The TV series has recently completed its Sunday night run and while I tuned in for every episode, it didn’t really hit the spot for me; much as I love Stephen Fry and would happily watch him paint a wall as long as he provided a running commentary, I found the seat of your pants tour of the all the states left me hungry for more; with so many snippets and no depth – it was teasing rather than informative. And I couldn’t help remarking Fry was ridiculously even tempered and uncritical of all he saw and everyone he met. There’s no doubt he’s a charming individual but where was the snark and snip he can also deliver? I wanted to know what he really thought.
In the domed room at the V&A, surrounded by portraits of Holbein and Leonardo da Vinci, I was inspired to consider lofty questions. In the TV series, Fry’s stubbornly wore a blazer and slacks pretty much whatever the weather and whatever the activity – in one scene it was a relief to see him in a cowboy hat. Would he still be wearing the same outfit or would he be in a more formal costume given the literary air of the occasion? He didn’t disappoint, blue blazer, tan trousers and Oscar Wilde’s ‘bad-hair-day’ hair.
Much of Fry’s gentle humour centres around observations on language; he was amused at the American pronunciation of ‘docile’ so that it rhymed with ‘fossil’.
He talked with a wry smile of how he’s not considered, “a man of action,” but swam with sharks, flew in a micro light on a day when even the pilot was terrified, he remarked on the “beauty and grace” of the North Carolina mountains and spoke nothing but well of his charming hosts and on a couple of occasions he had to ally fears for they were half excepting a ‘Borat’ treatment. In fact that it reflected badly on the English should they want to mock Americans and that this was nothing but an expression of an inferiority complex.
The one time he was unable to contain sarcasm was when recalling his long, long night listening to matter-of-fact rubbish from the Big Foot spotter where,
“I was so clenched, if I’d stood up I would have taken the chair up with me.”
He summed up the popular world view on Obama and expressed relief at change and how everyone wants to love our “handsome, roguish younger cousin,” again.
He revealed that while he was quite well known among younger people, (V for Vendetta and Bones) he was as anonymous as his black London cab. When asked what they thought of his personality vehicle, he replied his hosts, “had no conception whatsoever!”
“I hope he’s funny.” Someone behind me had said. I’d felt a little crass expecting it; how annoying to earn your living being amusing and have this enormous pressure to perform all the time and lighten everyone else’s moods. Of course, Fry rose to the occasion, effortless in his delivery, instantly at ease and charmingly self-deprecating. He’s a hard guy not to like.
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