11,080 --> 00:05:13,640
Speaker 1: a fragility there. How do you explain all that?

93
00:05:14,320 --> 00:05:16,919
Speaker 2: I mean, I've become more confident in explaining it, not

94
00:05:17,400 --> 00:05:22,119
Speaker 2: necessarily in unraveling it and giving reasons, but in understanding

95
00:05:22,200 --> 00:05:24,640
Speaker 2: that it is a part of a lot of people's

96
00:05:24,680 --> 00:05:29,520
Speaker 2: lives that I'm hardly alone in having this propensity to

97
00:05:29,680 --> 00:05:35,560
Speaker 2: lose faith in the purpose of existence. That's so dramatic

98
00:05:35,600 --> 00:05:38,640
Speaker 2: put that way, but that phrase that one can utter,

99
00:05:38,680 --> 00:05:43,240
Speaker 2: what is the point? You know, we're right to you know,

100
00:05:43,279 --> 00:05:45,320
Speaker 2: it's like, if you want to get an intellectual about it,

101
00:05:45,320 --> 00:05:48,160
Speaker 2: it's like sort of existential or as Sam Beckett or

102
00:05:48,560 --> 00:05:52,040
Speaker 2: you know, this sense that the absurdity and the meaningness

103
00:05:52,080 --> 00:05:57,600
Speaker 2: of life, the fatuous nonsense of existence that is born

104
00:05:57,720 --> 00:06:02,719
Speaker 2: to decay and ruin and and you know, just oblivion

105
00:06:02,839 --> 00:06:10,240
Speaker 2: generally to the v LEVI the nothing, and mostly we

106
00:06:10,800 --> 00:06:13,440
Speaker 2: sort of don't mind. We know it. We know life

107
00:06:13,480 --> 00:06:17,920
Speaker 2: is pointless, but we find meaning in relationships. We find

108
00:06:17,960 --> 00:06:21,800
Speaker 2: meaning in self fulfillment. I mean goodness. I haven't really

109
00:06:21,800 --> 00:06:23,240
Speaker 2: thought this through, so I don't know how I'm going

110
00:06:23,320 --> 00:06:28,839
Speaker 2: to end saying this, but generally speaking, I find fulfillment.

111
00:06:28,920 --> 00:06:31,520
Speaker 2: And maybe that's why I work so hard what we

112
00:06:31,640 --> 00:06:36,240
Speaker 2: began with that I'm trying to delay the realization that

113
00:06:36,720 --> 00:06:40,240
Speaker 2: it's all meaningless and pointless. I've got to the age

114
00:06:40,279 --> 00:06:44,560
Speaker 2: now where people actually that. I was at school university

115
00:06:44,600 --> 00:06:48,159
Speaker 2: where some of them have died of natural causes and

116
00:06:48,520 --> 00:06:52,640
Speaker 2: you know, cancers and things that are early, perhaps in

117
00:06:52,680 --> 00:06:56,800
Speaker 2: the mid sixties. These days, it's quite I don't expect

118
00:06:56,800 --> 00:07:00,280
Speaker 2: to die necessarily, but you know people are starting too,

119
00:07:00,440 --> 00:07:04,719
Speaker 2: and she must face. I see, you know, every year

120
00:07:04,720 --> 00:07:11,880
Speaker 2: my nipples go another three inches further south, the mechanisms

121
00:07:11,880 --> 00:07:20,080
Speaker 2: of age, and you know, it's so crazy when someone dies,

122
00:07:20,120 --> 00:07:23,720
Speaker 2: how quickly they've forgotten. I don't want. Of course, I'm

123
00:07:23,720 --> 00:07:26,840
Speaker 2: trying to sell my show now, and I gather tickets

124
00:07:26,880 --> 00:07:29,800
Speaker 2: are going very well, so it's nice, but if people come,

125
00:07:29,880 --> 00:07:32,360
Speaker 2: I'm not going to I'm not going to bring the

126
00:07:32,360 --> 00:07:35,120
Speaker 2: whole evening right down by talking like that. But though

127
00:07:35,160 --> 00:07:38,120
Speaker 2: I'm very open to talking about things like that, because

128
00:07:38,440 --> 00:07:40,720
Speaker 2: the second half of the show, I'm not quite sure

129
00:07:40,760 --> 00:07:42,160
Speaker 2: having in to do it. I've done it before with

130
00:07:42,280 --> 00:07:45,160
Speaker 2: QR codes in the beginning and at the interval, so

131
00:07:45,200 --> 00:07:48,200
Speaker 2: people point their cameras and then that takes them to

132
00:07:48,240 --> 00:07:50,240
Speaker 2: a site where they can ask a question. And then

133
00:07:50,240 --> 00:07:54,640
Speaker 2: in the interval I triarge the questions and answer them

134
00:07:54,680 --> 00:07:57,720
Speaker 2: because I don't like stage shows. There's someone with a

135
00:07:58,000 --> 00:08:01,400
Speaker 2: torch going up them and a microphone going up the

136
00:08:01,480 --> 00:08:04,760
Speaker 2: rows and passing the microphone, and it's almost disaster and

137
00:08:04,800 --> 00:08:08,720
Speaker 2: it's sort of eggy. So I'll have a nice basket

138
00:08:08,760 --> 00:08:11,200
Speaker 2: full of slips of paper with the questions which we've

139
00:08:11,200 --> 00:08:13,800
Speaker 2: been written on during the interval, and people are free

140
00:08:13,840 --> 00:08:17,960
Speaker 2: to ask questions as serious as they like, but also

141
00:08:18,040 --> 00:08:24,120
Speaker 2: as frivolous as they like. But as you've discovered your despair,

142
00:08:24,280 --> 00:08:26,680
Speaker 2: I'm not someone who finds it difficult to talk.

143
00:08:26,840 --> 00:08:29,600
Speaker 1: No, no, not at all. We're loving every moment. Can

144
00:08:29,640 --> 00:08:32,840
Speaker 1: I ask you just quickly to explain the Austrian situation

145
00:08:32,880 --> 00:08:37,120
Speaker 1: of people don't know you now have full Austrian citizenship.

146
00:08:37,160 --> 00:08:40,160
Speaker 1: Does that mean you can vote, and did you vote

147
00:08:40,280 --> 00:08:41,160
Speaker 1: in the recent election.

148
00:08:42,480 --> 00:08:47,080
Speaker 2: Yes, I do have Austrian citizenship. It's a you know,

149
00:08:47,080 --> 00:08:51,440
Speaker 2: they have this fast track for descendants. I think up

150
00:08:51,520 --> 00:08:54,240
Speaker 2: until great great grandchildren. I did think great great but

151
00:08:54,360 --> 00:08:58,080
Speaker 2: great grandchildren. I'm a grandchild of an Austrian citizen, but

152
00:08:58,200 --> 00:08:59,520
Speaker 2: particularly Jewish.

153
00:08:59,240 --> 00:09:07,080
Speaker 3: Descendants who whose ancestors were expelled but persecuted to killed

154
00:09:07,360 --> 00:09:10,160
Speaker 3: in the case of my great grandparents. Uh.

155
00:09:10,520 --> 00:09:13,959
Speaker 2: And they offer citizenship and it was done quite quickly.

156
00:09:14,120 --> 00:09:16,600
Speaker 2: And I spoke to my mother about my mother still

157
00:09:16,640 --> 00:09:18,800
Speaker 2: with us and having to say and she obviously was

158
00:09:18,800 --> 00:09:23,920
Speaker 2: her mother and father who were from Central Europe, and

159
00:09:26,080 --> 00:09:29,280
Speaker 2: she has no bitterness towards Austria and the Austrian people

160
00:09:29,320 --> 00:09:35,360
Speaker 2: in one particular Austrian citizen of it, obviously, But but

161
00:09:36,000 --> 00:09:38,200
Speaker 2: so she she thought it was a nice idea, you know,

162
00:09:38,240 --> 00:09:40,360
Speaker 2: she loves the culture as I do. And I was

163
00:09:40,400 --> 00:09:43,560
Speaker 2: pleased at they're doing it, and I like the idea

164
00:09:43,600 --> 00:09:45,959
Speaker 2: of having another passport. That just sort of struck me

165
00:09:45,960 --> 00:09:48,960
Speaker 2: as appealing. But currently, yes, there is this worry of

166
00:09:49,040 --> 00:09:55,160
Speaker 2: the the FDO, the f PO and that which is

167
00:09:55,200 --> 00:09:58,360
Speaker 2: the far right party that has gained quite a lot

168
00:09:58,400 --> 00:10:02,800
Speaker 2: of seats and the recent election in which I verted

169
00:10:03,720 --> 00:10:05,840
Speaker 2: as I have the full right to do now, and

170
00:10:05,880 --> 00:10:07,839
Speaker 2: it struck me, as you know, it's always a duty

171
00:10:07,840 --> 00:10:13,320
Speaker 2: in the democracy, isn't it, And so I, yes, it

172
00:10:13,320 --> 00:10:17,680
Speaker 2: seems a strange time to choose if there are anti

173
00:10:17,679 --> 00:10:21,240
Speaker 2: Semitic elements in that party, and I'm not fully informed

174
00:10:21,320 --> 00:10:23,480
Speaker 2: enough about it to know, but I wouldn't be surprised

175
00:10:23,520 --> 00:10:28,000
Speaker 2: because far right parties attract even further fringe people to them,

176
00:10:28,200 --> 00:10:31,319
Speaker 2: as some of whom have really revolting views on race,

177
00:10:31,800 --> 00:10:35,000
Speaker 2: and so it may seem a strange time to join.

178
00:10:35,040 --> 00:10:37,760
Speaker 2: But on the other hand, I think it's also a

179
00:10:37,840 --> 00:10:46,199
Speaker 2: kind of commitment to believe in people that one wants

180
00:10:46,200 --> 00:10:48,160
Speaker 2: to belong to their country. And this is the country

181
00:10:48,200 --> 00:10:52,920
Speaker 2: of Mozarts and Heighten and Schubert and Freud and Mather

182
00:10:53,120 --> 00:10:57,840
Speaker 2: and Senberg and Spike, you know, the most unbelievable artistic

183
00:10:57,960 --> 00:11:03,679
Speaker 2: center in the world for certain periods, and you know

184
00:11:03,720 --> 00:11:06,880
Speaker 2: you can't you know, if you make the mistake of

185
00:11:06,920 --> 00:11:10,640
Speaker 2: thinking this culture and these people are rotten, then you're

186
00:11:10,720 --> 00:11:13,600
Speaker 2: making the same racist mistake as those who say that,

187
00:11:13,760 --> 00:11:16,400
Speaker 2: you know, all Jews are rotten, are all black people

188
00:11:16,440 --> 00:11:20,840
Speaker 2: are rotten? The point is we're all all sisters under

189
00:11:20,840 --> 00:11:26,000
Speaker 2: the skin, as Radio Kipling put it, and so I

190
00:11:26,000 --> 00:11:28,120
Speaker 2: don't know, it's it's I mean, some people find it

191
00:11:28,240 --> 00:11:30,200
Speaker 2: mysterious that I would do that, and maybe it is

192
00:11:30,280 --> 00:11:35,480
Speaker 2: part of my trying not to be the quintessential Englishman

193
00:11:35,520 --> 00:11:39,239
Speaker 2: that people always accuse me of, if it is an accusation.

194
00:11:41,280 --> 00:11:43,839
Speaker 2: And also, you know, I suppose you realize life is

195
00:11:43,880 --> 00:11:47,199
Speaker 2: short and this, and the longer you live, the more

196
00:11:47,240 --> 00:11:50,640
Speaker 2: experiences you have, and so a fresh and new experience

197
00:11:51,400 --> 00:11:54,559
Speaker 2: is all the more welcome. So suddenly belonging to a

198
00:11:54,600 --> 00:11:57,240
Speaker 2: new country is it's rather exciting, exactly.

199
00:11:57,360 --> 00:11:58,000
Speaker 1: I'm not surprised.

200
00:11:58,080 --> 00:11:58,320
Speaker 2: Listen.

201
00:11:58,360 --> 00:12:00,199
Speaker 1: Been lovely to talk with you, and I appreciate time

202
00:12:00,280 --> 00:12:02,160
Speaker 1: very much, and we'll look forward to maybe catching up

203
00:12:02,160 --> 00:12:05,480
Speaker 1: when you're in the country and for the show, and

204
00:12:05,520 --> 00:12:08,880
Speaker 1: we'll we'll fill the basket full of interesting questions.

205
00:12:08,880 --> 00:12:11,120
Speaker 2: That would be wonderful. I really look forward to that.

206
00:12:11,400 --> 00:12:12,600
Speaker 2: Thank you so much, mate.

207
00:12:12,760 --> 00:12:15,520
Speaker 1: Great Pleasure. Odyssey is the book, the last of the

208
00:12:15,559 --> 00:12:17,680
Speaker 1: four and the Greek Myths. The shows there are three

209
00:12:17,679 --> 00:12:18,280
Speaker 1: of them.

210
00:12:18,600 --> 00:12:21,480
Speaker 2: For more from the Mic Asking Breakfast listen live to

211
00:12:21,600 --> 00:12:24,679
Speaker 2: news Talks. It'd be from six am weekdays, or follow

212
00:12:24,720 --> 00:12:26,280
Speaker 2: the podcast on iHeartRadio